Since the end of the 18th century, the descendants of the first settlers have lived in a special way in the Old Believer village of Serpievka. This is in the South Urals, in the Katav-Ivanovsky region.
By habit, locals are wary of strangers and keep memories of the times when services were held away from prying eyes in one of the many caves here - Bell. The entrance to the cave really looks like a bell. Underground services lasted until the 30s of the 20th century. Natural shelter helped local residents to keep secrets in order to avoid repressions of which at all times there were many against the Old Believers. Local residents have invented a whole system of conditioned signals. A special cord was disguised at the entrance to the cave.
It was connected to a bell in one of the distant halls. Only Old Believers were initiated into this mystery. As they entered the cave, they rang the bell. If footsteps were heard, but the bell was silent, then a stranger came and an urgent need to hide.
Length bell caves 190 meters. In addition to the main move, there are several branches and secret holes hidden from random people. Nobody carried out special experiments, but the old-timers say that fifty people could easily hide in the back streets and remain unnoticed here. One of the small halls of the cave is called a cell. Washed up in rock with water, and then processed by human hands, stand here a bench and a sofa. They lived in this room, hiding from the royal authorities. However, the Old Believers were far from the first people to appreciate the vastness Bell cave... Washing away the soot and soot left by the torches, the scientists discovered drawings made with red ocher on the stones. By radiocarbon dating, it was determined that the age of these drawings is 14.5 thousand years. Here was the preparation for the initiation ceremony. Boys had to pass tests of courage and courage and prove that they were worthy to bear the title of a man. This was an important stage in the life of every member of the tribe.
At the same time, entering the cave, the boys could not use a torch or torch, but remain in complete darkness. They moved, apparently finding by touch some signs set for them. Each boy had to take out some kind of stone with a sign as proof of his courage and show it to the leader.
Ancient runes found in the Bell Tower.
It is considered one of the most beautiful in the South Urals. Through the thickness of the earth, water enriched with minerals penetrates here, flows along the walls and forms amazingly beautiful drawings, bizarre lines, graceful bends. it a natural phenomenon experts call calcite rivers. People with a rich imagination can see a panther in the cave. She seemed to freeze, listening to what was happening. And you will come from the other side and the panther will turn into a cobra. There is also a rhino and guards and a bull's head. These are all calcite formations.
The Kolokolnaya Cave begins right after the Small Serpievsky Grotto. Their entrances are separated by a small wall, perhaps they will someday connect or, conversely, were once connected.
The entrance to the Bell Tower is high, and then there is a high corridor. You can walk through almost the entire cave without ever bending over. Friends walked along the main gallery, and my son and I walked along a narrow round manhole, almost all the time we had to crawl. As a result, we met with them in the big hall.
In this room there are many small stalactites and stalagmites, apparently large ones have already been broken off, and traces are visible. From this hall there are a couple of narrow manholes ending in dead ends.
The Bell Cave, like Mayskaya, has one main corridor, it is simply unrealistic to get lost in it. Just like in this cave, almost all walls of corridors and manholes are smooth, as if polished by regular visitors.
It also contains cave paintings that we, unfortunately, did not find. Apparently due to the fact that almost everything in it is smoked from torches. But there are many modern inscriptions, ranging from the 50s of the last century, ending with this year. And so throughout the Serpievsky cave city, and not only in Kolokolnaya.
Ignatievskaya cave
Ignatevskaya cave - the oldest art Gallery primitive man. The cave is located in the Katav-Ivanovsky district, near the village of Serpievka.
Ignatievskaya cave is dry and easy to visit. A wide but low entrance leads inside from the arched entrance grotto. From there you get to the main gallery of the Stolba, more than 130 meters long, which leads to the grotto of the Stolba, from which you can get to the distant grotto on the "second floor" called the "Cell of Elder Ignatius".
Ignatievskaya cave (in Bashkirian Yamazy-Tash) is small in size (total length of passages is 540 m), two-storey, known since the middle of the last century and has been repeatedly surveyed. But only in 1980 in its distant grottoes under a layer of soot and inscriptions of modern "savages" were drawings ancient manapplied with red ocher. Unlike the painting of the Kapova Cave, in Ignatievskaya it is not clear silhouettes that prevail, but conventional figures in the form of lines and spots of paint, which were made about 15-16 thousand years ago.
One of the most famous caves Russia, Ignatievskaya cave has a rich and mysterious history. It is located on the right bank of the Sim River, 7 km downstream from the village of Serpievka, Katav-Ivanovsky District. The cave was declared a cultural monument of regional and then federal significance, and this is not surprising. It is here that the "art gallery" of ancient people of the Paleolithic era is located - there are about 40 groups of drawings in total.
This rock art, according to experts, already 14 thousand years old. On the walls, bulls, mammoths, scenes of hunting for them, as well as still undeciphered geometric symbols are depicted quite realistically. At one time the cave was sacred place for ancient people, a kind of temple. There are only three similar caves with Paleolithic drawings of ancient people in Russia: Kapova in Bashkiria, Ignatievskaya and Kolokolnaya near the village. Serpievka in Chelyabinsk region.
Another feature of the Ignatievskaya Cave is the many legends and legends associated with it. It is believed that an old hermit named Ignatius lived here for a long time, and the cave was named after him. What kind of person he was is a mystery, however, there are rumors that it was Emperor Alexander I, who changed the throne to the peace and quiet of a hermit. According to another legend, the elder was not the emperor himself, but his brother, the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich.
Bell cave
The cave is located in the Katav-Ivanovsky district of the Chelyabinsk region near the village of Serpievka (1.5 km south-east of the village), 300 m downstream of the river. Sim (on the right bank) from the bridge on the Katav-Ivanovsk highway - Serpievka village and 50 meters from the Maiskaya cave. The cave was founded in dense light gray limestones of the Devonian age. The entrance to the cave is oriented towards the South-East, it has the shape of an arch 3 m high and 4 m wide. It is located 11 m above the river level. 5.5 m after the entrance, the vault of the cave drops. The cave of the corridor-grotto type, developing in the direction of the North-West, is a gallery 2 to 5 m wide and 1 to 6-8 m high (in grottoes). At a distance of 30 m from the entrance and further up to 70 m parallel to the main corridor there is a passage - "Metro", connected with the main passages. The Metro passage is rather narrow - 1.2 m wide and 1 m high and has very smooth walls and a semicircular ceiling. Half of the course is clay and dry. From the "Metro", which is about 40 m long, to the left - into the main corridor there are three passages, which are located at a distance of 2 m, 13 m, 10 m. In the cave there are several distinct grottoes with vaults of 6 - 8 m high and 5 to 10 m wide. All of them formed at the intersection of cracks with the main gallery. There are four halls in the cave:
1st from the entrance - "Narrow" - 4.5 X 10 m. And up to 6 m high.
2nd from the entrance - "Round"
3rd from the entrance - "Stalactite" - 20 X 8 X 4 m.
4th from the entrance - "Dalny" - 9 X 8 X 5 m.
Connecting with the main passage "Metro" forms the "Stalactite" hall, which is connected with the "Dalny" 20-meter gallery. At the entrance to "Dalniy" there is an organ pipe up to 10 m high. On the right, in the side of the hall, there are small gurus, cave pearls, and small pebbles. To the left of the hall are two narrow walkways up to 0.8 m wide. Before the walkways there are active gurus. Both walkways are connected after 15 m into one corridor 5 
m., 10 m long and 1.2 m high. There are three lakes in the left walkway. On the walls, streaky formations from which many are repulsed. In the same passage, 7 m from the hall, an organ pipe 2.5 m high, in which there are also many chips, goes up. The corridor rises by 30? and ends with two dead ends that form a rounded grotto. One of the dead ends is directed to the west, and the other to the east. In the western dead-end, the dimensions of which are 3 X 1.2 X 1.4 m, the walls and ceiling are covered with mondmilh (moon milk). On the left is a stalagmite - there are inscriptions on the walls. In the eastern dead-end, the dimensions of which are 5 X 2 X 1.3 m, there are drip formations, many chips. On the right is a stalagnat. In the entire cave, the floor is made of clay, rubble, and fragments of bedrock. In the "Dalny" grotto, the floor is covered with sintered calcite bark. The walls of the cave are smooth, in places corroded by water flows that once existed here. In the grottoes "Stalactite" and "Dalniy", dripping is observed in summer, puddles on the floor. Winter ice drip formations. At one time the cave had calcite decorations - drip crusts, stalactites, stalagmites. At present, they have been preserved in the Stalactite grotto, but they have been significantly smoked with torches and chipped off. According to stories local residents in this cave were performed religious rites, therefore it was named "Bell". The cave is mostly horizontal along its entire length.
Bell, Serpievskaya 2, Simskaya 1, cave. Complex natural-historical and geological-geomorphological monument of regional significance (1985). Horizontal karst cavity of a corridor-grotto type with a system of circular passages.
The cave was founded in a massif of Upper Devonian light gray limestones. It is located in the Katav-Ivanovsky district, on the right bank of the Sim River, 1.5 km southeast of the village of Serpievka, 50 m south of the Skala Ring karst arch.
The main entrance to the cave is oriented to the south, has the shape of a regular arch 3 m high and 4 m wide.A few meters east of it, at the base of the rocky outcrop, there is another entrance hole up to 0.5 m in diameter. 30 m from the entrance from the main corridor begins a narrow passage that runs parallel; for 40 m, it is connected to the main gallery by 3 short through passages (a system of 4 circular passages is formed; a similar system of 2 circular passages is available in another grotto).
There are 4 grottoes in the cave: the first (Narrow) - the largest: long. 10 m, 4.5 m wide and 6 m high. It is followed by the Round grotto. It is adjoined by the Stalactite grotto, connected to the last grotto (Far) by the 20th gallery. The far one ends in a narrow hole (0.7x1 m), behind which the floor of the cave goes down steeply. The right wall has a ledge with 2 holes 3 m deep. The cave ends with 2 dead-end passages, at the intersection of which a small rounded hall was formed. There is a siphon in the floor of one of these passages, which blocks further advance into the depths of the massif.
Calcite formations (sinter crust, corallites and scallops on the walls, covering crust on the floor) are found in small quantities in the 2nd and 3rd grottoes, in the far part of the cave there are much more of them. Some specimens of stalactites and stalagmites have been preserved in hard-to-reach places. In the entrance part of the cave, within the limits of illumination, mosses, lichens, ferns grow. Bats live in the depths of the cavity.
Ice stalactites and stalagmites of considerable size are formed in large numbers in the main corridor and the Round Grotto in the winter-spring period. During periods of high spring-summer floods, water from the Sim River enters the cave through cracks and karst channels and floods its distant part; Then, on the floor of the Dalny and Stalactite grottoes, a vast underground lake up to 1.5 m deep is formed.
The total length of the cave passages is 213 m, the average height is 2.2 m, the floor area is 939 m2, and the volume of the cavity is 2066 m3.
According to the testimony of local residents, religious rites were performed in the cave in the 2nd half of the 19th century (hence the name).
In the 1950-1960s. the cave was investigated by karst scientists from ChGPI (A.D.Sysoev, V.N.Dubovik, etc.); in 1975 a group of speleologists from the Chelyabinsk club "Pluto" (headed by E. A. Saburenkov) made a topographic plan and description. 1982-1984 the cave was explored by members of an archaeological expedition led by VT Petrin. In loose sediments on the floor, traces of the presence of ancient animals and people were recorded. The main discovery is 8 groups of Paleolithic drawings on the walls of the main corridor of the cave (for more details see Serpievskaya 2). The cave is of great scientific and practical, historical and memorial, cultural, educational and tourist and excursion significance.
Official information
Country Israel
Biblical city of the Forefathers period.
General information about the biblical city of Adulam
Adulam is an area in Central Israel between Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, west and northwest of the Hebron Mountains. Its name repeats the name of the one who was here ancient city Adulam (Adullam, Odullom, Eglon).
The first mention of Adulam falls on the period of the Forefathers (Genesis 38: 1; Joshua 15: 35). The name Adulam also occurs as the name of a fortified city in the land of the Canaanites, which even served as the capital of the Canaanite kings. This city was one of the oldest Canaanite settlements and lay in a lowland known as Shefely. The city was captured by Joshua during his capture of Canaan and numbered among the possession of the tribe of Judah (Jehuvah) (Joshua 12:15). Moreover, its coordinates are given quite accurately: 15-20 miles southeast of Jerusalem. Subsequently, the city was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11: 7) and is called by the prophet Micah (1:15): the glory of Israel. " It will go up to Odollam, the glory of Israel
".
This place is also associated with the story of King David and the war with the Philistines. Adulam is repeatedly mentioned as an example of an impregnable and strong fortress. Adulam existed inIV century, which is mentioned in the books of the Maccabees and what Eusebius reported in the "Onomasticon". Adulam ceased to exist in the middleVI in. after the Arab conquest of the country. Adullam is identified with Tel al-Sheikh Mazkur, 15 km north-east of Bet Gavrin.
IN national park Adulam
today you can see two archaeological complexes - the Tel of the ancient city Khurvat
("Ruins", "ruins") And three
and the area of \u200b\u200bthe settlement, ancient burials and columbariums Khurvat Midras.
In Hurvat Itri, there are many wineries, columbariums, residential and industrial premises. Apparently, in the period before the destruction of the Second Temple in the 1st century AD, this settlement was very large, its area exceeded 12 hectares.
"Midras" in translation means "insole" or "outsole". A settlement existed here from the Late Bronze Age (according to other sources, from the beginning of the Iron Age, approx. 1000 BC) in the periods of the First (X-VI centuries BC) and the Second(VI century BC -I c.) temples and during Byzantium (according to other sources, until the end of the Period of Roman rule, IV century AD). Some researchers believe that Khurvat Midras was one of the fortresses of King Assa (2 Chronicles 14: 7). The area of \u200b\u200bthe settlement, together with the graves adjacent to it from the west, south and east, as well as underground water basins, various caves and other structures, is 25 hectares. The settlement itself occupied the northern slope of the hill. Here - a number of caves-columbariums for raising pigeons, both for food and as a temple sacrifice, water basins, a huge necropolis that includes several different types burials and caves. The largest is the "Bell" cave (Mearat ha-Paamon), in the wall of which a magnificent network of secluded caves-refuge begins, in which the soldiers of Bar Kokhba hid (the uprising led by Bar Kokhba took place in the period 132-135 AD). BC).
The name "Mearat ha-Paamon" owes its name to the bell-shaped (paamon) form. Ancient builders pierced it (like other bell caves) from top to bottom. The upper entrance to such caves with a depth of about 3 m was made in the form of a narrow neck in solid "nari" limestones. Passing through the hard layers and entering the softer chalk layer, the builders expanded the dungeons. The digging of the numerous bell-shaped caves characteristic of the area, apparently, was carried out for the extraction of limestone, which served building material... But these dungeons also had other uses: housing and storage. Nowadays, the ceiling of Mearat Ha-Paamon around the entrance has collapsed heavily.
An extensive network of secret dungeons from the period of the Bar-Kokhba uprising has been cut down in the wall of Mearat Ha-Paamon. They are a system of multipurpose rooms, connected by underground manholes. In most dungeons you can stand, but from one to the other you need to wade on all fours. A network of secret dungeons served as a refuge for the rebels. In the area of \u200b\u200bKhurvat Midras there are a large number of secret dungeons with places for storing food, oil and water.
General information about the Lusit Caves (from published sources)
The Lusit system of bell-shaped caves is located about a kilometer from the settlement of the same name, near the city of Beit Shemesh in Central Israel. It includes two complexes of man-made caves - Kolokol and Columbarium (the latter may have served as a dovecote). It is believed to be the remains of a quarry from the Hellenistic period. First, building stone was mined in the Lusit caves, then the caves were used for housing, storing supplies and burying the dead. Some caves are connected by manholes.
