Simon Wilson
New member
Can anything left in a cave be considered to be an artifact? On what grounds could that happen? Does age alone make something an artifact?
rhychydwr1 said:As a biologist I would be reluctant to remove any organic material as it might contain cave animals.
Simon Wilson said:rhychydwr1 said:As a biologist I would be reluctant to remove any organic material as it might contain cave animals.
So if there is an old abandoned caver's bivouac with mouldy food remains, rotting woolen clothing, cotton/feather sleeping bags and canvas bags it should all be left as it is?
Simon Wilson said:rhychydwr1 said:As a biologist I would be reluctant to remove any organic material as it might contain cave animals.
So if there is an old abandoned caver's bivouac with mouldy food remains, rotting woolen clothing, cotton/feather sleeping bags and canvas bags it should all be left as it is?
.... that container of crap the Badgers offered to bring out of Nettle Pot. http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=17705.0
droid said:Simon: Mouldy old remains might be unsightly trash to you, but to a cave animal, its food, shelter, and its entire existance.
Insert apostrophes as neccessary. I don't get apostrophes.
JasonC said:(btw, your post was apostrophised perfectly, although 'neccessary' has an unnecessary 'c' )
Bottlebank said:And potentially
.... that container of crap the Badgers offered to bring out of Nettle Pot. http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=17705.0
perhaps should have been left where it was?
I know many archaeological digs take place on old rubbish dumps - are we also depriving archaeologists of the future by cleaning things up?
Many mining artifacts are only a few decades old.
droid said:Insert apostrophes as neccessary. I don't get apostrophes.
graham said:I'm not sure that I understand, but are you saying that someone had a crap in White River Series and it was still identifiable and removable 20 years later?
That, if true, says quite a lot about the energy level of environment in that particular piece of cave passage.
Chocolate fireguard said:graham said:I'm not sure that I understand, but are you saying that someone had a crap in White River Series and it was still identifiable and removable 20 years later?
That, if true, says quite a lot about the energy level of environment in that particular piece of cave passage.
For years there were 2 ammo boxes up in White River, opposite the entrance to Watt Passage.
The word in local caving circles was that they contained crap.
When we took the lids off we found plastic bags which seemed to contain stuff of the correct consistency.
Dragging the first along Watt Passage went without incident.
The second one leaked. Only a bit, but enough for the nature of the contents to be obvious to me and others.
cavermark said:I'm sure you can still find out what the White River explorers liked to eat without analyzing their poo - just ask them!
As for 200 years time - aren't there several threads on here about what people like to eat underground... save them somewhere?