Archaeologist Yelena Levanova on the art of the Palaeolithic and the mammoth with a twist
It turns out that vibrant individual personalities exist not
only among humans but also in the animal world. This was the fascinating
insight shared with guests at the National Centre RUSSIA by Yelena Levanova,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Centre for Palaeoart at the
Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Associate
Professor at the Y.V. Knorozov Mesoamerican Centre of the Russian State
University for the Humanities. According to her, proof of this can be found in
a unique example of cave painting from the Upper Palaeolithic — an unusual
mammoth discovered in Kapova Cave in the Republic of Bashkortostan.
"Small-form art from the Upper Palaeolithic is fairly widespread across
the entire territory of Russia. However, cave painting was a challenge for a
long time, until 1959, when Kapova Cave — also known as Shulgan-Tash Cave — was
discovered. In 2025, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is
one of the largest caves in the Southern Urals — a giant karst cavity almost
three kilometres long, dark, with huge collapse areas inside its halls, and
having two storeys, with ancient drawings found on both of them. We see there
many figures of extinct animals, and my personal favourite is the so-called
'dissident mammoth'. That is what archaeologists nicknamed it, and for good
reason: all the other animals in the depictions are facing from west to east,
while this mammoth is facing the opposite direction. So, opposing forces
existed even in ancient times," said Yelena Levanova.
The expert added that virtually all researchers working with rock art dream of finding images of mammoths in caves: "They have this strange obsession with these ancient animals. It is as if, if you have not killed a mammoth, you are not a true Palaeolithic person; and if you have not found a depiction of one, then you are not quite a true researcher of that era. So the mammoth is a very good thing to have."
Yelena Levanova's talk at the National Centre RUSSIA took place as part of the
"Conversations with Stanislav Drobyshevsky" lecture series. This original
educational project of the National Centre RUSSIA opens up the unique
historical and anthropological legacy of our country to audiences and
introduces them to the latest discoveries in the field. The full recording of the talk can be viewed on the russia.ru website in the "Livestreams and Videos" section.
The journey along the Irtysh allowed each couple to see for themselves that they are a true team.
The National Centre RUSSIA has ranked among the top four Russian venues by the number of international events held between 2019 and 2025.
The panel discussion "New Challenges — New Tasks: The Mission of a Deputy in Modern Russia. 120 Years of Parliamentarism in Russia" was held at the National Centre RUSSIA on 3 July.
