Explained at Wired:
The Gaewern Slate Mine in Ceredigion, Wales, was once rich in slate, a purplish-gray rock sought for its beauty and durability. It was extracted between 1812 and 1960. But once humans had emptied the mine of everything they wanted, they filled it with everything they didn't: broken washing machines, shot microwaves, and dozens of rusty old cars...An impressive image - and a reminder that there is no "away."
None were so tricky to photograph as the Gaewern mine, though. To reach it, Friend and a companion drove seven hours from London, then hiked down a precariously narrow ledge hugging a cliff face to the entrance. Inside, they rappelled five stories down—a huge tripod, large format camera, and other equipment on their backs—then crept 20 feet through a low, claustrophobic tunnel that opened to the cavern you see above.
Friend was most struck by the almost religious shaft of light pouring in through a crack in the rock above. Capturing that light, while properly illuminating the rest of the scene, required keeping his camera's aperture open for a full five minutes. During the first minute of the exposure, he used a powerful flashlight to trace the darker objects he wanted to highlight. Then he switched it off and let the natural light accumulate on the film for the remainder of the shot.
Addendum: Video here.
maybe that explains why archaeologists find many animal bones in caves - they were dump sites?
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Indeed sometimes they are. I just finished a visit to Mesa Verde, the cliff dwellings in Southwest Colorado.
DeleteThere, the cliff dwellers just threw their trash (broken pottery, bones, etc) into the valley below. Archeologists have dug into the trash heap to learn how the culture changed over hundreds of years.
Reminds me of the excellent video game 'Horizon: Zero Dawn' which I'm replaying right now. Essentially the world has been destroyed at some unspecified point in the past, and the survivors are back in a tribal society, hunting both animals and the animal-like machines that still fill the planet. The area of the game world is filled with ancient ruins of the Machine Age that look a lot like this. Even if you're not a gamer, you should do some research on the plot as I think you'd find it intriguing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe, but then I haven't seen my car keys for a very long few weeks now.
ReplyDeleteMorbid thought, but I wonder how many bodies have been dumped there=(
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