Vélez Blanco, the Indalo and the Chaman (Brujo)

Many people probably know that the symbol or logo for the province of Almería is the Indalo. The Indalo looks like a stick man who seems to be carrying a rainbow.

What people may not know is that the Indalo is based on a cave painting on the wall of a cliff face close to the town of Vélez Blanco in the north east corner of the province of Almería. It is said that the paintings are around 4500 years old.

The location of the paintings is a place about 1 km outside Vélez Blanco called Cueva de los Letreros. As well as the Indalo there are also cave paintings of the Chaman or Brujo which has been adopted as the symbol for the town of Vélez Blanco.

Apparently it is believed that the people who created the paintings lived in the valley below the cliff and the area of the paintings was a bit like a ‘church’ for them. They paid visits up to the site and perhaps performed sacrifices on the site (hence the Brujo having a goats head and holding what is thought to be a scythe and a heart).

You might expect the paintings to be inside a cave and well protected. However they are on a cliff wall underneath an overhang.

The paintings are almost always in red and made from a paste of iron deposits. Perhaps red was to signify blood?

 

There were many different symbols including the Brujo, the Indalo, triangles representing woman, symbols for water, lightening, the sun, the moon and various animals.

The site has been robbed of some of the paintings. Also, the paintings are deteriorating due to the action of the weather. Plus the paintings are getting covered up by calcium deposits.

The good news is that there are now people (normally university professors working in their summer break) who are sanctioned by UNESCO to restore the paintings. It is a painstaking and time consuming job. Also, there are not enough experts to do the job so it will be some time before all of the paintings here get restored.

The semi-circle at the top of the Indalo sign may have been a special ceremonial bow that was held up as part of a ritual.

Remains of eight people found in a cave in Navarra

The bones discovered by a group of cavers could be more than 30 years old

Human remains recently found in a cave in the mountains of Navarra could be more than 30 years old, and are believed to be those of six men and two women. The bones were discovered by a group of three speleologists who were caving in the Andía mountain range on November 14 and were examined in situ by forensic experts last week.

They were removed from the site by specialist mountaineers from the Civil Guard and analyses will now be carried out by expert forensic anthropologists.

The National Police said in a press release this Thursday that they have ruled out that the remains are of those persons who have recently been reported missing.

In the Baleares meanwhile, the remains of a human body have been discovered in the boot of a car found parked in the Binidalí area of Mahón, the capital of Menorca. Javier Tejero, the central government representative for Menorca, told Europa Press that the remains could be between two and four years old. It’s understood personal possession were also found in the vehicle.

An autopsy was due to take place in Palma, on Mallorca.

Source: Typically Spanish

Video: Water erosion (geology)

A short geology video on water erosion (in French and English) by Vercors-TV.

Moa skull auction divides bidders

A Hamilton man has put a rare piece of New Zealand history up for sale on TradeMe.

Glen Brady is auctioning what he claims to be a moa skull, which he says was discovered in the 1950s by his father who was working for a bridge building company in the Waitomo area.

"They were digging the foundations for a bridge and they dug into the side of a cave and plucked the skull out," Brady said.

The artefact was passed on to Brady after his dad passed away at the end of August.

The skull has had 25,000 hits on TradeMe, but some users have criticised the listing, saying the skull should be given to a museum.

"Some people were really, really nasty...I was really surprised at people's opinions on other people's property and what they do with it," he said.

Brady has defended the auction and said museums keep most of their objects locked away. He said it is better to sell it in a private auction, where someone will get to see the skull.

Speleo-ski

Cave-skiing in the Devoluy - a ski descent in the Chourum de la Parza

 

Towards the centre of the Earth expedition 2010. Krubera Voronya

Towards the centre of the Earth expedition 2010. Krubera Voronya cave in Abkhazia/Georgia. Currently the deepest cave in the world.

Photos by Niall Aidas Jolanta Laura and Jesus.

Music by And So I Watched You From Afar - 'The Voiceless' Go to their myspace site for details.

Can Bats And Wind Turbines Mingle?

When it comes to wind turbine fatalities, birds aren’t the only wildlife population affected. Migratory bats, such as the hoary bat–which flies its route along the forested ridges of the eastern U.S.–are especially at risk. This is an issue not only for bat-enthusiasts, but for ecosystems nationwide, as bats are important consumers of mosquitoes and other such pests, as well as dispersers of pollen and seeds for numerous plants.

A new study from Edward Arnett of Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas and colleagues, recently published at Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a journal of the Ecological Society of America, shows that a slight alteration in turbine operation practices can have a big effect in reducing bat fatalities.

Currently, most wind turbines in the U.S. are programmed to “cut in,” or begin rotating and producing power, once wind speed has reached approximately 8 to 9 miles per hour (mph). Researchers found that by raising the cut-in speed just a bit–to roughly 11 mph–bat fatalities were reduced by at least 44 percent, and by as much as 93 percent, with an annual power loss of less than one percent.

“This is the only proven mitigation option to reduce bat kills at this time,” said Arnett, in a statement. “If we want to pursue the benefits associated with wind energy, we need to consider the local ecological impacts that the turbines could cause.” He goes on to note that while he and his colleagues have seen a rise in bat mortality associated with wind energy development, their study shows that a marginal limitation on turbines during the summer and fall months can help to maximize bats’ chances of survival.

Source: Earthtechling

Freediving world record broken by Carlos Coste

Carlos Coste, a Venezuelan freediver, achieved his new record apnea in a Mexican underwater cave, the Cenote Dos Ojos, with a linear swim of 150 meters (dynamic). It took him 2 minutes and 32 seconds.

Moved by religion: Mexican cavefish develop resistance to toxin

A centuries-old religious ceremony of an indigenous people in southern Mexico has led to small evolutionary changes in a local species of fish, according to researchers from Texas A&M University.

Since before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World, the Zoque people of southern Mexico would venture each year during the Easter season deep into the sulfuric cave Cueva del Azufre to implore their deities for a bountiful rain season. As part of the annual ritual, they release into the cave's waters a distinctive, leaf-bound paste made of lime and the ground-up root of the barbasco plant, a natural fish toxin. Believing the cave's fish to be gifts from their gods, they scoop up their poisoned prey to feed upon until their crops are ready to harvest.

However, a team of researchers led by Dr. Michael Tobler, an evolutionary ecologist at Oklahoma State University, and Dr. Gil Rosenthal, a biology professor at Texas A&M, has discovered that some of these fish have managed not only to develop a resistance to the plant's powerful toxin, but also to pass on their tolerant genes to their offspring, enabling them to survive in the face of otherwise certain death for their non-evolved brethren.

James Cameron's 3D cave movie: Sanctum

The 3-D action-thriller Sanctum, from executive producer James Cameron, follows a team of underwater cave divers on a treacherous expedition to the largest, most beautiful and least accessible cave system on Earth. When a tropical storm forces them deep into the caverns, they must fight raging water, deadly terrain and creeping panic as they search for an unknown escape route to the sea. Master diver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) has explored the South Pacific’s Esa-ala Caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank’s team–including 17-year-old son Josh (Rhys Wakefield) and financier Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd)–are forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?

Sanctum will be released in the UK on February 4th 2011.

Trailer:

Official website: http://www.sanctummovie.com/

Slight change in wind turbine speed significantly reduces bat mortality

Study shows a 1 percent annual energy loss and 44-93 percent reduction in bat fatalities

While wind energy has shown strong potential as a large-scale, emission-free energy source, bat and bird collisions at wind turbines result in thousands of fatalities annually. Migratory bats, such as the hoary bat, are especially at risk for collision with wind turbines as they fly their routes in the forested ridges of the eastern U.S. This loss not only impacts the immediate area, but is also detrimental to ecosystem health nationwide—that is, bats help with pest management, pollination and the dispersal of numerous plant seeds.

Since turbine towers and non-spinning turbine blades do not kill bats, some scientists have proposed shutting off or reducing the usage of wind turbines during peak periods of migration in the late summer and early fall months when bat activity and fatalities are highest.

In a study to be published online November 1, 2010 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (e-View), a journal of the Ecological Society of America, Edward Arnett from Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas and colleagues examined the effects of changes in wind turbine speed on bat mortality during the low-wind months of late summer and early fall.