Jamaican Caving Notes

Spot Valley Cave 2

Escort to Spot Valley Cave 2 by the property owner and his employees took us not much more than 100m from where our vehicles were parked. One opening probably 12 ft wide by 2 ft high was divided into two by a large tree that was growing on top of the opening and through it. This tree likely contributed to the number of loose rocks and boulders in the opening.

I went into the space on the right, which opened up into a fair sized chamber. At the end opposite the entrance was an entryway into another chamber that was dominated by a light hole some 20 feet above. At the end of that chamber was what appeared to be a small keyhole type space between flow stone columns, through which daylight was visible. Upon closer inspection, there is a curtain of flowstone columns that zig-zags into another chamber dominated by a large light hole. I could have crawled through the zid-zag, it wouldn’t have been difficult, but for whatever reason I turned around and went back by the entrance to investigate that area more thoroughly.

I sat on a boulder and looked under a shelf-like protuberance close to the level of the floor. I saw what looked like a piece of dry coconut? No, upon picking up the object it was obviously a piece of pottery. I left the piece where it was, until Mike could make it down to me, and with Ivor present we captured the discovery of these sizeable pieces of a pot on video.

After this, I went into the opening on the left, and further down, through a squeeze and into a low, wide chamber. Small pottery shards were scattered alongside the many rocks present. I was careful about every foot and hand placement, for fear of breaking some hidden item. Elizabeth and Mike joined me in this small space. The squeeze and size of the chamber made the still camera a better choice to bring in.

In addition to the many crude pottery shards scattered throughout the room, Mike found a clay pipe and glazed piece of porcelain. The porcelain was the bottom of a bowl, which unfortunately had no markings on the bottom. The clay pipe was definitely not Taino, and although I’m a bit of a collector of pipes, I wouldn’t know which century this one hails from. It was of the same style as pipes I’d seen in a book, recovered at Port Royal. We brought out the pipe and left the pieces of the bowl in plain site, to mark where they were found, for the benefit of any future archaeological expeditions.

I assisted Guy in doing a relatively quick survey of the cave, from this low, rock-strewn chamber and into the next.