Padah-Lin Caves
| Padah-Lin Cave Sign with cave layout and rock art | |
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| Alternative name | Padalin |
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| Location | Ywangan Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar |
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The Padah-Lin Caves (Burmese: ဗဒလင်းဂူ, pronounced [bədəlíɰ̃ ɡù]; also Padalin or Badalin[1]) are limestone caves located in Taunggyi District, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar). It is located near a path from Nyaunggyat to Yebock,[2] on a spur of the Nwalabo mountains within the Panlaung Reserved Forest.[3] There are two caves; the smaller of the two is a rock shelter while the larger cave comprises nine chambers connected by narrow passages in a north-south axis, three large sinkholes that let natural light in, and several active speleothem formations.[4]
History
[edit | edit source]A superficial investigation of the caves in Shan State had been performed by the American South-East Expedition for Early Man in 1937 and 1938, and geologist U Khin Maung Kyaw discovered the paintings in 1960.[3] In 1969–1972, the Burmese government organized a more in-depth investigation,[3] and another expedition to the caves was mounted in 2004.[1]
The site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 4 October 1996 in the Cultural category.[5]
Contents
[edit | edit source]Red ochre paintings of human hands, fish, bulls, bison, deer and other objects are visible at the rock shelter.[5] The art has not been directly dated. The walls of the cave have also been decorated with carved patterns.[6] More than 300 cupules have been documented in the rockshelter.[1]
Excavations at the rock shelter from 1969 to 1972 recovered seven pieces of charcoal and bone that were radiocarbon dated to between 1,750 and 13,000 years BP.[4] The excavation also recovered over 1,600 stone artifacts as well as many pieces of bone and red ochre.[3] The stone artifacts include unifacial choppers, bifacial chopping tools, perforated stone rings, adzes and scrapers.[4] Excavations in the larger cave conducted by Ben Marwick in 2016 revealed deposits dating to 65,000 years ago, and flaked stone artefacts dating to 25,000 years ago.[7]
A small Buddhist stupa 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
[edit | edit source]- Prehistory of Burma
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References
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- ^ a b Badah-lin and associated caves - UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Retrieved 2009-03-03.
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