Speleologists from All Over the World Tour and Study National Park Caves

ICS participants enjoy a guided tour of
Slaughter Canyon (New) Cave

The 15th International Congress of Speleology, themed “Karst Horizons,” has been going on all week in Kerrsville, Texas, and will conclude Sunday. The Park Service not only co-sponsored this year’s meeting, but also offered visiting cave enthusiasts and scientists the option to participate in field camps and guided excursions in various NPS units with caves.

Sponsored by the International Union of Speleology, an organization with 62 member nations, the ICS is a once-every-four-years gathering that attracts people from all over the world who have a passionate interest in caves and karst landscapes. Scientists and other serious cave enthusiasts know that ICS programs and activities give them outstanding opportunities to learn more about caves and to swap stories and promote and share ideas about all aspects of cave research and enjoyment. There’s cave exploration, cave mapping, cave science, cave microbiology, cave management, caving equipment and techniques, cave diving, cave rescue, cave photography, caving sociology, and … well, you get the picture. If you want details, have a look at the master schedule for the 15th ICS.

The Door to Hell – Burning Gas Crater in Darvaza, Turkmenistan

There are several places around the world that locals believe are a door to hell.

Endless catacombs beneath the city of Paris, France for example or Dimmuborgir  lava formations in Iceland. When it comes to sheer jaw-dropping effect, however, The Door to Hell by Darvaza in Turkmenistan takes the cake. I would also classify Darvaza as one of the places that should be on the must-visit list of every serious explorer who likes to visit Earth’s most breath-taking sites. Darvaza is a gas crater the burning gates of which have been flaming for upwards of 37 years.

The last supper of the hominids establishes the times they lived at the sites

This is the site of the entry of Arago's cave (in the circle)
in the south of France (near Perpiñán).

In the French cave of Arago, an international team of scientists has analyzed the dental wear of the fossils of herbivorous animals hunted by Homo heidelbergensis. It is the first time that an analytical method has allowed the establishment of the length of human occupations at archaeological sites. The key is the last food that these hominids consumed.

For many years, the mobility of the groups of hominids and how long they spent in caves or outdoors has been a subject of discussion among scientists. Now, an international team headed by researchers from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) in Tarragona has based its studies on the dental fossils of animals hunted by hominids in order to determine the vegetation in the environment and the way of life of Homo heidelbergensis.

Florent Rivals is the main author and a researcher from the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), attached to the IPHES in Tarragona. "For the first time, a method has been put forward which allows us to establish the relative length of the human occupations at archaeological sites as, up until now, it was difficult to ascertain the difference between, for example, a single long-term occupation and a succession of shorter seasonal occupations in the same place", he explained to SINC.

In the study, recently published in the Journal of Human Evolution, the researchers analyze the dental wear of the ungulates (herbivorous mammals) caused by microscopic particles of opaline silica in plants. These marks appear when eating takes place and erase the previous ones. This is why they are so useful.

Fish on the menu of our ancestors

This is the lower mandible of the 40,000-year-old human
skeleton, found in the Tianyuan Cave near Beijing.
Analyses of collagen extracted from this bone prove that
this individual was a regular consumer of fish.

The isotopic analysis of a bone from one of the earliest modern humans in Asia, the 40,000 year old skeleton from Tianyuan Cave in the Zhoukoudian region of China (near Beijing), by an international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and Washington University in Saint Louis has shown that this individual was a regular fish consumer (PNAS, 07.07.2009).

Freshwater fish are a major part of the diet of many peoples around the world, but it has been unclear when fish became a significant part of the year-round diet for early humans. Chemical analysis of the protein collagen, using ratios of the isotopes of nitrogen and sulphur in particular, can show whether such fish consumption was an occasional treat or part of the staple diet.

The isotopic analysis of the diet of one of the earliest modern humans in Asia, the 40,000 year old skeleton from Tianyuan Cave near Beijing, has shown that at least this individual was a regular fish consumer. Michael Richards of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology explains "Carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of the human and associated faunal remains indicate a diet high in animal protein, and the high nitrogen isotope values suggest the consumption of freshwater fish." To confirm this inference the researchers measured the sulphur isotope values of terrestrial and freshwater animals around the Zhoukoudian area and of the Tianyuan human.

Bulgarian Speleologists Discover Unique Thracian Sanctuary

A Thracian cave sanctuary has been discovered in northern Bulgaria.

Speleologists from the city of Veliko Tarnovo have discovered an absolutely unique Thracian sanctuary in Northern Bulgaria.

The news has been announced by Evgeni Koev from the speleological club "Dervent" based in Veliko Tarnovo. The speleologists came across the Thracian sanctuaryseveral days ago as they were studying cavern objects along the Danube.

Koev has preferred not to reveal the exact location of the sanctuary, which in his words is similar to the so called "Womb Cave" near the southern city of Kardzhali. It includes tombs, niches, and an altar.

There also drawings of humans on the walls of the cave which look differently depending on the intensity of the sunlight falling on them.

Koev believes that the fact that the sanctuary is located in a very inaccessible area has saved it from treasure hunters; in his words, the complex is in an excellent condition.

Source: Novonite