Cave Paintings From Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua, 1971, Ollier C. D. , Holdsworth D. K

Kitava is the most easterly island of the Trobriand group. It is an uplifted coral atoll, oval in plan, with a maximum diameter of 4 1/2 miles. The centre of the island is swampy and surrounded by a rim that reaches a height of 142 m. Caves occur in various parts of the rim and several have been described in a previous article (Ollier and Holdsworth, 1970). One of the caves, Inakebu, is especially important as it contains the first recorded cave drawings from the Trobriand Islands. Inakebu is situated on the inner edge of the island rim at the north-eastern end of the island. Map 1 shows the location of the cave on Kitava Island. Map 2 is a plan of the cave, surveyed by C.D. Ollier and G. Heers. The location of the cave drawings is shown on the plan. Inakebu is a "bwala", that is a place where the original ancestor of a sub-clan or dala is thought to have emerged from the ground. The bwala tradition is common throughout the Trobriands and neighbouring islands. It has been described by many writers on the anthropology of the area, and was summarised in Ollier and Holdsworth (1969). The people believe that if they enter such places they will become sick and die. Until November, 1968, no member of the present native population had been in the cave, though there is a rumour that a European had entered it about 20 years before, but turned back owing to lack of kerosene. It must be admitted that this tale sounds rather like the stories one hears in Australia that Aborigines were afraid of the dark caves and therefore did not go into them. In fact, the many discoveries in the Nullarbor Plain caves show that they did, and the cave drawings in Inakebu show that someone has been in this cave. The point is that it does not seem to be the present generations who entered the caves but earlier ones; people from "time before" as they say in New Guinea. The first known European to enter the cave was Gilbert Heers, a trader in copra and shell who lived on the nearby island of Vakuta. He went into the cave on 8 November 1968 accompanied by Meiwada, head of the sub-clan associated with Inakebu, who had never been inside before. Heers and Meiwada investigated the two outer chambers but then turned back because they had only poor lights. They returned with better light on 15 November. Since they had not become sick or died, they then found seven other men willing to accompany them. They found the narrow opening leading to the final chamber, and discovered the drawings. None of the men, many of whom were quite old, had ever seen the drawings or heard any mention of them before. The drawings are the only indication that people had previously been in this deep chamber. There are no ashes or soot marks, no footprints, and no pottery, bones or shells such as are commonly found in other Trobriand caves, though bones and shells occur in the chamber near the entrance. With one exception, the drawings are all on the same sort of surface, a clean bedrock surface on cream coloured, fairly dense and uniform limestone, with a suitably rough texture. Generally the surface has a slight overhang, and so is protected from flows or dripping water. On surfaces with dripstone shawls or stalactites, the drawings were always placed between the trickles, on the dry rock. We have found no examples that have been covered by a film of flow stone. The one drawing on a flow stone column is also still on the surface and not covered by later deposition. A film of later deposit would be good to show the age of the drawings, but since the drawings appear to have been deliberately located on dry sites the lack of cover does not indicate that they are necessarily young. There are stencil outlines of three hands, a few small patches of ochre which do not seem to have any form, numerous drawings in black line, and one small engraving.

Caves of Kitava and Tuma, Trobriand Islands, 1971, Ollier C. D. , Holdsworth D. K. , Heers G.

The Trobriand group of coral islands is situated a hundred miles off the north-east coast of Papua and north of the D 'Entr'ecasteaux Islands. In previous papers we have described caves on Kiriwina (the main island), Vakuta and Kitava (see References). We now describe caves of Kaileuna and Tuma (see Figures l and 2). In August 1970, we spent one week of intensive search for caves on these two islands, making our headquarters in the copra store in the village of Kadawaga. Kaileuna island is six miles long and almost four miles wide, and supports a population of 1,079 (1969 Census). It is separated from the large island of Kiriwina by a channel two miles wide between Mamamada Point and Boll Point, though the main village of Kadawaga on the west coast of Kaileuna is 18 miles from Losuia and 14 miles from Kaibola. The island is generally swampy in the centre with a rim of uplifted coral around the edge. We were assured that the correct name of the island is Laileula, but since Kaileuna is used on all previous maps it is retained here. However, we prefer Kadawaga to the Kudawaga or Kaduwaga that appear on some maps. The inhabitants are of mixed Melanesian-Polynesian Stock, who are almost totally self-supporting, being in the main farmers and fishermen. The yam (taitu) constitutes the staple crop and the harvest is still gathered in with ceremonies unchanged for centuries. There is great competition among families for the quantity and quality of the crop, which is displayed firstly in garden arbours (kalimonio), later in the village outside the houses; traditionally styled yam huts (bwaima) are then constructed to display the harvest until the next season. The transfer of yams from the garden to the village is occasion for a long procession of gatherers to parade through the village blowing conch shells and chanting traditional airs (sawili) to attract the attention of villagers to the harvesting party, After storage of the harvest, a period of dancing and feasting (milamala) continues for a month or more, Traditional clothing is the rule, Women and girls wear fibre skirts (doba), most of the men, especially the older ones, wear a pubic leaf (vivia) made from the sepal of the betel nut palm flower (Areca catechu Linn.). Tuma, the northernmost of the main islands in the Trobriand group, is six miles long and less than a mile wide. It is a low ridge of coral with swamps in the centre and along much of the western side. The island has been uninhabited since 1963 when the last few residents abandoned it and moved to Kiriwina, but it is still visited from time to time by other islanders who collect copra and fish. Tuma is believed by all Trobriand Islanders to be inhabited now by the spirits of the dead. It is also generally believed that Tuma is the original home of the TrobIiand ancestors; these ancestors are also said to have emerged at Labai Cave on Kiriwina Island, and from many other places of emergence or 'bwala". Lack of consistency in the legends does not appear to concern the Trobrianders very much. The cave maps in this paper are sketches based mainly on estimated dimensions, with a few actual measurements and compass bearings. Bwabwatu was surveyed more accurately, using a 100 ft steel reinforced tape and prismatic compass throughout.

Further Caves of Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua, 1971, Ollier C. D. , Holdsworth D. K. , Heers G.

In a previous paper (Ollier and Holdsworth, 1970) we described the island of Kitava and many of the caves on the island. This note supplements that account and describes caves and related features discovered during a brief expedition to the south of the island (Figure 1) in 1971. Kitava is a coral island with a number of terraces and reaches a height of 466 feet. There is a central depression in the top of the island, the site of the lagoon before the reef was uplifted. Some caves are associated with the rim of the island, a few occur on mid-slopes, and others are found along the sea cliffs. Many of the caves have been used for burial of human remains, sometimes associated with pots, clam shells or canoe prows. Canoe prow burials are reported here for the first time. Some caves are associated with megalithic structures and legends of the origin of the various sub-clans (dala) of the island.

Paleoenvironmental data for N.W. Georgia, U.S.A., from fossils in cave speleothems, 1987, Brook George A. , Keferl Eugene P. , Nickmann Rudy J.

Pollen grains and gastropod shells in two speleothems from Red Spider Cave, Georgia indicate that ca. 10,000 yr B.P. the vegetation near the cave was Mixed Mesophytic Forest. Conditions were cooler and moister than today and a shallow pond existed in the doline above the cave. As these findings support palynologic evidence from nearby pond sites it is clear that cave speleothems are a potential source of paleoecological data to ca. 350,000 yr. B.P.

Cocklebiddy Shells, 1995, Brown, Rosemary

Five genera of shells were collected from the sediment around Cocklebiddy Cave lake in the Nullarbor Plain (Western Australia). All shells belong to small modern gastropod terrestrial snails.

Préhistoire et karst littoral : la grotte Cosquer et les calanques mar_seillaises (Bouches-du-Rhône, France), 1996, Collinagirard, J.

The Cosquer Cave is a French palaeolithic painted and engraved cave (27000/ 18500 BP) which is located under the sea, in the urgonian limestones of Cap Morgiou ("Massif des Calanques"; Marseille). The en trance was submerged at the end of the last glacial stage and is presently 37 m under sea level. A synthesis about the Cosquer cave environmental studies is presented here. Structural studies show that cave planimetry is determined by Cap Morgiou fracturations (mainly NW/SE and N/S vertical faults). Through archaeological studies, a concretion breaking period can be dated between 27000 and 18000 BP. Geomorphological study of the continental shelf at the foot of the Cosquer cave area shows fossils shorelines at -36 m, -50/55 m, -90 m, -100 m depth. Radiocarbon datings from shells collected in – 100m sediments yielded a date of 13 250 BP. Direct scuba diving observations and submarine clive profiles sketching show several eustatic stand-still levels between -36 m and the sea surface indicating a probable tectonic stability during the last 10000 years.

Origin and development of an old alpine cave (Zadlaźka jama, Julian Alps), 1999, Knez Martin, Slabe Tadej

The entrance into Zadlaźka jama lies in Maastrichtian limestone breccias at the extreme northern border of the Outer Dinarid tectonic unit; from the presence of Megalodontid shells it is presumed that the northern parts of the cave developed in Upper Triassic limestones. Tectonically the Cretaceous and also Triassic carbonates are strongly broken. Several systems of former water passages controlled by geological factors are found in the cave. Two of them are more distinctive: one developed along bedding-planes or at the contact of beds parallel to bedding and the other along fissures and faults which are transverse to local bedding. The cave is an anastomosis network system of initial tubes that develop into passages. The first and the most important factor was water that slowly flowed through the passages. Later the cave was filled by fine-grained sediments. Water flowed above them leaving above-sediment rocky features. The parts of the lower lying passages from which the sediments had been removed were shaped by fast water flow after the lowering of the underground water level. Relatively soon the cave remained hanging in the slope and was dry. Then the rocky perimeter was partly reshaped by condensation water.

Molluscan assemblages from deposits filling small karst forms in the Tatra Mountains (Southern Poland), 2001, Alexandrowicz, Witold Pawel

Numerous shells of molluscs were found in loamy sediments rich in limestone and dolomite scree filling small karst forms and forming debris fans. They have been analysed from several logs in the Tatra Mountains. Woodland and open-country snails are the main components of fauna. Relations between two mentioned ecological groups of molluscs indicate climatic changes and moving the timberline. Three phases of warming separated by two stages of the colder climate were recognised. They can be related to following ages: XIII and first half of XIV centuries AD (warm phase), second half of XIV - XVII centuries AD (cold phase), XVIII and the first half of XIX centuries (warm phase), second half of the XIX century (cold phase) and finally to XX century (warm phase).

Constraints on Black Sea outflow to the Sea of Marmara during the last glacial-interglacial transition, 2002, Major Candace, Ryan William, Lericolais Gilles, Hajdas Irka,

New cores from the upper continental slope off Romania in the western Black Sea provide a continuous, high-resolution record of sedimentation rates, clay mineralogy, calcium carbonate content, and stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon over the last 20[punctuation space]000 yr in the western Black Sea. These records all indicate major changes occurring at 15[punctuation space]000, 12[punctuation space]800, 8400, and 7100 yr before present. These results are interpreted to reflect an evolving balance between water supplied by melting glacial ice and other river runoff and water removed by evaporation and outflow. The marked retreat of the Fennoscandian and Alpine ice between 15[punctuation space]000 and 14[punctuation space]000 yr is recorded by an increase in clays indicative of northern provenance in Black Sea sediments. A short return toward glacial values in all the measured series occurs during the Younger Dryas cold period. The timing of the first marine inflow to the Black Sea is dependent on the sill depths of the Bosporus and Dardanelles channels. The depth of the latter is known to be -805 m, which is consistent with first evidence of marine inundation in the Sea of Marmara around 12[punctuation space]000 yr. The bedrock gorge of the Bosporus reaches depths in excess of -100 m (relative to present sea level), though it is now filled with sediments to depths as shallow as -32 m. Two scenarios are developed for the connection of the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. One is based on a deep Bosporus sill depth (effectively equivalent to the Dardanelles), and the other is based on a shallow Bosporus sill (less than -35 m). In the deep sill scenario the Black Sea's surface rises in tandem with the Sea of Marmara once the latter connected with the Aegean Sea, and Black Sea outflow remains continuous with inflowing marine water gradually displacing the freshwater in the deep basin. The increase in the [delta]18O of mollusk shells at 12[punctuation space]800 yr and the simultaneous appearance of inorganic calcite with low [delta]18O is compatible with such an early marine water influx causing periodic weak stratification of the water column. In the shallow sill scenario the Black Sea level is decoupled from world sea level and experiences rise and fall depending on the regional water budget until water from the rising Sea of Marmara breaches the shallow sill. In this case the oxygen isotope trend and the inorganic calcite precipitation is caused by increased evaporation in the basin, and the other changes in sediment properties reflect climate-driven river runoff variations within the Black Sea watershed. The presence of saline ponds on the Black Sea shelf circa 9600 yr support such evaporative draw-down, but a sensitive geochemical indicator of marine water, one that is not subject to temperature, salinity, or biological fractionation, is required to resolve whether the sill was deep or shallow

Eustatic sea-level and climate changes over the last 600 ka as derived from mollusc-based ESR-chronostratigraphy and pollen evidence in Northern Eurasia, 2002, Molodkov Anatoly N. , Bolikhovskaya Nataliya S. ,

We reconstruct and correlate palaeoclimatic events and deposits from shelf, glacial, periglacial, and extraglacial zones of northern Eurasia over the last 600,000 years. The chronostratigraphical correlation of identified palaeoenvironmental and sea-level events and corresponding horizons is based on electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis of subfossil mollusc skeletal remains from marine, freshwater and Acheulian-bearing cave-site deposits. Over 230 shell samples from more than 40 sites along the continental margin of Eurasian north, in the Black and Caspian sea basins and terrestrial shells from a Lower Palaeolithic cave-site in the Northern Caucasus were dated via ESR to produce a late Quaternary geochronology. The Pleistocene composite section of the loess-palaeosoil formation includes two reference sections--Likhvin and Arapovichi--from the centre of the East-European plain. The palyno-chronostratigraphic record is interpreted as the product of six warm-climate/high sea-level events including the current interglacial, and six glacial events. They are presented either as complete climatic rhythms of glacial and interglacial rank, or by considerable portions of climatic-phytocoenotic phases constituents of the rhythm. The full-interglacial conditions are centred at about 580, 400, 310, 220 and between 145-70 calendar ka. A broad correspondence between long palynological sequence, directly ESR-dated warm-climate-related events and other palaeoenvironmental records described in the literature has been noted for 11 upper oxygen isotope stages (11 to 1). The results obtained in this study exemplify the potential of integrated chrono-climatostratigraphic sequences in linking marine and terrestrial palaeoclimate records that may eventually span the whole Brunhes chron

Les travertins de Saint-Antonin : séquence géobotanique et climato-anthropique holocène (Bouches-du-Rhône, France), 2003, Guendon Jeanlouis, Ali Adam A. , Roiron Paul, Terral Jeanfrédéric, D’anna André, Diazdelolmo Fernando, Baenaescudero Rafael

Travertine deposit of St-Antonin (Bouches-du-Rhône, France): lithostratigraphy, palaeobotany and Holocene palaeoenvironments - Travertines are carbonate deposits formed generally during temperate climatic periods. The travertine of Saint-Antonin was formed during the Holocene in accordance with this model. They usually present a succession of travertinous units and detrital sedimentary levels containing, respectively, leaf impressions and charcoal; snail shells and archaeological material have also been preserved, essentially in detritial levels. Two kinds of plant remains (leaf imprints and charred wood) have been sampled and analysed, allowing the reconstruction of vegetation dynamics based on a well-defined sedimentary sequence. Our results were compared with those of previous malacalogical, archaeological studies and climatic changes. The Preboreal and Boreal sequence, characterised by travertine unites with detritial deposits, is dominated by a riverside vegetation (Populus alba, Salix sp., Phragmites communis) associated with some pubescent oak growing in the plateau. After this first period, detritial levels and hygrophilous species decrease. Correlatively travertinous facies and leaf impressions of mesophilous forest species increase (Quercus pubescent, Acer monspessulanum). They suggest the existence of homeostatic conditions, such as regular river flow, dense vegetation and few disturbances during deposition. The Middle Atlantic period shows optimal travertinisation and maintenance of forest environment. But this period is characterised by the beginning of the Quercus pubescens regression and the dominance of Acer monspessulanum. From the Atlantic to the first part of Subboreal, important detrital sedimentary levels disturb the deposition of carbonate. They contain reworked archaeological material dating to the Neolithic. Vegetation seems to have been profoundly affected by intensive human exploitation. This process has broken up the forested area into different plant communities and favoured the dominance of heliophilous and thermophilous species (Pinus halepensis, Rubus ulmifolius and Juniperus sp.).

Post-Miocene stratigraphy and depositional environments of valley-fill sequences at the mouth of Tampa Bay, Florida, 2003, Ferguson Tw, Davis Ra,

Post-Miocene sea-level low stands allowed rivers and karst processes to incise the exposed carbonate platform along the Gulf Coast of Florida. Few Miocene to mid-Pleistocene deposits survived erosion along the present coast except within incised valleys. Since their formation, these valleys have been filled and incised multiple times in response to sea-level changes. The thick sedimentary sequences underlying the mouth of Tampa Bay have been recorded as a range of depositional environments and multiple sea-level incursions and excursions during pre-Holocene time and subsequent to the accumulation of the Miocene carbonate sequences. Sediment analysis of cores collected from a north-south transect across the mouth of Tampa Bay has enabled the identification of lithofacies, ranging from well-sorted, quartz sand to dense, fossiliferous, phosphatic grainstone. These facies were deposited in freshwater, estuarine, and shallow, open marine environments. As a result of channel development and migration within the paleovalley, and cut-and-fill associated with individual transgressions and regressions, correlation of the lithofacies does not extend across the entire transect. Fining-upward sequences truncated by tidal ravinement surfaces that extend throughout the paleovalley can, however, be identified. Age determinations based on 14-C analysis, amino-acid racemization, and strontium isotope analysis dating of numerous samples yield ages of Miocene, Pliocene, early Pleistocene, and late Pleistocene, as well as Holocene for sequences that accumulated and were preserved in this valley-fill complex. Numerous inconsistencies in the stratigraphic organization of the age determinations indicate that there are bad dates, considerable reworking of shells that were dated, or both. For this reason as well as the lack of detailed correlation among the three relatively complete cores, it is not possible to place these strata in a sequence stratigraphic framework. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Prehistory and coastal karst area: Cosquer Cave and the “Calanques” of Marseille, 2004, Collinagirard, J.

The Cosquer Cave is a French Palaeolithic painted and engraved cave (27.000-18.500 BP), which is located under the sea, in the Urgonian limestones of Cap Morgiou (“Massif des Calanques”, Marseille). The entrance was submerged at the end of the Last Glacial Stage and is presently 37 m under sea level. A synthesis about the Cosquer Cave environmental studies is presented here. Structural studies show that caves planimetry is determined by Cap Morgiou jointing (mainly NW-SE and N-S vertical faults). Through archaeological studies, a speleothem breaking period can be dated between 27.000 and 18.000 BP. Geomorphologic study of the continental shelf at the foot of the Cosquer Cave area shows fossil shorelines at -36 m, -50/55 m, -90 m, -100 m depth. Radiocarbon dating from shells collected in -100m sediments yielded a date of 13.250 BP. Direct scuba diving observations and submarine cliff profiles sketching show several eustatic still stand¬ levels between -36m and the current sea surface indicating a probable tectonic stability during the last 10.000 years.

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) Dating In Karst Environments, 2006, Blackwell, Bonnie A. B.

Electron spin resonance (ESR) dating has been developed for many materials, including hydroxyapatite in enamel, bone, and some fish scales, aragonite and calcite in travertine, molluscs, and calcrete, and quartz from ash, which have many potential applications in karst settings. Although the complexity of the signals in some materials has hampered routine application, research is solving these problems to make the method even more widely applicable. When tested against other dating techniques, age agreement has usually been excellent. Generally, the most reliable applications seem to be tooth enamel, some mollusc species, calcite deposits, and quartz minerals. ESR dating uses signals resulting from trapped charges created by radiation in crystalline solids. Ages are calculated by comparing the accumulated dose in the dating sample with the internal and external radiation dose rates produced by natural radiation in and around the sample. For fossils and authigenic minerals, no zeroing is necessary to obtain accurate ages. In sediment which contains reworked mineral clasts, ESR can be used to date the age of the mineral grain itself if it was not zeroed during erosion. For dating the sedimentation age, however, ESR signals must have been zeroed in order to give the correct age. High pressure, heating, and in some minerals, light exposure and grinding can zero an ESR signal, but some like hydroxyapatite have very high stability at surface temperatures. For materials that absorb uranium (U) during their burial history, such as teeth, bones, or mollusc shells, the age calculation considers their U uptake by cross calibrating with U series or U/Pb dating or by assuming different uptake models. Some difficulties in calculating the external dose rate can be overcome by applying the ESR isochron method, in which the sample acts as its own dosimeter. In open-air karst environments, changes in the external dose rate due to altered sediment cover, and hence, changing cosmic dose rates, need to be modelled. For all karst environments, sedimentary water concentration and mineralogical variations with time also need to be considered. Many ESR applications are currently used in karst settings, but several more are also possible.

The co-evolution of Black Sea level and composition through the last deglaciation and its paleoclimatic significance, 2006, Major Candace O. , Goldstein Steven L. , Ryan William B. F. , Lericolais Gilles, Piotrowski Alexander M. , Hajdas Irka,

The Black Sea was an inland lake during the last ice age and its sediments are an excellent potential source of information on Eurasian climate change, showing linkages between regionally and globally recognized millennial-scale climate events of the last deglaciation. Here, we detail changes from the last glacial maximum (LGM) through the transition to an anoxic marginal sea using isotopic (strontium and oxygen) and trace element (Sr/Ca) ratios in carbonate shells, which record changing input sources and hydrologic conditions in the basin and surrounding region. Sr isotope records show two prominent peaks between ~18 and 16 ka BP cal, reflecting anomalous sedimentation associated with meltwater from disintegrating Eurasian ice sheets that brought Black Sea level to its spill point. Following a sharp drop in Sr isotope ratios back toward glacial values, two stages of inorganic calcite precipitation accompanied increasing oxygen isotope ratios and steady Sr isotope ratios. These calcite peaks are separated by an interval in which the geochemical proxies trend back toward glacial values. The observed changes reflect negative water balance and lake level decline during relatively warm periods (Bolling-Allerod and Preboreal) and increasing river input/less evaporation, resulting in higher lake levels, during the intervening cold period (the Younger Dryas). A final shift to marine values in Sr and oxygen isotope ratios at 9.4 ka BP cal corresponds to connection with the global ocean, and marks the onset of sedimentation on the Black Sea continental shelf. This date for the marine incursion is earlier than previously suggested based on the appearance of euryhaline fauna and the onset of sapropel formation in the deep basin