The Kapova Cave Museum is located in a small house on the banks of the Belaya River. It is located 1.5 km from the cordon of the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve and 500 meters from the Kapova Cave itself. There are figures of a mammoth and an ancient rhinoceros near the house, and in the museum itself you can learn more about the Kapova Cave.
The Kapova Cave Museum is dedicated to the research that has been carried out in Kapova Cave since the 18th century. Kapova Cave is of great importance for the world archaeological and paleontological science, as drawings of various ancient animals were found here, painted on the walls of the cave by ancient people.
Radiocarbon analysis has shown that these rock carvings made by ancient people belong to the Upper Paleolithic era. This period began 40 thousand years ago, and ended 10 thousand years ago. At that time there was the last Ice Age (25-17 thousand years ago). The oldest drawings in the Kapova Cave were made about 18 thousand years ago. The last drawings were made about 14 thousand years ago.
The first studies of the Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash) were conducted by geographer Peter Rychkov in 1780. He made a detailed description of the cave. During his research in the Dome Hall of the Kapova Cave, he found the skull of a woman, which dates back to the 12th century BC. Her appearance was recreated in the shape of a skull and now in the Museum of the Kapova Cave you can see a bust of this woman.
In the Museum of the Kapova Cave there is a figure of a man with red ochre on his hands. We can imagine an ancient man who painted figures of mammoths, rhinoceroses, bison and other animals, that lived in the Urals 20 thousand years ago, on the walls of the Kapova Cave. Also in the Museum of the Kapova Cave you can see the layout of the Kapova Cave in the section. Here you can see how the underground halls of the cave are arranged.
