Dunmore Caves

Last Friday, we joined other homeschoolers for a tour of the Dunmore Caves. Not only are they interesting for speleologic reasons but also have significant historical importance.

In order to get inside the cave, we had to go down more than 700 steps.

Luscious vegetation grows all around this deep black hole, as if it is being swallowed by darkness...

Irish bats fly to the caves for hibernating. They hang upside down from October to March. Unfortunately, we did not see any of them as they hide in other sections not accessible to human visitors. But as a proof, our guide pointed

us to bat poop on the floor...

The historical importance of Dunmore comes from the fact that people living in the area one thousand years ago used the caves as a shelter and even for food storage. While the Vikings raided the island. Women and children came here to hide from the "enslavers". Many skeletons were found hidden deep inside a nook. The most common explanation is that the Vikings lit up many fires to smoke them out. Many silver coins from York, a viking village in England, were found. The Vikings didn't use wallets to carry their silver. They would use bees wax to stick them inside their beard or under their armpits. In the heat of a battle, wax would melt and coins would fall...

About 10 years ago, a guide found a treasure hidden simply under a rock. A silver bracelet, silver coins dating some fifty years after the initial raid and silver cones, made out of a woven thread of metal.

Inside, there were many interesting features such as this huge stalactite. Notice that it is not pointy like it normally should. That's because, one hundred years ago, some explorer wanted to keep it as a souvenir by removing it with explosives, the method of choice at the time.

On the ceiling there are many straws. All are exactly 6 millimeters wide, the same size as a water drop. It takes about 100 years to grow 1 cm longer as deposits of minerals slowly build down the straw.