Padah-Lin Caves

The Padah-Lin Caves (Burmese: ဗဒလင်းဂူ, pronounced ; also Padalin or Badalin) are limestone caves found in Taunggyi District, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar). They sit close to a path connecting Nyaunggyat to Yebock, resting on a spur of the Nwalabo mountains inside the Panlaung Reserved Forest.

These caves include two main spaces; a smaller rock shelter and a larger cave with nine linked rooms. The bigger cave has narrow paths running north to south, three large holes in the roof that let in sunlight, and many growing mineral formations called speleothems.

History

People first looked inside the Padah-Lin Caves in 1937 and 1938. A geologist found paintings there in 1960. The Burmese government did more studies from 1969 to 1972, and another visit happened in 2004.

In 1996, the caves were added to the list of possible world heritage sites by UNESCO for its cultural importance.

Contents

The Padah-Lin Caves have beautiful paintings of human hands, fish, bulls, bison, deer, and other objects on their walls. These paintings have not been given exact dates. The cave walls also have carved patterns, and more than 300 round dents called cupules have been found in the rockshelter.

Excavations at the rockshelter between 1969 and 1972 found pieces of charcoal and bone that were tested and found to be between 1,750 and 13,000 years old. They also found over 1,600 stone tools and many pieces of bone and red ochre. In 2016, more digging in the larger cave found deposits that are about 65,000 years old and stone tools that are about 25,000 years old.

A small Buddhist stupa has been built at the eastern end of the rockshelter, and several stupas of different sizes have been placed in the cave chambers.

Red ochre cupules radiocarbon dated BP Buddhist stupa