Cave people: how they live in ancient cities in our time. How did ancient people live? People who lived in caves
Where the caveman ruled. It lasted many hundreds of thousands of years, unlike the second, which was at most several thousand years old.
The first people on the planet
It was the cavemen who, thanks to their work, eventually turned into modern man. At the same time, culture emerged. At that time the communities were small. Their organization was the most primitive. Just like everyday life. Therefore, that period is sometimes called primitive. Initially, cave people were engaged in gathering and hunting, making stone devices for these purposes. In such communities, equality of rights and responsibilities prevailed, and there was no class discrimination. Relationships were built on the basis
According to scientists, the caveman appeared about 2.5 million years ago as a result of the evolution of Australopithecus. The main difference is considered to be the beginning of stone processing and the creation of primitive tools from it. With such tools, cavemen cut branches, butchered carcasses after hunting, split bones, and dug roots out of the ground. According to the classification of such people, it is customary to call them a skillful person. Their abilities were limited to walking on their feet and the ability to hold a stone and a stick, and minimal logical actions to make simple tools for hunting. The groups were small.
Pithecanthropus
About one million years ago, Pithecanthropus, the ape-man, appeared. His brain size was significantly larger than his. Accordingly, he was able to make more complex tools. For example, scrapers, choppers of the correct geometric shape. However, the functions of the tools remained the same: digging, planing, hunting and cutting up the results of the hunt. The beginning of the Ice Age significantly influenced the life and adaptation to natural disasters of cave people. Man has adapted to life in many climatic zones and zones, and scientists find traces of Pithecanthropus in the regions of Europe, Northern China and Africa. These signs indicate that the habitat's geography has expanded significantly. Migration was facilitated by the emergence of land zones due to a decrease in the level of the World Ocean.
How cavemen used to live
Pithecanthropus often built their homes near water sources. The caveman already understood that water sources were habitats for animals and, therefore, a source of food. A significant number of dangers forced people to gather in large groups to ensure safety, as well as to facilitate hunting.
Life of a caveman. Neanderthal
Neanderthal man appeared 250 thousand years ago. Homo sapiens evolved from Pithecanthropus as a result of environmental influences and the development of labor skills. This stage of human development was named after the valley in which its remains were first found. Outwardly, he already had a great resemblance to modern man. A low forehead, a rough build, a sloping chin - these are the main distinguishing features that distinguished this caveman. Photos modeled on the remains give an idea of all the strength and power that these creatures possessed.
Neanderthals massively populated areas such as southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. The main dwellings were caves. Often the cave had to be recaptured from bears who came there for winter hibernation. The power of the cave people is also evidenced by the fact that they were able to kill these large animals, whose length sometimes reached three meters. Massive remains of bear bones were discovered in caves in many European countries, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others.
Mental development of a caveman
Since the mental abilities of Neanderthals were higher than those of Pithecanthropus, their tools were significantly improved. The quality of workmanship has improved significantly. Also, the shape has become more regular and varied. The technology for processing stone material has accelerated. The main achievement of the Neanderthals was the ability to make fire.
The high level of mental development of cavemen is evidenced by the fact that the tools found in different parts of the world differed from each other. That is, their development took place independently in different regions. Scientists suggest that racial differences between people also appeared during this same period. The physical characteristics of ancient people also change, which directly depend on the region where they lived.
The cultural level of cavemen also increased. In groups, relationships become stronger. There is an understanding of generational change. And, consequently, Neanderthals begin to bury their dead using primitive rituals. Often burials took place in caves. People of that time had a special attitude towards skulls. Their burials were carried out in special pits, probably due to some beliefs or everyday customs.
Unlike Pithecanthropus, Homo sapiens did not abandon the sick and disadvantaged. It is likely that people of that time were already obtaining much more food than was necessary for survival. Consequently, it became possible to support dependents.
Rituals
Artifacts found from that time indicate that Neanderthals performed some rituals. So, in several caves they were found arranged in a certain order. Such an installation is very reminiscent of an altar for religious ceremonies.
It is known that the distinguishing feature of the ape from the representative of the human race is the mass of the brain, namely 750 g. This is how much is necessary for a child to master speech. Ancient people spoke in a primitive language, but their speech is a qualitative difference between the higher nervous activity of humans and the instinctive behavior of animals. The word, which became a designation for actions, labor operations, objects, and subsequently general concepts, acquired the status of the most important means of communication.
Stages of human development
It is known that there are three of them, namely:
- the oldest representatives of the human race;
- modern generation.
This article is devoted exclusively to the 2nd of the above stages.
History of Ancient Man
About 200 thousand years ago, the people we call Neanderthals appeared. They occupied an intermediate position between representatives of the most ancient family and the first modern man. Ancient people were a very heterogeneous group. A study of a large number of skeletons led to the conclusion that, in the process of the evolution of Neanderthals, against the background of structural diversity, 2 lines were determined. The first was focused on powerful physiological development. Visually, the most ancient people were distinguished by a low, strongly sloping forehead, a low back of the head, a poorly developed chin, a continuous supraorbital ridge, and large teeth. They had very powerful muscles, despite the fact that their height was no more than 165 cm. The mass of their brain had already reached 1500 g. Presumably, ancient people used rudimentary articulate speech.
The second line of Neanderthals had more refined features. They had significantly smaller brow ridges, a more developed chin protuberance, and thin jaws. We can say that the second group was significantly inferior in physical development to the first. However, they already showed a significant increase in the volume of the frontal lobes of the brain.
The second group of Neanderthals fought for their existence through the development of intra-group connections in the process of hunting, protection from an aggressive natural environment, enemies, in other words, by combining the forces of individual individuals, and not through the development of muscles, like the first.
As a result of this evolutionary path, the species Homo sapiens appeared, which translates as “Homo sapiens” (40-50 thousand years ago).
It is known that for a short period of time the life of ancient man and the first modern man was closely interconnected. Subsequently, the Neanderthals were finally supplanted by the Cro-Magnons (the first modern people).
Types of ancient people
Due to the vastness and heterogeneity of the group of hominids, it is customary to distinguish the following varieties of Neanderthals:
- ancient (early representatives who lived 130-70 thousand years ago);
- classical (European forms, the period of their existence 70-40 thousand years ago);
- survivalists (lived 45 thousand years ago).
Neanderthals: daily life, activities
Fire played an important role. For many hundreds of thousands of years, man did not know how to make fire himself, which is why people supported the one that was formed due to a lightning strike or a volcanic eruption. Moving from place to place, the fire was carried in special “cages” by the strongest people. If it was not possible to save the fire, then this quite often led to the death of the entire tribe, since they were deprived of a means of heating in cold weather, a means of protection from predatory animals.
Subsequently, they began to use it for cooking, which turned out to be more tasty and nutritious, which ultimately contributed to the development of their brain. Later, people themselves learned to make fire by striking sparks from stone into dry grass, quickly rotating a wooden stick in their palms, placing one end in a hole in dry wood. It was this event that became one of the most important achievements of man. It coincided in time with the era of great migrations.
The daily life of ancient man boiled down to the fact that the entire primitive tribe hunted. For this purpose, men were engaged in the manufacture of weapons and stone tools: chisels, knives, scrapers, awls. Mostly males hunted and butchered the carcasses of killed animals, that is, all the hard work fell on them.
Female representatives processed skins and collected (fruits, edible tubers, roots, and branches for fire). This led to the emergence of a natural division of labor by gender.
To catch large animals, men hunted together. This required mutual understanding between primitive people. During the hunt, a driving technique was common: the steppe was set on fire, then the Neanderthals drove a herd of deer and horses into a trap - a swamp, an abyss. Next, all they had to do was finish off the animals. There was another technique: they shouted and made noise to drive the animals onto thin ice.
We can say that the life of ancient man was primitive. However, it was the Neanderthals who were the first to bury their dead relatives, laying them on their right side, placing a stone under their head and bending their legs. Food and weapons were left next to the body. Presumably they considered death to be a dream. Burials and parts of sanctuaries, for example, associated with the bear cult, became evidence of the emergence of religion.
Neanderthal tools
They differed slightly from those used by their predecessors. However, over time, the tools of ancient people became more complex. The newly formed complex gave rise to the so-called Mousterian era. As before, tools were made primarily of stone, but their shapes became more diverse, and the turning technique became more complex.
The main weapon preparation is a flake formed as a result of chipping from a core (a piece of flint that has special platforms from which the chipping was carried out). This era was characterized by approximately 60 types of weapons. All of them are variations of 3 main ones: scraper, rubeltsa, pointed tip.
The first is used in the process of butchering an animal carcass, processing wood, and tanning hides. The second is a smaller version of the hand axes of the previously existing Pithecanthropus (they were 15-20 cm in length). Their new modifications had a length of 5-8 cm. The third weapon had a triangular outline and a point at the end. They were used as knives for cutting leather, meat, wood, and also as daggers and dart and spear tips.
In addition to the listed species, Neanderthals also had the following: scrapers, incisors, piercings, notched, and serrated tools.
Bone also served as the basis for their manufacture. Very few fragments of such specimens have survived to this day, and entire tools can be seen even less frequently. Most often these were primitive awls, spatulas, and points.
The tools differed depending on the types of animals that Neanderthals hunted, and, consequently, on the geographic region and climate. Obviously, African tools were different from European ones.
Climate of the area where Neanderthals lived
The Neanderthals were less fortunate with this. They found a strong cold snap and the formation of glaciers. Neanderthals, unlike Pithecanthropus, who lived in an area similar to the African savanna, lived rather in the tundra and forest-steppe.
It is known that the first ancient man, like his ancestors, mastered caves - shallow grottoes, small sheds. Subsequently, buildings appeared located in open space (the remains of a dwelling made from the bones and teeth of a mammoth were found at a site on the Dniester).
Hunting of ancient people
Neanderthals mainly hunted mammoths. He did not live to this day, but everyone knows what this beast looks like, since rock paintings with its image were found, painted by people of the Late Paleolithic. In addition, archaeologists have found the remains (sometimes even the entire skeleton or carcasses in permafrost soil) of mammoths in Siberia and Alaska.
To catch such a large beast, the Neanderthals had to work hard. They dug pit traps or drove the mammoth into a swamp so that it would get stuck in it, then finish it off.
Also a game animal was the cave bear (it is 1.5 times larger than our brown one). If a large male rose on his hind legs, then he reached 2.5 m in height.
Neanderthals also hunted bison, bison, reindeer, and horses. From them it was possible to obtain not only the meat itself, but also bones, fat, and skin.
Methods of making fire by Neanderthals
There are only five of them, namely:
1. Fire plow. This is a fairly fast method, but requires significant physical effort. The essence is to move a wooden stick along the board by pressing hard. The result is shavings, wood powder, which, due to the friction of wood against wood, heats up and smolders. At this point, it is combined with highly flammable tinder, then the fire is fanned.
2. Fire drill. The most common way. A fire drill is a wooden stick that is used to drill into another stick (a wooden plank) located on the ground. As a result, smoldering (smoking) powder appears in the hole. Next, it is poured onto the tinder, and then the flame is fanned. Neanderthals first rotated the drill between their palms, and later the drill (with its upper end) was pressed into the tree, covered with a belt and pulled alternately on each end of the belt, rotating it.
3. Fire pump. This is a fairly modern, but rarely used method.
4. Fire saw. It is similar to the first method, but the difference is that the wooden plank is sawed (scraped) across the fibers, and not along them. The result is the same.
5. Carving fire. This can be done by hitting one stone against another. As a result, sparks are formed that fall on the tinder, subsequently igniting it.
Finds from the Skhul and Jebel Qafzeh caves
The first is located near Haifa, the second is in the south of Israel. They are both located in the Middle East. These caves are famous for the fact that human remains (skeletal remains) were found in them, which were closer to modern people than to the ancients. Unfortunately, they belonged to only two individuals. The age of the finds is 90-100 thousand years. In this regard, we can say that modern humans coexisted with Neanderthals for many millennia.
Conclusion
The world of ancient people is very interesting and has not yet been fully studied. Perhaps, over time, new secrets will be revealed to us that will allow us to look at it from a different point of view.
Caveman - since antiquity, the name of wild people who lived in caves. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the term was especially applied to people who lived during the last ice age, whose remains were found in the oldest cave deposits, in layers dating back to the Paleolithic era.
It was believed that caves were the main residence of Paleolithic people. It is now recognized that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers primarily settled in open areas, and caves were primarily used for storage and ritual purposes.
At first, Europe had a warm and humid climate. We know almost nothing about the people of this time: in the deep layers of the earth, piles of sharpened stones similar to tools are found, but human remains have not yet been discovered. Later, huge ice covered more than half of Europe for a long time; remnants of glaciers still lie on the high ridges of the Alps.
When the ice retreated to the north, the cold remained for several thousand years. At this time, large animals were found in Europe, which have now disappeared or become very rare: rhinoceros, mammoth, i.e. an elephant with thick long hair and strongly curved tusks, a bison, a huge ancient bull, a wild boar, a large (now called reindeer) deer, a cave lion and a cave bear.
You can get an idea about the people of this time. Their skeletons, piles of fragments that served as their tools, and garbage that show what they ate were unearthed in deep, filled-up caves. The lives of these people were surrounded by dangers; their means of subsistence were very scarce. Men went out hunting, waited for the beast, drove it and killed it with a club, stake, sharp bone or stone. They rushed at freshly killed game and ate it right away. Women stayed near the dwellings, collected berries, wild fruits and seeds, and dug roots from the ground. cave housing painting man
The caves themselves, where a person took refuge from the cold and bad weather, were unsafe: sometimes he managed to recapture the beast’s home, but often he himself had to give way to a more terrible rival. The caveman did not know clothes. He protected himself from the cold by skinning an animal; his long hair fluttered in the wind. He rubbed paint on his body or tattooed drawings on it. There was no consistency in his life: having exterminated the game in the neighboring forest, he was forced to abandon his home and look for a new one. He often went hungry for a long time; but when he got rich prey, he ate it with wild greed, forgetting to make a reserve. His sleep was cloudy and heavy. He spoke little and abruptly; celestial phenomena did not interest him. He did not distinguish between good and evil deeds, did not think about a punishing deity, did not ask himself the question of where everything around him came from, who rules the world visible to him. He only knew how to rejoice noisily when there was good luck, and groan heavily when misfortune befell him.
He had one great advantage over animals. He knew fire and knew how to produce it through the friction of dry branches. Until now, no traces have been found of such a wild life in which people were not familiar with fire. A fire built in the middle of the cave brought the family together after a difficult hunt; they warmed themselves around it and spent the night; food was cooked on fire.
Fossil human skulls have also been found in Africa. These people were called Zinjanthropes (from the Arabic word zinji - blacks). The remains of primitive people continued to be found all over the world. Thus, scientists called the primitive man, whose remains were found in China, Sinanthropus (i.e., Chinese man).
There was no shortage of theoretical assumptions. Many hypotheses were put forward regarding the origin and activities of primitive man, but many unresolved questions still remained.
Some scientists believe that people appeared almost simultaneously in Africa, Asia and Europe. Other researchers believe that different groups of people evolved independently, which explains the emergence of different human races.
Recently, Russian scientists put forward a theory that the first man appeared at the same time in southeast Asia and northwestern Africa, where there were more suitable living conditions - the availability of food, warmth and water, and the absence of natural enemies. And only then did he spread throughout the world.
Why did the first people live in caves?
The first man is considered to be the one who walked on two legs, used tools and made fire. The first people, Neanderthals, lived in groups of ten to thirty people, their brain was still poorly developed, it was significantly inferior in development to the brain of modern humans and was close to the brain of an ape. But nevertheless, Neanderthals already knew how to use the simplest tools - sticks and stones.
Compared to animals, it was much more difficult for man to survive in the world around him. To protect himself from predators, he did not have any natural weapons - no horns, no claws, no fangs. In addition, his body was not protected by a layer of wool or down.
Therefore, in the beginning, ancient people lived in trees. They understood that it was much more difficult to attack them there. For the same reason, people settled in caves. Many researchers believe that they imitated animals that dug holes to protect themselves from attack. That is why people preferred to huddle under rocks or climb into caves that strongly resembled dens.
Inside such dens you can find piles of bones - these are the remains of human food. Around the caves, scientists found waste products in the form of fossils. People practically lived like they were in a landfill.
To a modern person, such a smell would seem simply suffocating. Of course, diseases also carried out natural selection; the average age of life did not exceed thirty years; there were practically no old people. Many children died in infancy. The dead were usually buried outside the living cave.
The group consisted of members of the same family. They lived, worked and rested together. As time passed, more and more waste accumulated. Then the community moved on, from one cave to another.
Archaeologists have found that this way of life is characteristic of all primitive people, regardless of their habitat.
However, many more years passed before primitive man began to live better, learned to make fire and make complex tools.
Some scientists believe that the first burials in the ground indicate the performance of certain religious rituals. Research has also suggested that it was during this time that humans developed conscious thought.
What ancient people lived in caves?
Thousands of years ago people did not know how to build houses and therefore lived in stone caves. However, it should be noted that the very first inhabitants of the caves even looked little like us.
Modern scientists call these people Neanderthals. They had very rough features with heavy eyebrows hanging over their eyes. The height of Neanderthals did not exceed 160 cm.
While inside their dwellings, cave people were afraid of the enormous size of the caves and the impenetrable darkness that reigned in them. Therefore, they tried to stay at the entrance to the caves, whose arches protected them from wind, rain and snow, and did not risk climbing inside.
At the end of the Ice Age, the Cro-Magnons - ancient people whose appearance was already much more similar to the appearance of modern people - began to move to Europe. However, they, like the Neanderthals, continued to live in caves.
Gradually their number increased, and there was not enough space in the caves for everyone. Then some of them began to build huts from branches or dig homes in the ground.
It was the Cro-Magnons who were the authors of the famous cave paintings in caves in southern France and northwestern Spain. These drawings are the first works of art created by people. They are very expressive and testify to the rich imagination and talent of their creators, who depicted mainly the animals that the Cro-Magnons hunted: bison, bears, wild boars, mammoths and rhinoceroses.
What were Neanderthals like?
To understand how human development occurred, scientists carefully study everything that remains of primitive people: skeletons, tools of labor and hunting, dishes, etc.
In 1856, the remains of several people were excavated from a limestone cave located in the Neander River valley in Germany. This is how the skeletons of primitive people were discovered for the first time, preserved entirely due to the fact that the ancient cave dwellers buried their dead.
Scientists believe that Neanderthals lived for about 70,000 years in Central Asia, the Middle East and many regions of Europe. They appeared on Earth about 100,000 years ago.
What did a typical Neanderthal look like? He was a strong, squat man. His face was very different from the face of a modern person: flat cheekbones, a heavy, protruding jaw, a low forehead and an almost absent chin - this is the portrait of a normal Neanderthal. Early Neanderthals may have lived outdoors during the warming period between ice ages. However, after a new cold snap, they moved under the cave arches and learned to fight the cold.
Many hearths found in caves prove that these people used fire to warm them and protect them from predators. It is also very likely that they cooked food on it.
Neanderthals knew how to make not only hand axes, but also flint tools. The latter were wide fragments of stones with well-honed edges. Some of them were shaped like irregular triangles and were apparently used as knives for skinning and cutting the flesh of killed animals. It is possible that Neanderthal hunters also had wooden spears that were pointed at the end.
And finally, one very interesting detail about the Neanderthals: their brain was larger in volume than the brain of a modern person!
What were the Cro-Magnons like?
Cro-Magnons were so named because the remains of these cave dwellers were found in the town of Cro-Magnon in the south of France. Also interesting is the fact that experts who studied the skeletons of these cave dwellers found that they were quite civilized and intelligent people. If they lived today, they could become scientists, statesmen or businessmen.
These people lived in turbulent times, surrounded by wild animals and other dangers. Despite this, they found time to make beautiful drawings on the walls of the caves. These drawings have reached our time, are well preserved and delight us with beauty.
These people had a well-developed social life. They lived as families. But since they began to hunt in groups, they had to unite into tribes. They believed in the afterlife: that the dead could rise and be reborn in another world.
Gradually they created more advanced stone tools and new weapons. They learned to carve spears and harpoons from horn and bone, and invented arrows for guns. Women learned to process skins and sew clothes from them using bone needles. As we see, ancient people already had intelligence and reached a high stage of development.
At the very dawn of civilization, our distant ancestors lived in caves and did not even think that it was possible to live any other way. But even today there are people who do not accept the benefits of civilization and live away from others, becoming...
Today there are not many ancient cave cities preserved in the world. Some of them were destroyed by time, some by wars and vandals. But the remaining cave settlements make a huge impression. Especially those in which people still live.
Maymand town in Iran
One of the most ancient cave cities where people still live is the city of Maymand. It is located in Iran near the city of Shiraz. Researchers believe that this village originated more than 12,000 years ago. But it is reliably known that people have been living in it for 3,000 years. Today, several hundred people live in this ancient city.
Maymand has about 350 ancient houses made in natural and artificial caves in the center of the mountain and located at an altitude of 2200 meters. Inside such houses there are several rooms of irregular geometric shape, according to rough estimates there are more than 2000 of them. Residents store their belongings and food in niches carved directly into the rock, and the floors are lined with mats and carpets. The residents of Maymand do not use heaters or fans. And not because there is no electricity in the ancient city. Cave houses are always warm in winter and cool in summer. Previously, the locals cooked right in their kitchen caves, but over time it became unsafe, and the fires were moved outside.
Most of the village residents do not live there permanently, but wander around, driving livestock and farming. However, Maymande is always crowded as tourists often come here. For them, the locals even opened a hotel, restaurant and several cafes right in the cave houses. In addition, Maymand has a bathhouse, a school and several mosques.
The interior decoration of one of Meymand's premises It is noteworthy that the inhabitants of the cave city practically did not feel the influence of the modern world. They speak a dialect close to ancient Persian. They also do not eat modern food, eating what they grow themselves. In 2015, the rock village of Maymand was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, but the locals somehow do not pay attention to this and live as their ancestors lived for many centuries. But in the ancient city of Kandovan, also located in Iran, things are somewhat different.
The village of Kandovan is located in Iran near the city of Tabriz and is most similar to the homes of huge termites. But in the cave houses, carved right into the rocks, it is not insects who live at all, but the most ordinary people. Moreover, they claim that their cave village arose more than 700 years ago. People probably lived in the rocks to protect themselves from the attacks of nomads. Today there is no need for such protection, but the inhabitants of Kandovan stubbornly refuse to leave their cave dwellings. And for good reason. The living conditions in them are quite comfortable.
Today, about 1,000 people live in the cave town of Kandovan. And their houses are truly unique, because they are made inside the rocks. There are even two- and four-story cave houses, inside of which there are several rooms. The apartments also have windows with real frames inserted into them, and even open verandas. Next to the ancient houses, inside the rocks, local residents built premises for livestock and storage rooms. Incredibly, there is electricity in Kandovan; local residents enjoy watching TV and listening to the radio. But they do this in their free time.
Most of the inhabitants of cave houses are engaged in agriculture and raise livestock. Also, for a fee, they allow tourists into their cave houses and introduce them to their way of life. By the way, for tourists in Kandovan there is a real five-star hotel, carved right into the rock. However, some residents of Kandovan do not live permanently in the village, but go to the nearest city to earn money. In addition, there is no school in the cave village, so children also constantly go to the city. The little residents of the Chinese mountain village of Zhongdong, where several years ago the authorities closed the only school, have to do the same.
Chinese village in Zhongdong Cave
There are many megacities in China, but about half of the population lives not in them, but in villages. The standard of living and amenities vary, but the settlement that stands out the most is Zhongdong, located in Guizhou Province. It’s hard to believe, but in a huge cave at an altitude of 1800 meters there is an entire city with several streets and even a basketball court!
Photo: National Geographic It is not known exactly when the first people settled in the cave and how they lived there. But the life of modern inhabitants of the cave city is clearly different from the life of prehistoric people. There are many real huts built in Zhongdong Cave. The walls of these huts, by the way, are made of huge mats woven from leaves. Local residents are practically no different from residents of other villages: they raise livestock, which they keep right there in barns, and engage in folk crafts. However, this was not always the case. The residents of Zhongdong received many of the benefits of civilization not from the Chinese authorities, but from a foreign philanthropist.
How people live in Zhongdong village
The authorities of Guingzhou province practically did not interfere in the life of the cave village. They only strictly followed the rule “one family, one child.” Frank Beddor, a businessman from Minnesota who once visited this village, helped the residents of Zhongdong. He managed to bring electricity to the village and sponsored the construction of useful facilities: a school, a bathhouse and a basketball court. Thus, in 2002, the residents of Zhongdong got television, and children were no longer sent to the boarding schools where they studied. Beddor also purchased several dozen heads of livestock and agricultural equipment. But all good things come to an end sooner or later.
In 2011, the authorities, having learned about the organization of a school in a cave, declared that China is not a prehistoric cave country, and closed the school in Zhongdong. Unfortunately, the kind philanthropist was unable to stand up for his charges; by that time Beddor had already died. Now children living in the cave city have to spend two hours to get to school in the neighboring village. The road is dangerous and winding, but the children are ready to do anything to avoid living in boarding schools. Adults also go to the nearest village to sell milk and meat, as well as hand-made wicker furniture, mats and baskets.
The people of Zhongdong know that outside their cave there is a slightly different world, modern and full of conveniences. But most of them do not want to leave. Only young people rush from the cave city to the big cities, and no one detains them.
Cave city of Uchisar in Turkey
The ancient city of Uchisar is one of the most famous cave settlements in Cappadocia. Many centuries ago, people came to these places and carved out their homes in the soft rocks. Since then, little has changed; inside the cave houses, time seemed to have stopped. The only modern benefit that the residents of Uchisar enjoy is electricity. Otherwise, they live in much the same way as their distant ancestors, taking water from wells and using latrines on the streets. But some of the Ukhhisar residents do not live permanently in cave apartments, but use them as country houses for recreation.
Uchisar also has its own castle, which is a network of cave rooms and passages in a sixty-meter-high rock. That's what it's called - Uchisar Castle. And at its top there is an excellent observation deck, from which a magnificent view of the new and old city of Uchisar opens. There are often excursions to the castle, and tourists along the way look into the cave houses of local residents. They also offer excursions to another ancient cave city, where until recently people lived quite well.
The city of Matera is located in the Basilicata region of Italy and is divided into two parts. In one of them there are stone houses quite familiar to the modern eye. In another, very, very old, houses are carved right into the rock. Also, some dwellings were organized in natural caves, where traces of prehistoric people were discovered. Until the beginning of the 20th century, people lived in the old cave Matera, but they had to leave their cave homes.
The inhabitants of the cave city of Matera themselves called their houses sassi. Sometimes 10 people huddled in one cave, which had a small area. But there were also more spacious dwellings, where you can still see equipment that was advanced at the beginning of the 20th century. As for amenities, the inhabitants of the cave city had their own sewerage system. They also managed to establish a water supply by collecting water in tanks dug right into the rocks. This water was then supplied through a system of pipes to other dwellings; in fact, everyone shared the water with their neighbors below.
People lived in Sassi in the ancient city of Matera in rather cramped circumstances. Often there was only one bed for the whole family in the cave, where the adults slept. Babies slept in hanging cradles, and older children slept in pulled-out dresser drawers. We can say that the residents of the Italian cave city were not spoiled by amenities. They went to the toilet in pots, the contents of which were then poured into the canyon. Perhaps that is why unsanitary conditions reigned in the Sassi of Matera, and disease epidemics periodically broke out.
The city authorities resettled local residents in other houses in the new part of Matera. Today, excursions are conducted for tourists through their homes, and the cave city itself is under the protection of UNESCO.
