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Verteba
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Verteba Cave (Ukrainian: Печера Вертеба) is a unique karstic gypsum cave located near the village of Bilche-Zolote in the Ternopil Oblast of Ukraine, set on the Podolian Upland near the Seret River.
Key Highlights:
- Prehistoric Heritage: It is the only cave in the region showing signs of Copper Age human occupation, inhabited periodically by members of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. Thousands of artifacts—including ceramics, clay figurines, tools, and human remains—have been uncovered here.
- Museum of Trypillian Culture: Partially opened to the public in 2004 as a show cave, it hosts an underground museum displaying archaeological finds discovered over the past 200 years.
- Holocaust Refuge: Between October 1942 and April 1943, 28 local Jews hid in the cave to escape the Holocaust before relocating to Priest's Grotto. Their survival story inspired the book The Secret of Priest's Grotto and the 2012 documentary No Place on Earth.