Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

For this Mother's Day take a moment to read about a woman who gave birth in Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa, commonly called the cradle of humankind. Happy Mother's Day! #ewls #MothersDay #Mom dailymail.co.uk

Two 7700-year-old women were discovered in a far east Russia cave called Chertovy Vorota or the Devil’s Gate Cave in English. The site was of particular interest because the skeletons were found with pottery, harpoons, and the remnants of nets and mats woven from twisted blades of wild sedge grass; considered by many researchers a rudimentary form of early agriculture. Hungarian graduate student Veronika Siska was sequenced the genome to compare it to modern Europeans and Asians and revealed  an interesting link to modern culture. The two Devil’s Gate Cave women are related to the Ulchi, indigenous people live a few hundred kilometers north of the cave where they have long fished, hunted, and grown food and other people who speak the endangered 75 or so Tungusic languages spoken in eastern Siberia and China. Sources: Science Mag,  wiki commons

Cinthia Campos was chosen to be featured in the Extraordinary Women Cavers Guidebook and Magazine for along side several other extraordinary women cavers in the 2017 August release of the annual publication. Cinthia became interested in caving while attending an archaeology class in college. She is a certified HeartSaver and cave mapper/cartographer. Cinthia participates in the Quintana Roo Cave Mapping Project and has discovered 26 subterranean sites. She launched the Tarascan Cave Reconnaissance to survey sites in Michoacán, a region of Mexico that is largely unexplored and even did work to preserve bats in Mexican caves that were threatened by guano poachers. Welcome Cinthia and congratulations on becoming an EWC!

Oana Ghiocel, Romanian documentary filmmaker is creating Immigrants Under Earth, which follows Romanian speleologists in the 1980s to uncover a world of explorations, discoveries and unexpected freedom. The idea for the film came while shooting The Bear Cult, which investigated the relationship between humans and bears from prehistoric times to the present. With more than 50 hours of interviews gathered, the film will be a medley of stories of a “generation of adventurers” who, between 1979 and 1989 established many speleological groups and mapped an impressive number of caves. Accompanying the on-site shooting and interviews in the film will be reenactments. New shooting will take place in spring and summer and Ghiocel says she hopes to be able to finish production by end-summer. Apart from the new documentary, she is also working on a book gathering material related to the subject of The Mystery of the Carpathian Sphinx and also a sequel to the film. The plan is to have the book ou...

Delores Gaidowski passed away last year taking with her decades of women's history in caving that I can only imagine. She came from a time when the web was only developing and women often attributed their accomplishments to their husbands and fathers. Delores and Ray Gaidowski purchased a 83-acre property in the early 1980s that held the amazing Kickapoo Indian Caverns. At one time this cave was known as Goblin Cave. It was used by Native Americans hundreds of years before soldiers stationed at Fort Crawford discovered the cave in the middle 1800s. But it wasn't until July 4, 1947, when a building was constructed and the keyhole-shaped entrance to the cave expanded to allow for tours. Kickapoo Indian Caverns is one of Wisconsin's largest cave systems. It is an Indian shelter that was created by an ancient underground river. The passage ways hold several exiting features such as the kiva ‘Nowannus Sukwahan’ chamber of lost waters, a majestic cathedral room with an onyx cei...

Along with 13 other contestants, Suzanne Wyatt would have to hunt and forage for her own food, build shelters, and learn to live without all the creature comforts we take for granted. No phones, no television, no cosmetics and no supermarkets. "Although it was tough, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, because I learnt and experienced so much. It’s great to be back home. Though I wouldn’t mind going back for a holiday!" Source: mirror.co.uk

"There is a clear need in the speleology community to open safe spaces for women to not only participate in the speleology community but also to grow into the leadership role models.” Adriana F. Sánchez Cultural Resources Manager, President of Xanvil Culture and Ecology, and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

“Young women are so often discouraged from pursuing ‘hard science’ fields” but that they “are just as capable, if not more so, as boys and men of doing the dirty work of science and doing it well.” Elen Feuerriegel Rising Star Expedition, PhD candidate, and 2015 EWC #ScienceWomen #WLeadership #ewls www.ewls.org

Over the years EWLS has found a many women leaders who have worked to contribute in cave archaeology. Read our top 10 below! Anges Milowka (23 December 1981 – 27 February 2011) was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. Read more here . Elen Feuerriegel was featured in our annual 2015 publication this April as an Extraordinary Woman Caver (EWC) and was one of the 6 women scientists who recovered and cataloged than 1200 hominid fossil elements in the South African Rising Star Cave. Congrats Elen. Read more here . Florence Guillot, speleologist for the past thirty years, is co-responsible for the speleological expedition IOWA 2014 in Papua-New Guinea. Guillot has a PhD in History and is an archaeologist and...

Julie Meachen Awarded DMU’s First NSF Grant Dr. Meachen joined Des Moines University as an assistant professor of anatomy in July 2013, where she has been an active researcher. During Dr. Meachen’s initial visit to Natural Trap Cave, a 85-foot-deep sinkhole, she discovered various fossils from species ranging from 12,000 to 30,000 years old. In April 2015 she was awarded the first National Science Foundation (NSF) grant ($400,000) to support her project in Wyoming’s Natural Trap Cave. In collaboration with researchers from across the globe, this project seeks to understand the Pleistocene extinction. #ewls #womencavers #ScienceWomen #WLeadershp SOURCES https://www.dmu.edu/dose/2015/04/julie-meachen-ph-d-awarded-dmus-first-nsf-grant/

Larisa Yerofeevskaya, research fellow at the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems, says that bacterial found in frozen paleontological remains has unearthed hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms capable of decomposing oil components into water and carbon dioxide. This find gives the potential to develop bacteria compounds that could clean-up pollution caused by oil products and fats. "From cave lions, we identified a very large number of bacteria ... so far four strains...[are] hydrocarbon oxidizing. We identified bacteria in the mouth of one cub and in the anus of the second one ... ancient bacteria that existed ... least 12,000 years ago." The ancient cave lion cub bacteria literally appears to eat the oil. The woolly rhino carcass also hosted 'ammonifying organisms that break down the protein of plant and animal origin. "There is strong potential for use in fighting pollution," she said. "If we manage to create a consortium of organisms - ammonifying, cell...

Julie Meachen, the Natural Trap Cave excavation project chief paleontologist, is beginning to release details of some of the researchers' discoveries. Although no new species have been discovered, she said her project is more focused on recreating the floral makeup of the area over time. Gretchen Hurley, a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management's Cody field office, who manages the project at Natural Trap Cave said that bones are remarkably well-preserved due to the climate in the bottom of the cave and protection it provides from the elements. Read more about the progress of Natural Trap Cave here: trib.com OTHER SOURCES dmu.edu nps.gov #ewls #womencavers #ScienceWomen #WLeadership

Jami Kelly plans on being an archaeologist someday and she is attending college to become one. Besides this, she recently became a ranger for the Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Jami was born in Glendale, Arizona, but grew up in Salt Lake City being fascinated by the outdoors where she hiked up any mountain she could. Jami enjoys teaching people about outdoor survival but her main passion is protecting nature. She loves cave archaeology and troglobites. “Jami is new to caves but has caught the fever!” said the moderator of the   Timpanogos Cave National Monument Facebook page. “She is blending her passion for archaeology with the underground.   She reads everything she can get her hands on regarding cave archaeology.   We expect great things from this new ranger!”Great work Jami. Thank you for being an extraordinary woman caver. #ewls #womencavers #speleology #ScienceWomen #WLeaders SOURCES Interview TCNM Facebook Manager TCNM Facebook Page Image...

Paleontologist Julie Meachen at Des Moines University says the 20,000 year old animal remains found in Wyoming's Natural Trap Cave's 15-foot wide 80 feet deep entrance could provide clues to how climate change might have caused many species to disappear from North America after the last ice age. Researchers are studying genetic material they've recovered and comparing it to that of modern-day animals. Two summers of digging have uncovered the remains of cheetahs, camels, horses and lions.#speleology #ScienceWomen #womencavers #WLeadership #ewls SOURCE m.kotatv.com Image: news.berkeley.edu

Sánchez is an archaeologist and co-director of the Mensabak Archaeological Project (MAP) in the SouthernLacandon Rainforest of Chiapas, Mexico. She is member of the Jaguar Speleological Group in Mexico, the British Columbia Speleological Federation, and the Northern British Columbia Caving Club. She serves on the Board of Directors with EscaparARTE and the President and founding member of Xanvil, a Mexican organization dedicated to the promotion of Mayan culture and the conservation of the natural environment of Mesoamerica. We are glad to have you Adriana! Thank you for supporting women in caving! #womencavers #ScienceWomen #ewls #speleology Read more about Adriana here: ewls.org

Sue Bozeman and Becky Jagnow will go into a cave just about any time. They are people with whom you want to see your first cave because they know a lot about caves. Jagnow started caving in limestone formations as an anthropology student at the University of New Mexico and Bozeman have been cavers since the late 1960s. Recently, Bozeman and Jagnow took this reporter and a photographer to caves near Corn. The two women belong to the local cavers' club, Central Oklahoma Grotto. Out of 24 members, eight are women. "Caving is like looking at the earth from the inside out," Jagnow said. "Once you start wondering what's around the next corner," you're hooked. #ewls #womencavers #speleology SOURCE:  newsok.com image: okcavers.com

Holley Moyes explores caves and examines artifacts to understand the rituals of ancient people. By studying the artifacts left by ancient Mayans, anthropological archaeologist and assistant professor at the University of California at Merced, Moyes hopes to both preserve Mayan culture and discover stories of these ancient people. Moyes has spent the past 20 years exploring more than 100 caves in Belize, finding everything from tools to sacrificial remains to everyday pottery, to uncover how the Mayans' ideologies were created and maintained. Discovering the why behind ancient people's decision-making allows us to understand the implications of their decisions. One particular ritual Moyes focused on was why Mayans performed human sacrifices deep inside of caves. Though it's a developing theory, Moyes believes the Mayans cared deeply about rain (their lands were dry for many months of the year) and left increasingly large sacrifices to their god, Chac, to lif...

Joy Lyons, 56, a wife and the mother of three daughters passed after a long battle with cancer last week. Former Park City Mayor Gary Madison described Lyons to Glasgow Daily Times: “She was always willing to help with any project ..." Over the years in service “she helped look for lost visitors ... [and] treat injured visitors” said Brad McDougal, who started working at Mammoth Cave at about the same time as Lyons. Lyons began her career at Mammoth Cave in 1979 as a seasonal park aid. In 2004 she was promoted to chief of program services for the park’s division of interpretation and held the position retiring in 2013. “She did a lot for Mammoth Cave National Park, particularly the cave (and) the African-American history,” Bob Ward said. In a previous Daily Times’ article, Lyons said: “Mammoth Cave has an extensive black history and we’re not even identified ... [that way]. That was one of my objectives: to get the story of Mammoth Cave’s slave history out to the public, ...