Surtshellir: the longest lava cave and a fortified outlaw cave in West Iceland (VIDEO/Pic) - Place of INTEREST

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Surtshellir: a fortified outlaw cave in west iceland

By Medievalists.net

– June 22, 2014Posted in: Articles

 Surtshellir: a fortified outlaw cave in west iceland

 

By Guðmundur Ólafsson, Kevin P. Smith and Thomas H. McGovern

The Viking Age: Ireland and the West – Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress, Cork, 2005, (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010)

Introduction: In recent years, c.500 icelandic lava caves have been discovered, explored and mapped. more than 200 of these have produced some form of evidence for human occupation or activities, dating from the time of iceland’s initial settlement to the present day. While many caves appear to have been used as animal sheds, archaeological remains in others suggest that these were used for human occupation over longer or shorter periods of time. Hidden entrances, fireplaces, sleeping alcoves and middens suggest that some may have been temporary hide-outs for outlaws. A smaller number have internal fortifications or other structures that suggest larger, more permanent or more contested occupations. Only two such caves had received some archaeological attention prior to the investigations discussed in this paper.

Gísli Gestsson’s pioneering cave research at Hallmundarhellir, in the inner reaches of the western icelandic Hallmundarhraun lava flow, demonstrated the potential for intact and unusual archaeological deposits to exist in the forbidding subterranean environments of iceland’s lava tubes. At Hallmundarhellir, Gestsson recorded dividing walls, partitions, hearths and a small assemblage of artefacts and bones hidden behind a massive wall that blocked the mouth of this sand-choked lava cave.

Further west in the Hallmundarhraun lava field, near its terminal end, investigations in the Víðgelmir cave in 1993 documented ephemeral features and a small assemblage of artefacts and faunal remains suggestive of a short visit by a small number of occupants intent on remaining hidden. These investigations, presented at the fourteenth Viking Congress in 2001, also provided strong evidence that charcoal from the settlement period, apparently gathered from very old standing trees or well-preserved logs and branches, could be up to 200 years older than the actual site they were taken from, providing an explanation for mysteriously ‘old dates’ from the Settlement period of iceland.

Click here to read this article from Academia.edu

Surtshellir: the longest lava cave and a fortified outlaw cave in West Iceland (VIDEO/Pic) - Place of INTEREST

Via

Surtshellir: a fortified outlaw cave in west iceland

By Medievalists.net

– June 22, 2014Posted in: Articles

 Surtshellir: a fortified outlaw cave in west iceland

 

By Guðmundur Ólafsson, Kevin P. Smith and Thomas H. McGovern

The Viking Age: Ireland and the West – Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress, Cork, 2005, (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010)

Introduction: In recent years, c.500 icelandic lava caves have been discovered, explored and mapped. more than 200 of these have produced some form of evidence for human occupation or activities, dating from the time of iceland’s initial settlement to the present day. While many caves appear to have been used as animal sheds, archaeological remains in others suggest that these were used for human occupation over longer or shorter periods of time. Hidden entrances, fireplaces, sleeping alcoves and middens suggest that some may have been temporary hide-outs for outlaws. A smaller number have internal fortifications or other structures that suggest larger, more permanent or more contested occupations. Only two such caves had received some archaeological attention prior to the investigations discussed in this paper.

Gísli Gestsson’s pioneering cave research at Hallmundarhellir, in the inner reaches of the western icelandic Hallmundarhraun lava flow, demonstrated the potential for intact and unusual archaeological deposits to exist in the forbidding subterranean environments of iceland’s lava tubes. At Hallmundarhellir, Gestsson recorded dividing walls, partitions, hearths and a small assemblage of artefacts and bones hidden behind a massive wall that blocked the mouth of this sand-choked lava cave.

Further west in the Hallmundarhraun lava field, near its terminal end, investigations in the Víðgelmir cave in 1993 documented ephemeral features and a small assemblage of artefacts and faunal remains suggestive of a short visit by a small number of occupants intent on remaining hidden. These investigations, presented at the fourteenth Viking Congress in 2001, also provided strong evidence that charcoal from the settlement period, apparently gathered from very old standing trees or well-preserved logs and branches, could be up to 200 years older than the actual site they were taken from, providing an explanation for mysteriously ‘old dates’ from the Settlement period of iceland.

Click here to read this article from Academia.edu

Tarantula the Size of a Human Face "Discovery of INTEREST" in Sri Lankan village (PICS/VIDEO) - www.ofINTEREST.net

Tarantula the Size of a Human Face "Discovery of INTEREST" in Sri Lankan village (PICS/VIDEO)

The earth we inhabit is so full of discoveries out there for us to come across, but progress may be bringing many species to their extinction.

Is it that our own greed serving those of profit/gain/control no longer actually consider what takes place about us with our expanding into areas less traveled?

Are unknown species any the less important, or are they important and we have developed a kinda self induced willingness to ignorance of our surroundings?

Michael Love, IIO

Via

Tarantula The Size Of A Human Face Discovered

1:51pm UK, Thursday 04 April 2013

Scientists have found an enormous, previously unknown, species of venomous spider in a remote Sri Lankan village.

The newly-found spider (Pics: British Tarantula Society/ Ranil Nanayakkara)

The giant tarantula is as big as a human face.

Its legs, which have unique daffodil-yellow markings, span a massive 20cm (eight inches). The arachnid also has a distinctive pink band around its body.

The new species was found in the war-torn north of the South Asian country by scientists from Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Education and Research (BER) organisation.

It has been named Poecilotheria rajaei, in recognition of a senior police officer called Michael Rajakumar Purajah, who guided the research team through a hazardous jungle overrun by civil unrest in order to seek out the spider.

The spider is said to prefer living on old trees

The arachnid had originally been presented to BER three years ago by villagers in Mankulam, who had killed a male specimen.

Scientists immediately realised the dead spider was not like anything they already knew and a group was charged with finding any living relatives.

The living Poecilotheria rajaei were eventually discovered in the former doctor's quarters of the village's hospital.

According to wired.com, Ranil Nanayakkara, the co-founder of BER, said: "They are quite rare.

The tarantula is characterised by its yellow legs and pink band

"They prefer well-established old trees, but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."

The website described the tarantula as "colourful, fast and venomous".

The species is said to be related to a class of South American tarantula that includes the Goliath bird-eater, one of the world's largest spiders.

In other reports Mr Nanayakkara is quoted as saying none of the tarantulas found in Sri Lanka have bites that are deadly to humans. However, the Poecilotheria rajaei would be able to kill animals as large as mice, lizards and small birds and snakes.

A male member of the Poecilotheria rajaei species

Peter Kirk, who covered the discovery for the British Tarantula Society's journal, told Sky News: "Ranil has been working on these spiders since 2009 out in Sri Lanka and this is the first of what is thought to be a number of new species he has discovered in what was previously the inaccessible northern region of the island.

"It demonstrates that wildlife continues to survive whilst we are in the throes of conflict and that they can adapt to its changing environment - but also highlights that we risk destroying the habitats of species new to science and condemning them to extinction before they are even discovered."

Tarantula the Size of a Human Face "Discovery of INTEREST" in Sri Lankan village (PICS/VIDEO) - www.ofINTEREST.net

Tarantula the Size of a Human Face "Discovery of INTEREST" in Sri Lankan village (PICS/VIDEO)

The earth we inhabit is so full of discoveries out there for us to come across, but progress may be bringing many species to their extinction.

Is it that our own greed serving those of profit/gain/control no longer actually consider what takes place about us with our expanding into areas less traveled?

Are unknown species any the less important, or are they important and we have developed a kinda self induced willingness to ignorance of our surroundings?

Michael Love, IIO

Via

Tarantula The Size Of A Human Face Discovered

1:51pm UK, Thursday 04 April 2013

Scientists have found an enormous, previously unknown, species of venomous spider in a remote Sri Lankan village.

The newly-found spider (Pics: British Tarantula Society/ Ranil Nanayakkara)

The giant tarantula is as big as a human face.

Its legs, which have unique daffodil-yellow markings, span a massive 20cm (eight inches). The arachnid also has a distinctive pink band around its body.

The new species was found in the war-torn north of the South Asian country by scientists from Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Education and Research (BER) organisation.

It has been named Poecilotheria rajaei, in recognition of a senior police officer called Michael Rajakumar Purajah, who guided the research team through a hazardous jungle overrun by civil unrest in order to seek out the spider.

The spider is said to prefer living on old trees

The arachnid had originally been presented to BER three years ago by villagers in Mankulam, who had killed a male specimen.

Scientists immediately realised the dead spider was not like anything they already knew and a group was charged with finding any living relatives.

The living Poecilotheria rajaei were eventually discovered in the former doctor's quarters of the village's hospital.

According to wired.com, Ranil Nanayakkara, the co-founder of BER, said: "They are quite rare.

The tarantula is characterised by its yellow legs and pink band

"They prefer well-established old trees, but due to deforestation the number have dwindled and due to lack of suitable habitat they enter old buildings."

The website described the tarantula as "colourful, fast and venomous".

The species is said to be related to a class of South American tarantula that includes the Goliath bird-eater, one of the world's largest spiders.

In other reports Mr Nanayakkara is quoted as saying none of the tarantulas found in Sri Lanka have bites that are deadly to humans. However, the Poecilotheria rajaei would be able to kill animals as large as mice, lizards and small birds and snakes.

A male member of the Poecilotheria rajaei species

Peter Kirk, who covered the discovery for the British Tarantula Society's journal, told Sky News: "Ranil has been working on these spiders since 2009 out in Sri Lanka and this is the first of what is thought to be a number of new species he has discovered in what was previously the inaccessible northern region of the island.

"It demonstrates that wildlife continues to survive whilst we are in the throes of conflict and that they can adapt to its changing environment - but also highlights that we risk destroying the habitats of species new to science and condemning them to extinction before they are even discovered."