12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies 12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
current made it impossible to continue.The cave was, however, loadedwith pottery, small figurines andbones, which greatly excited Dan,our expedition archaeologist. Thehigh altitude made our decompressioninteresting since the standard U.S.Navy decompression tables and correspondingstop depths had to be modifiedconsiderably.Nacimiento del Rio VerdeWhile the others logged divesin Media Luna the next day, Paul andI amused ourselves free diving inthe spring basin until I surfacedunusually dizzy after a dive to 21meters and decided that there maybe something about holding one'sbreath at altitude that isn't healthy.Accordingly, we spent therest of the day looking for thissmall spring, which definitely wasn'tworth it. Any cave at thissmall, shallow nacimiento will definitelyrequire extensive excavation.Nacimiento VerdeOn the way from Valles to RioVerde we had crossed an unusuallyclear stream, so we stopped on the wayback and repeated for the umpteenthtime the only Spanish we knew,"l.Donde esta el nacimiento?" ("Where is the spring? ") . To our delightwe learned that the springwas less than 0.5 kilometer fromthe highway, at the base of a nicehill. Accordingly, while the restof us went off to the R!o Huichihuayan,Ken, Frank and Terry madedive #18 here, penetrating 262 metersto a depth of 47 meters. On dive #21the next day they extended exploration27 meters further, ascending toa depth of 27.meters. Even thoughthe visibility here was only 3-5meters and the temperature 23°C,this locale is very interesting inthat it is one of the few s.ites investigatedthat shows some promiseof coming up into air withinthe range of cave divers.Nacimiento del Rio HuichihuayanJamie and Carol did the honorshere with single tanks, attemptingon dives #16 and 17 to find a routethrough the cave wreckage at thehead of this picturesque river. Unfortunately,they were unable toprocede further than 30 meters underwateror deeper than 9 meters,though Jamie did report that at onepoint he might have been able tocontinue further if he had removedhis tank. This spot also had thecoolest water that we dived in thewhole trip, l8°C, which struck usas odd because it was also thesouthernmost site visited.26
Nacimiento del Rio CoyOn Monday, 26 March, we got permissionto visit this spring, and Jamie,Carol and Dan checked the springbasin, (finding no route through therubble there), while Paul and I hikeda short distance up the adjacent hillto check out a cave that went down towater level a short distance to a nicesubmerged pit, which we bottomed at adepth of 58 meters same 79 meters fromthe point at which the cave went underwater.This excited the other three,who tediously hauled twin lOa's andfull regalia into the cave, only tofind their path halted on dive #20by excessively strong current a scant18 meters past where Paul and I hadstopped.Dan located son~ pottery here onthe slope above the pit during decompressions.Besides a scatter ofsherds, there was what appeared to bean intact ceramic vessel with thebottom knocked out. It would havebeen necessary to disturb the contextof the material to be sure butit is possible that tois item representeda ritually "killed" pot. Allceramics found here and in othersprings on the trip seemed to benon-glazed utility ware. It is interestingto note that the dry portioHof the cave leading to thiswater filled fracture is apparentlyserving as a shrine of some sort atthe present time. Hany of the limestoneprojections were covered withfreshly laid green leaves and modernMexican money. There was considerablesmoke staining of the ceiling overthese areas indicating that candleshad been frequently burnt near theapparent otrerings. We disturbednothing and exited Wit:l due hasteupon realizing the possible sacredsignificance of the cave we were in.Djo de AguaOne of many "eyes of. water" inthe area, this small intermittentspring a short distance southwest ofCd. Valles was checked while we werelooking for Puente de Dros (whichwe later found out was not a Springbut a short nat~ral bridge over theRio Santa Maria). While the waterin the 4 meter dia~eter pool lookeda nice clear blue, it was also thesource of drinking water for thenearby village. Since vIe weren't toosure how the locals would react toour muddying up their water, we decidedto skip the dive and spl~t.Nacimiento TaninulThis is one of three springsadjacent to the beautiful HotelTaninul, none of which looked verypr.omising. There appeared to bea cave at a depth of 7 meters here,but it is choked with debris.27
- Page 3 and 4: Number 10AMesActivitiesNewsletterJu
- Page 6 and 7: compilcJ Ly Peter S. SprouseAUSTRIA
- Page 8 and 9: Long Caves of MexicoPeter S. Sprous
- Page 10 and 11: ,/
- Page 12 and 13: hole with a 3 meter cave entrance.I
- Page 14 and 15: Interestingly enough, the majorpass
- Page 16 and 17: proceeded to find 78 ticks on mybod
- Page 19 and 20: The Sierra de Guatemala mountain ra
- Page 21 and 22: meter long, 9 meter deep, slopingdr
- Page 25 and 26: Diving the big springs of the Sierr
- Page 27: Aerial view of Nacimiento del R10 M
- Page 31 and 32: Entrance chamber, Nacimiento del Rl
- Page 33: We discovered a source of compresse
- Page 36 and 37: Steve Zeman rappels into the SalaGr
- Page 38 and 39: no problem and we were soon fourwhe
- Page 40 and 41: event that the dive panned out andw
- Page 42 and 43: keep an accurate fix on whether itw
- Page 44 and 45: we had finished the last of the rop
- Page 46 and 47: tance. This continued for some 280m
- Page 48 and 49: Talus summit at the beginning of An
- Page 50 and 51: source, a kilometer and a half upst
- Page 52 and 53: consisted of a dusty dry corridorbo
- Page 54 and 55: There was much speculation aboutthe
- Page 56 and 57: turning to Camp II we found Richard
- Page 58 and 59: We had barely slept three hourswhen
- Page 60 and 61: POSTEXPEDITION NOTESBill Steele and
- Page 63: -f//'~:;San,Agustin,,~~~:= ']--="~-
- Page 67: translated from the Mazatecby Cathy
- Page 70 and 71: Ateschalla Norte ySurThe following
- Page 73: CUEVA DE TASALOLPANcuetzalan, puebl
- Page 76 and 77: CuetzalanSteve KnutsonSpring 1979Ma
Nacimiento del Rio CoyOn Monday, 26 March, we got permissionto visit this spring, and Jamie,Carol and Dan checked the springbasin, (finding no route through therubble there), while Paul and I hikeda short distance up the adjacent hillto check out a cave that went down towater level a short distance to a nicesubmerged pit, which we bottomed at adepth of 58 meters same 79 meters fromthe point at which the cave went underwater.This excited the other three,who tediously hauled twin lOa's andfull regalia into the cave, only tofind their path halted on dive #20by excessively strong current a scant18 meters past where Paul and I hadstopped.Dan located son~ pottery here onthe slope above the pit during decompressions.Besides a scatter ofsherds, there was what appeared to bean intact ceramic vessel with thebottom knocked out. It would havebeen necessary to disturb the contextof the material to be sure butit is possible that tois item representeda ritually "killed" pot. Allceramics found here and in othersprings on the trip seemed to benon-glazed utility ware. It is interestingto note that the dry portioHof the cave leading to thiswater filled fracture is apparentlyserving as a shrine of some sort atthe present time. Hany of the limestoneprojections were covered withfreshly laid green leaves and modern<strong>Mexican</strong> money. There was considerablesmoke staining of the ceiling overthese areas indicating that candleshad been frequently burnt near theapparent otrerings. We disturbednothing and exited Wit:l due hasteupon realizing the possible sacredsignificance of the cave we were in.Djo de AguaOne of many "eyes of. water" inthe area, this small intermittentspring a short distance southwest ofCd. Valles was checked while we werelooking <strong>for</strong> Puente de Dros (whichwe later found out was not a Springbut a short nat~ral bridge over theRio Santa Maria). While the waterin the 4 meter dia~eter pool lookeda nice clear blue, it was also thesource of drinking water <strong>for</strong> thenearby village. Since vIe weren't toosure how the locals would react toour muddying up their water, we decidedto skip the dive and spl~t.Nacimiento TaninulThis is one of three springsadjacent to the beautiful HotelTaninul, none of which looked verypr.omising. There appeared to bea cave at a depth of 7 meters here,but it is choked with debris.27
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