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Jamaican Caving Notes |
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June 10, 2004 KEMPSHOT CAVE Position: Reserved due to archaeological resources Field notes: D. K. ROGGY Cavers: D. K. Roggy, R. S. Stewart, M. Taylor Time in: 10:15 EST, Time out: 12:00 EST THREAT VULNERABILITY: High We entered this shelter cave that extended back into a hill, in the shape of a large bowl, the opening spanning about 5m wide by 2m tall. At the back of the cave on the right side was a passage. It extended back and curved around to the left, running behind the back wall of the bowl. The passage extended about 4 m. At the extreme end were a lot of loose piled rocks and a small space which I pulled myself into, finding pieces of glass and tin. Whether these had been thrown directly in or had fallen in from some small crevice near the surface, along with the rocks I couldn't say. I backed out of that space and looked down at the floor of the passage. A small space off to the side extended off to the side and down. It seemed just over a foot in diameter and was lined with mud. Several loose rocks were in it. I pulled some out and pushed my head down into it. It turned to the left. I pushed myself into it until my whole torso was in. I backed out, figuring it was too tight. Stef and Malibu joined me and looked over everything. Stef backed down into the space, feet first. He said he felt a draft and was excited about the prospect of the tunnel leading somewhere, but said it was too tight. He pushed his light down by his feet and said that it seemed to drop about 3m below the space he'd reached. He came out and said the tunnel would probably need some excavating, but that I should try it. Feeling confident since my squeeze into the side passage of Belle Air cave, I thought I'd see if I couldn't master this space. I went down feet first this time. I slid down on my backside until my head was out of view of the passage where Stef and Malibu were. I turned over onto my stomach and continued to slide parallel to the passage until my legs hung down over a drop. I found a foothold and went down and to the left. I looked down and saw a boulder pile that was scrambleable. I yelled up to Stef that I could scramble down. I went down about 2-3m and found myself in a small chamber that extended back under the main bowl shaped opening of the cave. The center of the chamber had a floor of loose soil. It had beautiful stalactites and a ramp of flowstone at the back. Several stalactites had broken off the ceiling and were lying on the ramp and on the soil. It seemed unlikely that modern people had done this, since they'd have removed the stones for souvenirs. The stalactites had a crystalline, quartzlike appearance and were yellow in color. When Stef saw them he remarked that they looked as if they'd been cleaned because they had no surface patina. I looked on the flowstone and saw nothing. A depression in the flowstone contained loose soil. I sifted through it with my fingers and found an oddly shaped piece of rock. It curved and had a smooth notch in it, as if it had formed around a stick. I brought it out for later examination. We went out into the main chamber and found several oval shaped carvings on two stalactites facing the opening. I looked at a different stalactite and saw two lines that ran parallel, then each made a 90 degree turn outward. I pointed this out. The surface was covered with a webbing of thin ivy like roots. As I pulled them off an oval around the lines was revealed and an eye was still evident in the 90 degree bend of one of the lines. I felt like I was a modern day Indiana Jones, just like I wanted to be when I was a kid. I sat back and considered what I'd found on this structure, the shape of a head with a brow and nose (the two bent lines) and an eye. This find was better than the simple ovals on the other stalactites and I was very happy about it. |
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