Taurida cave
The Taurida Cave is a karst cave in the south of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia , in the area of the municipality of Zuya in the Bilohirsk district . It contains important palaeontological finds.
The entrance shaft to the cave was discovered in June 2018 during the construction of the Taurida trunk road (P260 Kerch-Simferopol-Sevastopol). With a previously explored length of around 1015 meters, it is the largest known karst cave in the Crimea. It consists of a system of galleries connected by labyrinthine passages. The main galleries are up to 12 meters high, an average of 6–8 meters. Their width is up to 8 meters, on average 4–5 meters. Geophysical measurements (geoelectrical tomography) showed that unexplored parts of the cave existed. Since the cave galleries are quite close to the surface (the entrance is about 14 meters deep), considerable subsidence was found in the area of the road, which is why a concrete slab resting on piles was installed under this section in 2019 to strengthen it.
Inside, fragments of bones and teeth from pre-glacial animals, especially mammoths (mastodons), were discovered. Remains of the following species were also found: Southern elephant seal (Archidiskodon meridionalis), two species of horses (Equus stenonis and small Equus sp.), Two rhinos ( Stephanorhinus sp. ) And Elasmotherium ( Elasmotherium sp. ), Giant camel (Paracamelus gigas), a deer (Arvernoceros verestchagni), bulls (Leptobos sp.), Bison (Eobison sp.), rabbits (Hypolagus brachygnathus), spiral antelope (Gazellospira torticornis) Pontoceros ambiguus, porcupine (Hystrix vinogradovi) Hyäne ( pachycrocuta brevirostris ), ox (Canis sp.), a large saber-toothed cat ( Homotherium crenatidens ) and various species of birds. Some bones are split, suggesting the presence of hominids . Unexpectedly, the bones of a prehistoric giant ratite species were found in the cave, which had already been identified in Georgia in 1990 . At around 3.50 m tall and weighing around 450 kg, it was similar in size to the elephant birds of Madagascar , but was a faster runner. A research group at the Russian Academy of Sciences around Nikita V. Zelenkov assigned the bones to the species Pachystruthio dmanisensis , which was first described in 1990 by Nikolai Jossifowitsch Burtschak-Abramowitsch and Abesalom Vekua as Struthio dmanisensis .
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.perekop.ru/unikalnaya-karstovaya-peshchera-v-krymu/
- ↑ https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/tfg-btt062019.php
- ↑ Zelenkov et al .: A giant early Pleistocene bird from eastern Europe - unexpected component of terrestrial faunas at the time of early Homo arrival , Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology