The Mysterious Treasures, Skeletal Remains and Nymphs of Cioclovina Cave
Of all the myths of Romania, this may be one of the most mysterious. Deep in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania, over rivers, streams, and beyond a waterfall lies the Cioclovina Cave, a cathedral-like home to tombs, mysterious Scandinavian and Mesopotamian treasures, skeletal remains, nymphs, and an unimaginable amount of bats.
Archeologists have concluded this may have been a subterranean temple to nymphs dating back 3,300 years ago. Among the treasures found were women’s bronze and Mesopotamian and Egyptian glass jewelry, Nordic amber beads, and horse-riding gear left in three places alongside pottery and sacrificial offerings.
Scientists believe that Transylvania was part of a global trade route some 3,000 years ago and that these items were stored at a different location then washed into the depths of the cave with seasonal flooding.
A nymph by definition is a mythological spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations. Homeric texts describe these earth/spirit connections in the Odyssey “At the head of the harbor is a long-leafed olive tree, and near it is a pleasant, shadowy cave sacred to the nymphs called naiads” and again “Cold water flowed down from the rock above, and on the top was built an altar of the nymphs where all passers-by made offerings”.
Blue glass beads, amber beads, and bronze were female jewels. Pair that with the bones of sacrificial animals and you have yourself a site of worship of a female deity. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it most definitely is cool.
