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Padah-Lin Caves ( my, ဗဒလင်းဂူ, ; also Padalin or Badalin) are
Retrieved 2009-03-03. The art has not been directly dated. The walls of the cave have also been decorated with carved patterns. More than 300 cupules have been documented in the rockshelter. Excavations at the rock shelter from 1969 to 1972 recovered seven pieces of charcoal and bone that were
Padah-Lin Caves ( my, ဗဒလင်းဂူ, ; also Padalin or Badalin) are limestone cave
A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in the soluble rock limestone. It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, including chalk, dolomite, marble, salt beds, and gypsum. ...
s located in Taunggyi District, Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
, Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(Myanmar). It is located near a path from Nyaunggyat to Yebock, on a spur of the Nwalabo mountains within the Panlaung Reserved Forest. There are two caves; the smaller of the two is a rock shelter
A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alway ...
while the larger cave comprises nine chambers connected by narrow passages in a north-south axis, three large sink holes that let natural light in, and several active speleothem
A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on ...
formations.
History
A superficial investigation of the caves in Shan State had been performed by the American South-East Expedition for Early Man in 1937–1938, and geologist U Khin Maung Kyaw discovered the paintings in 1960. In 1969–1972, the Burmese government organized a more in-depth investigation, and another expedition to the caves was mounted in 2004. The site was added to theUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
Tentative List on 4 October 1996 in the Cultural category.
Contents
Red ochre paintings of human hands, fish, bulls, bison, deer and other objects are visible at the rock shelter.Badah-lin and associated caves - UNESCO World Heritage CentreRetrieved 2009-03-03. The art has not been directly dated. The walls of the cave have also been decorated with carved patterns. More than 300 cupules have been documented in the rockshelter. Excavations at the rock shelter from 1969 to 1972 recovered seven pieces of charcoal and bone that were
radiocarbon
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...
dated to between 1,750 and 13,000 years BP. The excavation also recovered over 1,600 stone artifacts as well as many pieces of bone and red ochre. The stone artifacts include unifacial choppers, bifacial chopping tools, perforated stone rings, adzes and scrapers. Excavations in the larger cave conducted by Ben Marwick
Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right.
Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( ...
in 2016 revealed deposits dating to 65,000 years ago, and flaked stone artefacts dating to 25,000 years ago.
A small Buddhist stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumambu ...
has been erected at the eastern end of the rockshelter, and several stupas of varying sizes have been built in the chambers of the cave.
See also
*Prehistory of Burma
The prehistory of Burma (Myanmar) spanned hundreds of millennia to about 200 BCE. Archaeological evidence shows that the '' Homo erectus'' had lived in the region now known as Burma as early as 750,000 years ago, and the ''Homo sapiens'' about 1 ...
*
References
{{Navbox prehistoric caves Burmese culture Archaeological sites in Myanmar Caves of Myanmar Geography of Shan State