Fascinating new discovery at Machu Picchu, Peru

Archaeologists have made a fascinating discovery at the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru. A tomb, thought to belong to a high ranking member of the Inca Empire, has been uncovered in a cave at the archaeological complex and is creating more intrigue around this ‘lost city’ of the Incas.

The tomb is strategically placed on a hill facing the wall of Machu Picchu, indicating the importance of the person buried inside. Specialists are examining the tomb but have not found any bones or ornaments inside which is due to raiding that took place at Machu Picchu before the site was conserved and protected.

American explorer, politician and professor, Hiram Bingham rediscovered the site in 1911 and since then Machu Picchu is now protected and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The newly discovered tomb will eventually be restored in order to be accessible to visitors.

Limestone ecosystem threatened as demand for cement grows

Bats hang from the ceiling of the Moso cave in Hon Chong,
Vietnam. Hundreds of species live in the limestone caves
yet their habitat is being blown apart in the name of making
cement.

Hundreds of species live in the limestone caves of Hon Chong in southern Vietnam, and many of them are found nowhere else on Earth. Yet their habitat is being blown apart, chunk by chunk, in the name of making cement.

One reason, biologists lament, is that these are creatures no one would want to hug, and many would want to stomp.

Spiders. Mites. Millipedes.

People who have been trying to save them from extinction for more than 15 years have found few allies in government, industry or among local residents.

"The problem is that limestone caves do not (have) any charismatic animals or plants that would melt people's hearts if they died out," Peter Ng Kee Lin, a biologist at the National University of Singapore, said by email.

The degradation of Asia's vast but fragile limestone ecosystems is continuing apace as the region's demand for cement grows along with its economies. Limestone is a key ingredient in cement, the second-most consumed substance on Earth after water, and is used to build desperately needed houses, roads and bridges.

Somerset cavers spend their retirement tunnelling into the Mendips

To uncover the secrets of what is thought to be the largest cavern ever found in the Mendip Hills in Somerset has taken a group of cavers more than four years of dedicated tunnelling.

And to get to the vast cavern takes half an hour of grovelling on hands and knees, scrambling across massive boulders and squeezing through 700 ft of tiny passages.

So why would a group of retired doctors, teachers and engineers spend their retirement buried underground tunnelling deep into the hills of the Mendips?

Cave Rescue Required After Medical Emergency

Update 13/09/2012:

A Nashville man is recovering at Vanderbilt Medical Center, after suffering a stroke while hiking in a Maury County Cave.

48-year-old Darrell Smith is now in stable condition.

He and a few of his friends were taking a guided tour of Miller's Cave, near Mount Pleasant.

"We were fixing to do the rest of the tour when the guy, he was standing up, and he more or less just sat down, and the girl asked him what was wrong, and we knew right then something wasn't right," said Buddy Baldwin, who owns the property on which the cave is located. "I pretty well knew instantly that he'd either had a heart attack or a stroke."

Lascaux 4 plans axed in €1bn cuts

Plans to help fund a giant facsimile of the Lascaux caves in the Dordogne have been scrapped under government cuts - but local councillors say they will save the €50million project.

Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti said that several cultural projects announced by the previous government - totalling almost a billion euros but mostly unbudgeted - would be scrapped, delayed or postponed.

These included the Lascaux 4 reconstruction near Montignac, the Maison de l'Histoire de France national history museum, a reserve art store for the Louvre at Cergy-Pontoise, and an extra theatre for the Comédie-Française.

Ms Filipetti said that Lascaux 4 was "not a priority project" but Bernard Cazeau, president of Dordogne conseil général, said that was "surprising" as the plans to safeguard the hillside above Lascaux were laid under instructions from the government and Unesco.

Cave divers discover massive grotto hidden in the depths of Cheddar Gorge

New discovery: The giant underground chamber, named
The Frozen Deep, that has recently been found inside Cheddar
Gorge in Somerset.

A group of cave divers have uncovered a massive chamber below the Cheddar Gorge after four years of searching and hundreds of hours of digging.

The huge space, which had been named 'The Frozen Deep' by the team, is a staggering 60 metres in diameter and reaches up to 30 metres high.

It contains stunning calcite formations - including two pure white columns each standing at five-metres tall - surrounded by white flowstone on the walls and floor.

'Tuesday Diggers', a group of local cave divers, discovered the chamber after spending four hours a week for four years digging, breaking rocks and opening 50cm passages.

Hugh Cornwell, director of Cheddar Gorge and Caves, in Somerset, said: 'This is a truly significant discovery by the 'Diggers' which opens up a fascinating new chapter in the history of Mendip cave exploration.

'The question already emerging is whether they can now find a connection from The Frozen Deep to the River Cave.

Endangered Spider Discovery Stops $15 Million Texas Highway Construction Project

While biologists may be rejoicing over the recent discovery of a rare spider that was thought to be extinct, not everyone is elated -- particularly commuters around San Antonio, Texas.

Workers found the Braken Bat Cave Meshweaver (Cicurina venii) spider, which hasn't been seen in three decades, in the middle of a $15.1 million highway construction project in northwestern San Antonio. The eyeless arachnid is on the endangered species list—since construction would disrupt the spider's natural habitat, the project has been halted for the foreseeable future.

Jean Krejca, a biologist and President of Zara Environmental who was consulting on the project, made the extraordinary discovery after a downpour of rain revealed a 6-foot deep spider hole. After dissecting the spider, a taxonomist later confirmed that the distinct-looking arachnid was, in fact, the Meshweaver, named for its pattern of webbing.

The Meshweaver was placed on the federal endangered species list in 2000, along with eight other spiders found only in the Texas county. George Veni first identified the spider in 1980 in a location five miles away from the construction site.

SUI announces “Kozslowski Exploration Fund”

Coinciding with Artur Kozslowski’s first anniversary, SUI are announcing the setting up of a fund to help Irish cavers looking for new caves in Ireland. 

In his few years as a caver in Ireland Artur contributed greatly to increasing our knowledge of the Irish underground world both by his own explorations and his enthusiasm and drive. 

This fund will offer small contributions to original speleological exploration work for members of SUI in Ireland. Applications can be made to, and will be adjudicated by the expedition sub committee. Further details will be announced at SUICRO 2012

Source: SUI

Prince Andrew says never again after rappelling down Europe’s tallest building

Britain’s Prince Andrew has rappelled 785 feet (239 meters) down the side of Europe’s tallest building to raise money for charity.

The 52-year-old’s stunt began on London skyscraper The Shard’s 87th floor and finished on the 20th, and took him 30 minutes.

Following the descent Monday morning, the prince said: “I will never do it again.”

Andrew was part of a group of about 40 participants raising funds for the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund.

The prince — chairman of the trustees of the Outward Bound Trust — raised 290,000 pounds ($460,000).

Following the stunt, Andrew told reporters the “difficult bit was actually stepping out over the edge,” but said his training with the Royal Marines had given him the confidence.

Source: The Washington Post

Four Hebrew U. researchers reach new lows in Abkhazia, and find new species of transparent fish

Boaz Langford of the Israeli cave exploration delegation
at a depth of 2,080 meters in the Krubera-Voronya cave in Abkhazia

Four researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem partook in a spelunking expedition to the deepest cave in the world, also known as the “Everest of the caves.”

The four explorers — Boaz Langford, Leonid Fagin, Vladimir Buslov and Yuval Elmaliach — joined the Ukrainian Speleological Association as part of an international delegation that aimed to break the world record for deepest place reached by spelunkers. On the team, which just returned from the trip, were members from nine countries, including Israel and Lebanon.

“The purpose of the venture was to break the world’s record for cave exploration — an achievement reached when a Ukrainian researcher reached a depth of 2,196 meters beneath the earth’s surface, five meters deeper than the previous record,” Professor Amos Frumkin of the Department of Geography at the Hebrew University, who heads the university’s cave research unit, said in a press statement on Sunday.