Book Release: Cave Pearls of Meghalaya, Volume 1

The Book Cave Pearls of Meghalaya, Volume 1, Pala Range and Kopili Valley is now available - at least for British and Irish cavers, who can get it via Fraser or the GSG or via book@indiancaving.org.uk

Cavers on the Continent will have to wait for another two weeks - the books are still on a ship bound for Hamburg.

Short description:

It is an A4 sized hardback of 265 pages in full colour and covers the exploration of caves in the Pala Range and Kopili Valley. There are chapters on Meghalaya, on the 2010, 2011 and 2012 expeditions in that area, and also on the geology, subterranean ecology, spiders and bats. The second half of the book is devoted to cave descriptions each with survey and photographs plus a list of minor caves and other sites of speleological interest. An unexpected (to me) bonus is hidden inside the back cover - a CD with surveys of the six longest systems, a satellite view of the area with cave surveys superimposed, and an article describing the identification of two new species of bat.

You can buy one for £26 in Edinburgh - or. if you live further afield cost is £32.30 to include postage and packing within the UK. We will be using 'caver mail' as much as possible to reduce postal costs and keep cash back to fund the printing costs, and help towards production of volume two. Volume One is well worth the price and buyers are encouraged to contribute more as Gift Aid to help fund the next volume.

Mexican archaeologists find Olmec and pre Olmec ceramics inside cave in the State of Guerrero

Inside a cave in the municipality of Cocula, north of Chilpancingo, Guerrero, specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found a Mezcala type figurine and fragments of braziers that date back to the year 700 AD; in this same context, they found Olmec and pre Olmec ceramic which dates back to 1000 and 1200 BC, as well as osseous remains, which means this emptiness had different uses and was a place of funerary cult.

Archaeologist Miguel Perez Negrete, from the INAH center in Guerrero, detailed that the Mezcala figurine is complete, and its finding is relevant because of the few discoveries that have been made of these kinds of pieces, only twelve have been found in the region during this decade. These sculptures are schematic and small, made with stone. 

The Mezcala culture is one of the civilizations that has been developing along the Balsas River, even toward the limits of the state of Guerrero, which has been identified primarily because of its architectonic style and anthropomorphic figurines. 

“The one found in recent days, is a human representation in limestone, 8 centimeters [3.14 inches] tall, and like others that have been found, the gender of the figurine cannot be distinguished. Something noticeable is that it doesn’t have slanted eyes, but round, like dots. Along the figurine they also found White Grainy ceramic which is very sandy. This type of material was used in the Epiclassic period (700 AD)”, explained the archaeologist. 

These figurines are hard to find; during the 80’s they found seven pieces located in Xalitla, and during the years 2005 and 2007 they discovered another four in Mezcala and Atzcala. This means to say, they had eleven figurines archaeologically registered in this part of Guerrero, and with this last one in Oxtotenco, there are now 12. 

The specialist indicated that the discovery was made during the maintenance repairs of a road in a plateau called Oxtotenco, outside the community of Atzcala, where INAH effectuated the archaeological rescue of these vestiges. 

“The most surprising thing was that as we excavated, we found Olmec ceramic, whose antiquity is estimated to date back to the year 1000 and 1200 before our era, meaning this ceramic is more than 3,000 years old. This indicates the cave had two occupations, a prehistoric one and one corresponding to the Mezcala tradition, about 1300 years ago.” 

“This finding also reveals that during the Epiclassic the cave was associated with the occupation of traditional Mezcala groups in Oxtotenco”, added the archaeologist Miguel Perez Negrete.

Source: Art Daily

Cave with Ice Age fossils opening in Indiana

A cave littered with the bones of Ice Age creatures will open for the first time to the public on Saturday.

As with many so-called "show caves," Indiana Caverns has the requisite geological formations and a river for subterranean boat rides. But the pre-historic bones — believed to be among the largest cache discovered in one cave — are the "frosting on the cake," says marketing manager Carol Groves.

Located in southern Indiana about 25 miles west of Louisville, the new attraction is part of the 36-mile-long cave Binkley cave system (the nation's 11th longest). Portions have been explored for more than half a century, but the section opening Saturday was only discovered three years ago by a group of caving enthusiasts.

Hidden River Cave adding zipline, rappelling

Visitors to Hidden River Cave in south-central Kentucky will soon have opportunities for new zipline and rappelling adventures.

The new offerings will begin this coming Saturday.

Adventure seekers will be able to zip over the top of the cave entrance or rappel down the rock face entrance to Hidden River Cave.

Cave tours will still be offered, and all packages include admission to the American Cave Museum.

Also new is a gem mining sluice that allows visitors to pan for their own gemstone.

Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum are operated by the American Cave Conservation Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of caves nationwide.

The two Kentucky attractions are located 2.2 miles off Interstate 65 at Exit 58 at Horse Cave.

Source: WLKY

Popular cave in Sequoia National Forest vandalized

A photo released Wednesday, June 5, 2013, of Packsaddle Cave
shows stalactites, some of which were recently damaged in a case
of vandalism.

A popular cave in the Sequoia National Forest has been vandalized.

U.S. Forest Service officials said Wednesday that stalactites were broken off in the cave. The stalactites take at least hundreds of years to form and are irreplaceable, according to officials.

The vandalism occurred inside Packsaddle Cave on the Kern River Ranger District of the Sequoia National Forest. The cave is a popular hiking destination for people visiting the Upper Kern River.

If caught, vandals can be fined up to $5,000.

District Ranger Al Watson is asking anyone with information on the vandal or vandals to call (760) 376-3781 or 379-5646.

Slicing Open Stalagmites to Reveal Climate Secrets

Stacy Carolin collects samples in a Borneo cave last fall.
Photo by Syria Lejau

If you've ever visited a cave, you know the rules: Stay on the path, and keep your greasy paws off the formations. So Stacy Carolin was a bit taken aback the first time she headed into a cave not as a tourist, but as a scientist, and took a step off the beaten path. "I was a city girl back then," she recalls. "It was very muddy and slippery…and also completely pitch black." Not exactly the setting you'd expect for cutting-edge climate change research.

A few years later, Carolin, a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech, is breaking ground in the field of paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climates, using an unconventional but increasingly prevalent tool: speleothems, a catch-all term for cave formations that includes stalagmites (remember the mnemonic: those that "mite" reach the ceiling from the floor) and stalactites (those that hold "tite" to the ceiling).

Amphipod Species Found In Larissa Cave

A new species of amphipod, unknown until today to scientists, has been found in the cave Melissotripa Elassonas in Larissa, in the region of Thessaly, after research that lasted two years.

The new organism was discovered by German and Romanian speleologists, led by the cavediver Markos Vaxenopoulos, a scientific associate of the Natural History Museum of Volos.

The new species belongs to the genus Nighargus and lives exclusively in a small lake in the cave of Melissotripa. It plays a important role in speleogenesis and its identification was carried out on the basis of its morphological features and the DNA analysis.

According to ethnis.gr, except from this tiny species of amphipod, the researchers also observed in the cave Melissotripa that was first explored in 2007, an array of impressive stalactites and stalagmites, as well as bats.

The cave is easily accessible in its biggest part. However, there are bottlenecks and difficult passages. The temperature in the entrance of the cave reach about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and about 62 in the interior, where the humidity is 100 percent. There were three lakes in the cave, but now only one of them is left.