Tag archives for caves
Join us live, Friday, February 8th at 1pm EST as NG Explorer Guillermo de Anda leads us from the jungle into a vast cavern to reveal remnants of ancient Maya civilization.
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Three modern day explorers relate their adventure tackling a rare challenge: scaling huge cliffs to examine human remains dating back centuries.
Posted by PET/GUE Divers descend into the abyss at Hoyo Negro. Photo by Daniel Riordan-Araujo By Fabio Esteban Amador Explorers have discovered what might be the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas. Alex Alvarez, Franco Attolini, and Alberto (Beto) Nava are members of PET (Projecto Espeleológico de Tulum), an organization that specializes in the exploration…
“World’s Largest Cave” Photographer Carsten Peter Answers Your Questions
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on January 14, 2011 The January issue of National Geographic Magazine features a story about the world’s largest known cave passage, in Vietnam. The gallery of spectacular photos took off online and has been enjoyed by more than a million people. View this photo and more in the complete “Conquering an Infinite Cave” gallery. (Above photo by Carsten Peter) We…
70th Anniversary of the Discovery of Lascaux
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 17, 2010 Montignac, France–In a moment of wonder and elation 70 years ago this week, four French teenagers discovered more than just their missing dog. Lost in the woods outside the small medieval town of Montignac in Aquitaine, the pup had fallen into a small cavern in the ground. The dog was rescued and a few days…
Rock Spirits at the Portals to Afterlife
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 12, 2010 The final day of the 2010 IFRAO conference on Pleistocene Art of the World continued to present innovative approaches and fascinating discoveries about the well-known but little understood world of prehistoric rock art. Tarascon-sur-Ariège, France–Anderzej Rozwadowski gave some enlightenment about the significance of rock itself to Siberian shaman culture, showing how parts of it may…
Cracking the Code in the Rocks
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 10, 2010 On the fourth day of the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO) conference, National Geographic Digital Media’s Andrew Howley learns from experts how ancient wall paintings can be deciphered to tell something about the Stone Age artists who made them. Tarascon-sur-Ariège, France–The iconic images of bison, deer, and mammoths are what draw many people…
Walking Into the Stone Age
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 9, 2010 On the third day of an international conference in France of experts on prehistoric rock art, National Geographic Digital Media senior producer Andrew Howley makes his first visit into caves adorned with images painted 13,000 years ago. Tarascon-sur-Ariège, France–Today the laptops were shut and the projectors powered down, as the participants in the IFRAO conference…
Mysteries of Prehistoric Rock Art Probed
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on September 7, 2010 Ancient people the world over illustrated rock walls with paintings or carvings evocative of their environment and belief systems. But even as we begin to understand more about the rock artists and the images they left us, new questions about their eternal messages are being raised. Tarascon-sur-Ariège, France–On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the…
A huge number of new species of invertebrate animals have been found living in underground water, caves and micro-caverns amid the harsh conditions of the Australian outback. Insects, crustaceans, spiders, worms and many others are among 850 species found by a national team of 18 researchers, according to the University of Adelaide. A new woodlice…
Cave divers and scientists exploring the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world’s longest submarine lava tube, on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, have discovered previously unknown species, including an ancient form of eyeless crustacean. Picture of Speleonectes atlantida by Ulrike Strecker (Naturalanza) The newly discovered species of crustacean was named Speleonectes atlantida, after the cave…
Frontiers of Exploration
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 13, 2009 More highlights from the 2009 Explorers Symposium: NGS/Waitt Grant recipient Albert Lin described the source of his passion for exploration and culture, spending “every penny I had” exploring the world’s cultural heritage, and his new commitment to protect a region in Mongolia that has been held sacred for eight centuries. Committee for Research and Exploration…
Illustration of moa by Charles R. Knight/NGS Feces dropped by moa, giant birds now extinct, are providing scientists with an idea of what the vegetation of New Zealand looked like before the first humans colonized the islands. A team of ancient DNA and paleontology researchers from the University of Adelaide, University of Otago and the…
Last seen two million years ago, one of the early stone tools discovered in Wonderwerk Cave. Photo by M. Chazan The earliest evidence for cave occupation by hominids has been discovered in South Africa. Stone tools found at the bottom level of Wonderwerk Cave show that human ancestors were in the cave two million years ago,…
Rock art photos and map courtesy Jack Pettigrew, University of Queensland Rock art painted in an Australian cave many thousands of years ago depicts flying foxes not found in modern Australia, scientists report in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. Fossilized remains of a wasp nest overlying the art tested to be 17,500 years…
Image of inside of Wanxiang Cave courtesy of Science/AAAS A stalagmite found on the floor of a Chinese cave suggests that several Chinese dynasties may have been connected to the varying strength of the Monsoon, seasonal winds that bring heavy summer rains to much of Asia. Sweeping up moisture from the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Monsoon affects…
A 7.9-inch stalagmite from a West Virginia cave suggests that eastern North America experienced several century-long droughts over the past 7,000 years. Ohio University researchers who examined the stalagmite found evidence of at least seven major droughts, according to an article published online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. It is the most detailed geological…
