Colombian rock art

 At the end of November 2020 the international media was full of stories of some amazing rock art found in Colombia. The art had actually been found in 2019 but had been kept a secret until the release of UK's Channel 4 documentary, "Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon". It's a 3 part documentary presented by Ella Al-Shamahi and first shown on English TV on 5 December 2020. 

The second episode on 12 December features the rock art. Ella goes to Colombia and her local guide got permission from the Farc (a guerrilla movement) for her to enter the area.  She is shown the rock art by British archaeologist Mark Robinson. He spent 2 seasons working there 

The art is on walls of stunning cliffs that rise above the plains. The area has been off limits for decades due to the war between the Farc and the government.  Following the peace treaty Mark was one of the first archaeologists allowed back in to explore it. He and his team discovered 17 walls of ancient drawings, all completely unknown to science.

The first cliff wall shown is absolutely covered in red ochre drawings that are still amazingly bright.  There is a mix of geometfic patterns drawn interspersed with animals and even humans.  There are also handprints. 

The first people are thought to have reached the Americas 15,000 - 25,000 years ago, passing a land bridge that then joined Siberia to Alaska,  then over thousands of years travelled down the the narrow gap of Central America and into the Amazon. 

The paintings can't be carbon dated as there is no carbon in the ochre. Photo from the Guardian :

We are shown another wall. The walls are being 3d scanned so archaeologists can examine the art without having to go there. Mark estimates there could be more than 100,000 paintings on the rocks. Probably the greatest cache of ancient rock art in the Americas and it is undescribed to science.  This second wall the designs look simplier and possibly older. One animal drawn is a mastodon, a prehistoric relative of today's elephants.  Mastodons haven't been around for 12,000 years but the artists must have lived alongside them. Other extinct species show a giant sloth and an early horse that went extinct in the Americas around 13,000 years ago.  So the people lived in a mix of forest and open Savannah.

The rock art is located at Serranía de la Lindosa which is in central Colombia

See more in The Guardian 'Sistine Chapel of the ancients' rock art discovered in remote Amazon forest.

And SD Celar British Museum has a good article and photos on the rock art and colonisation and settlements of the Colombian Amazon.

Underground London - Kingsway tram subway

The Kingsway tram subway is an underground tunnel in London used from 1906 until 1952. 

The subway is a cut-and-cover  tunnel, Grade II Listed and the only one of its kind in England. The northern entrance is at the junction of Southampton Row and Theobalds Rd in Holborn. The tunnel extended to the Embankment on the north side of the Thames and emerged under Waterloo Bridge on the north side. 

The tunnel was only built for single deck trams. 

From Wikipedia, "The approach from the north near Southampton Row was a 170-foot (52 m) open cutting with a 1 in 10 (10%) gradient. The tracks passed through cast iron tubes underneath the Fleet sewer before rising slightly to enter Holborn tramway station. South from here the subway was built with a steel roof to Aldwych tramway station and, because it was not initially planned to run a public service south of here, the tracks leading towards the Strand were used as a depot with appropriate equipment and inspection pits."

There is no public access to the tunnel or the underground station. The northern entrance -

Today a part of the tunnel from Waterloo Bridge to Aldwych (i.e. northbound) is used as a one way vehicle tunnel known as the Strand Underpass. It was opened in 1964. The underpass is in a concrete box inside the old tramway. I've been past the southern entrance hundreds of times without knowing what it was!

This is the Aldwych exit -

The 521 single decker bus uses the underpass from Waterloo Bridge so I took this to see the underpass for myself. The tunnel had a few twists and turns. It was hard to take photos as the bus was moving fast and was quite bouncy. 

There is an interesting video on YouTube of the 521 going through the tunnel.

See more photos of the underground section on the londonist . And a good article with an account of a visit and photos on webarchive . Wikipedia "Kingsway tram subway".

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Underground London - Woodlands Park Ice House, Acton

Woodlands Park is a tiny park in Acton, west London. It was formerly part of the six acre private garden to "Woodlands", a Victorian house. The house was demolished in 1903. The house had an ice house in the grounds (below the red marker), it is located next to a pond -  

This is a typical ice house, being an underground brick lined chamber, sunk into a hill and shaded with trees. Ice was taken from the nearby pond. The ice was stacked in the chamber, the sides of which were lined with straw. The ice could last until summer. Any melt water was drained through a hole at the bottom. 

In 2006 the ice house was restored and the pond recreated. 

There is a lovely tree growing alongside the ice house -

The house is gated so I could only stick my camera through the grill -

Info plaque from Heritage Lottery fund -

The pond -

See more on Woodlands Park.

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Underground London - Hampton ice house

I've already posted about a couple of old ice storage places in London, the Manor Gardens ice house and the ice well at Regent's Canal.

In the days before fridges, large houses would have an ice well or house. These were pits with a circular roof to allow ventilation. They were often brick lined and packed with straw. The ice would last for month. See more on the London ice houses.

The Hampton ice house is situated in Home Park by Hampton Court. It is situated to the left of the path from the Hampton Wick entrance. 

It was built 1625-26, commissioned by King James. It is 12 sided and sits on a small mound. This Country Life article says "It is known to have been a brick-lined round well, 30 ft (9.1 m) deep and 16 ft (4.8m) wide and covered with a thatched timber building. "

I can't find any reports that give more info about this ice house. As it is located near a pond, ice could have been taken from there. Alternatively ice could have come by boat on the Thames, although I think imported ice from Norway and America only started in the 1800s). These are just my ideas.

Zante Blue Caves & Shipwreck Bay

The Blue Caves are a popular tourist destination on the Greek island of Zante, aka Zakynthos. Zante is one of the Ionian islands lying off the west coast of Greece.

Limestone covers about 50% of the island. There are no show caves on Zante, unlike the neighbouring island of Kefalonia, which has Drogarati Cave and Melissani Lake. However there are sea caves. These are formed in Upper Cretaceous limestone (100-60 million years) and occur in the Pre-Apulian or Pazos zone (see ref).

The Blue Caves are located on the northeast tip of the island, between Agios Nikolaos and Skinari Cape. They are generally visited during boat trips that include a visit to Shipwreck Bay, Navagio Bay

The headland before the Blue Caves

Boats stop and allow people to swim, but it was too cold for me. 

There is also access from the land, a series of steps leads down from the hill top -

We also visited Zante's best known tourist site, Shipwreck Beach or Navagio Bay. This is located on the northwest side of the island. This is the iconic photo that everyone knows -

The sheer white cliffs look like chalk. 

Approaching the beach it was nice to see that we were the first large tourist boat to arrive and there were very few people on the beach -

On 2 October 1980, a freightliner, the MV Panagiotis, ran aground in Navagio Beach during stormy weather and bad visibility. Some rumours say the ship was smuggling contraband, however official sources did not confirm this.

More and more tourist boats arrived and soon the beach was getting croweded.

In September 2018 there was a major rockfall when a massive sheet of rock fell 60 m. The beach was packed at the time but luckily no one was killed.