Showing posts with label Earthcache. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earthcache. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
An Earthcache at Wickliffe Mounds
While we were geocaching in Wickliffe the other day, we took the opportunity to grab an "Earthcache" while visiting the Wickliffe Mounds.
An Earthcache is a geocache where you learn about a unique geoscience feature about the earth instead of finding a hidden container. Usually you have to find the answers to specific questions and mail the correct answers to the cache owner in order to get credit for visiting the cache. To read more about Earthcaches, go here: http://www.geocaching.com/about/cache_types.aspx
Wickliffe Mounds is the archaeological site of a prehistoric Native American village of the Mississippian mound builders who occupied this bluff overlooking the Mississippi from about AD 1100 - 1350. These natives were peaceful indians who grew corn and squash, fished the river and hunted the forest. For reasons yet to be determined, they abandoned this village after the 1350's.
In 1932 the site was purchased by Colonel Fain King, who began to excavate the site, along with his wife. He opened the site for public visitation calling it "King Mounds" and then later the "Ancient Buried City." When the Kings retired in 1946 they turned the site over to The Western Baptist Hospital of Paducah who owned it until 1983. The hospital then donated the site to Murray State Universary in 1983. Murray State's research department reorganized the site and placed museum personnel in charge and then updated the exhibits.
This small table was in the bathroom and I am only posting it here because the sign on it cracked me up...
Wickliffe Mounds is a state historic site.
The house construction was quite interesting..
The floors were earthen with large holes where they had their pots for cooking. The walls looked to be sticks covered by straw and clay. I'd love to show you pictures but they asked that no pictures be taken.
One section had beautiful pictures and designs carved on to wood. Each carving was about 1 ft. by 1 ft. and very detailed. Here are the descriptions of the carvings...
'
It took years for the mounds to reach the heights they are today.
There are 4 mounds at Wickliffe. The Ceremonial Mound is the largest. It probably served as the center of economic, political and religious activity. We are standing on top of it here.
1) What is the name of the ancient culture that inhabited the area?
2) What years were the areas inhabited by the ancient culture?
3) How many Mounds are located within the park?
4) In your opininon how much higher are the mounds than the bluff?
5) Post a picture, onto the cache page, of you and/or group with GPSr at the ceremonial mound.
Once we emailed our answers to the cache owner, we were able to take credit for finding the cache.
On our way back to the lake I spotted a gorgeous male turkey standing on the side of the road, preening for the females. He was standing there with all his feathers displayed. I thought it was a statue at first because he was so large and colorful. Then he moved and I screamed for Louie to stop the car and I leaped out and tried to get a picture of him. Who knew that turkeys could run that fast? He took off and all I got was a picture of the backside of 2 of the females.
I must have looked like some kind of a nut running through the field after these turkeys trying to get another picture of that big Tom. But he was too quick and I never even got to see him again, although we ended up seeing about a dozen females off in the distance. I love it when I get to see stuff like that!
Come back tomorrow - we are headed for Nashville!
An Earthcache is a geocache where you learn about a unique geoscience feature about the earth instead of finding a hidden container. Usually you have to find the answers to specific questions and mail the correct answers to the cache owner in order to get credit for visiting the cache. To read more about Earthcaches, go here: http://www.geocaching.com/about/cache_types.aspx
Wickliffe Mounds is the archaeological site of a prehistoric Native American village of the Mississippian mound builders who occupied this bluff overlooking the Mississippi from about AD 1100 - 1350. These natives were peaceful indians who grew corn and squash, fished the river and hunted the forest. For reasons yet to be determined, they abandoned this village after the 1350's.
One section had beautiful pictures and designs carved on to wood. Each carving was about 1 ft. by 1 ft. and very detailed. Here are the descriptions of the carvings...
It took years for the mounds to reach the heights they are today.
And looking at it from a distance here...
The Architecture Mound is the only residental mound on the site and probably belonged to the Chief.
The Cemetery Mound has burials dated to the 1200's. They reveal patterns of diet and injury, insight into diseases and life expectancy rates.
The Lifeways Building Mound was the most interesting to me. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but they had displays of arrowheads and farming tools, games pieces, pottery, grains and other food items the indians grew and ate. There were huge displays set up showing the burial grounds and how bodies had been placed and also examples of how they cooked and farmed.
If you'd like to read more about the Wickliffe Mounds or even visit the site yourself, please go here for more information: http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/histparks/wm/
Afterwards, in order to log the cache, we had to answer these questions:
2) What years were the areas inhabited by the ancient culture?
3) How many Mounds are located within the park?
4) In your opininon how much higher are the mounds than the bluff?
5) Post a picture, onto the cache page, of you and/or group with GPSr at the ceremonial mound.
Once we emailed our answers to the cache owner, we were able to take credit for finding the cache.
On our way back to the lake I spotted a gorgeous male turkey standing on the side of the road, preening for the females. He was standing there with all his feathers displayed. I thought it was a statue at first because he was so large and colorful. Then he moved and I screamed for Louie to stop the car and I leaped out and tried to get a picture of him. Who knew that turkeys could run that fast? He took off and all I got was a picture of the backside of 2 of the females.
Come back tomorrow - we are headed for Nashville!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
What is an Earthcache?
I like to go to Earthcaches because I usually learn something new in addition to getting credit for finding a cache and getting another smiley under my belt. (getting credit for finding a cache is called a smiley) This particular earthcache was cool because we found crystals. It is located in Iowa.
According to the official geocaching website http://www.geocaching.com/ an earthcache is described as follows:
First we had to find the crystal field....
According to the cache page at http://www.geocaching.com/:
This Earthcache is Classified as a Mineral Feature. Looks like Lou and Barb found some already....
Gypsum crystals form in several varieties:
Alabaster is a fine-grained massive material. It is an ornamental stone that has been used in fine carvings for centuries.
Satin spar is a compact fibrous aggregate that has a satin-like look that gives a play of light up and down the crystals.
Selenite is the colorless and transparent variety of gypsum crystal. The word selenite comes from the Greek for Moon and means moon rock. Selenite crystals can form as a conglomerate of several connected crystals, as crystals attached to limestone or other mineral bases, or as free-floating individual crystals that are not attached to anything.
Darryl found some too....
The selenite crystals that you find at this site are loose and located on the ground. On a sunny day, you will see the bright flashes of the sun reflecting from the surface of the crystals. They often have other minerals locked in them that produce a dark or clouded area within the crystal.
Can you see any in the photo below?
Gypsum is a major rock formed from precipitation from highly saline waters.
Saline water occurs when salt water becomes land locked and some of the water evaporates. You can see this today in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The salts become highly concentrated as evaporation continues. At some point, the water can’t hold the salts and they start to recombine into solids. These solids are then heavier than the water and they settle, or precipitate, to the bottom producing a layer of gypsum.
Gypsum is used as sheet rock for ceilings and walls in our homes. It’s also used for many other industrial purposes. Gypsum is found in many of the sedimentation layers of rock formed during many of the ages back in time.
The chemical name for gypsum is Hydrated Calcium Sulfate. The chemistry formula is CaSO4-2(H2O). Gypsum, along with its associated crystals, has a hardness of 2 mohs. This means that it is so soft that you can scratch it with your fingernail.
Yes, I put my camera down long enough to find a few myself.
The view on the way down.....
Afterwards we stopped at the Crystal Lake Cave. We didn't have enough time to do a cave tour, but we walked around inside the gift shop. I want to go back another day for the tour.
So now you have a good example of what an Earthcache is. We spent a wonderful day out with good friends, poking around a crystal field, finding crystals and even learned something new!
According to the official geocaching website http://www.geocaching.com/ an earthcache is described as follows:
EarthCache
An EarthCache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. EarthCaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth. For more information about EarthCaches, visit http://www.earthcache.org/.First we had to find the crystal field....
According to the cache page at http://www.geocaching.com/:
This Earthcache is Classified as a Mineral Feature. Looks like Lou and Barb found some already....
Alabaster is a fine-grained massive material. It is an ornamental stone that has been used in fine carvings for centuries.
Satin spar is a compact fibrous aggregate that has a satin-like look that gives a play of light up and down the crystals.
Selenite is the colorless and transparent variety of gypsum crystal. The word selenite comes from the Greek for Moon and means moon rock. Selenite crystals can form as a conglomerate of several connected crystals, as crystals attached to limestone or other mineral bases, or as free-floating individual crystals that are not attached to anything.
Darryl found some too....
The selenite crystals that you find at this site are loose and located on the ground. On a sunny day, you will see the bright flashes of the sun reflecting from the surface of the crystals. They often have other minerals locked in them that produce a dark or clouded area within the crystal.
Can you see any in the photo below?
Saline water occurs when salt water becomes land locked and some of the water evaporates. You can see this today in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The salts become highly concentrated as evaporation continues. At some point, the water can’t hold the salts and they start to recombine into solids. These solids are then heavier than the water and they settle, or precipitate, to the bottom producing a layer of gypsum.
Gypsum is used as sheet rock for ceilings and walls in our homes. It’s also used for many other industrial purposes. Gypsum is found in many of the sedimentation layers of rock formed during many of the ages back in time.
The chemical name for gypsum is Hydrated Calcium Sulfate. The chemistry formula is CaSO4-2(H2O). Gypsum, along with its associated crystals, has a hardness of 2 mohs. This means that it is so soft that you can scratch it with your fingernail.
Yes, I put my camera down long enough to find a few myself.
The view on the way down.....
Afterwards we stopped at the Crystal Lake Cave. We didn't have enough time to do a cave tour, but we walked around inside the gift shop. I want to go back another day for the tour.
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