- IJ
103: Digging out Kūwaha Tāwhetaana
Finally, after all the distractions of last year, the unexpected events including one involving a firearm, but mostly the constant wet conditions, we are finally back into the digging, and only because of a brief period of fine weather recently. And yes, we still hate the digging process, the confinement, the humidity, the insects, the dust and the potential danger - but the prize should be worth the pain (in it's many forms).
At the head of the fill a long way in. As you can see, it's not washed down compact flood fill, it's genuine outside common dirt and dust that has seen no moisture long before being put there. You can tell by the bits of grass and weed. Around the corner to the left, the gap is only about 4cm to the top of the tube.
Last year we had a wet Autumn, then an extremely wet Winter, a wet Spring and the forecasts were for a wet Summer. But at least the heat in summer dries up the ground around our site quicker. November became drier near the end and early December was good, except my crew could not agree on a date. In January people were away and then the rains began again. Finally after some torrential rains, a gap opened up and even some new people were available.
I've titled this post using the name we have given to the phreatic tube we are digging out which leads to the cave. It means 'writhing door'. Both because of the tunnel itself turning left then right, and the manner in which you have to move along it - crawling on your elbows even when dug out. Once inside proper, we will give an appropriate name to the cave itself, for it has none that anyone knows of. If it ever had a name, that name has been lost forever to the distant past. But we will give it a name once we see the layout.
Below is a never before seen picture of deep inside the tunnel which is likely an elliptical horizontal phreatic tube with a vertical bedding joint (unusual apparently). One of the 'way stations' we dug down to the bottom. What that revealed is that this tube was clean and dry before fill was added some 25 years ago to conceal the cave once the access point was accidently opened. We still believe this phreatic tube has been cleaned out completely as an entrance for the dead; as it was before those who found it in the 80's filled it this way. However, most dry phreatic tubes have much smoother walls, (such as the 2nd photo). The third and fourth photo shows the halfway line which was filled with clay and rocks before quarry dust was added upon the top. The definition mark is about the level of the where the spade blade is in the first photo. The white marks are scrape marks from our tools on the side and bottom surface of the tube (my foot is shown sitting down and leaning back to take the photo). When we saw the curvature clearly defined we decided to keep going just to see how deep it was. It ended up being relatively shallow compared to the width. So, we have now exposed the bottom of one of the 'way stations' being dug out to give us moving room, space to rest, turn and pass each other if one is crawling in and another crawling back out of the various 'way stations' being dug.
Looking at the state of the ceiling compared to others, it appears old or possibly scraped and we suspect that what is inside the cave will be of an age even older than any one of us first surmised.
Was the age of what was inside what frightened those that filled this tube in when they first saw the contents of the cave? Was that what made them decide to hush everyone up by making those involved sign non-disclosure documents all those years ago? Was that why they sealed it in such an unusual and diabolical fashion?
What the hell is actually in there!!!!
