15 Shocking Discoveries Made By Scientists In Caves That Were Sealed For Millions Of Years

Caves have a subconscious hold on our imaginations because they were not only shelter from the elements for our forefathers, but also symbols of the womb, gateways to the underworld, and places of wonder and mystery. Join us, as we look at 15 shocking discoveries made by scientists in caves that were sealed for millions of years.

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Movile Cave Romania

Movile Cave is a cave in Constanța County, Romania, about a few kilometers from the Black Sea coast. Cristian Lascu discovered it in 1986 at the bottom of an artificial shaft dug for geological research. It is notable for its distinctive groundwater ecosystem, which is rich in hydrogen sulfide, methane, and ammonia but deficient in oxygen. Speleogenesis in this area began in the late Miocene, 5.5 million years ago, and continues today due to the action of sulfuric acid produced by sulfide oxidation in the cave's lower part. Movile Cave was the first subterranean chemosynthesis-based ecosystem to be discovered.

175000-Year-Old Stalagmite Cave

Researchers have discovered that Neanderthals built stalagmite walls in a French cave for unknown reasons. Experts describe their quest to investigate and date a collection of strange structures found inside Bruniquel Cave in southern France. The cave's entrance collapsed thousands of years ago, closing it off to exploration until local speleologists discovered it in 1990. They discovered multiple semicircular walls made of broken-off stalagmites inside.

There were no footprints inside the cave, but there was a burnt bone nearby that was so old that carbon dating couldn't confirm its age, which is only accurate for objects up to 50,000 years old. What they discovered is even more mysterious than the stacked stalagmites themselves: fire traces within the semicircles. The stalagmites were stacked around 175,000 years ago, according to uranium dating, making them among the oldest structures ever built by a human relative.

Nobody knows what the hearth-like structures were used for. They could have been used in rituals or simply to keep Neanderthals warm. The most intriguing of these possibilities is ritual use. That explanation would be consistent with what scientists already know about Neanderthals, who were intelligent enough to make their own tools and bury their dead. The stalagmite structures are a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but just knowing they were built by Neanderthals gives a new appreciation for that long-gone group's brains—and building savvy.

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