Geological and Human History
'Porth yr Ogof' means 'the mouth of the cave' in Welsh, most notably because of the gaping maw that is the Main Entrance. The cave lies on the Afon Mellte and is located in a comparatively narrow band of carboniferous limestone. The river bed is dry from Ystradfellte onwards, the river only rising to the surface again just before the cave.
The cave has been known to humans for many centuries, as it is not easily overlooked once one is in the valley, but because of the passageway's susceptibility to severe flooding there has been no evidence found of any prehistoric human habitation. The cave and its many visible fossils was mentioned in the writings of Edward Lhuyd, and in the 19th century it was mentioned again by the first pioneers of caving.
Read more about this topic: Porth Yr Ogof
Famous quotes containing the words geological, human and/or history:
“The crystal sphere of thought is as concentrical as the geological structure of the globe. As our soils and rocks lie in strata, concentric strata, so do all men’s thinkings run laterally, never vertically.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A poem is like a person. Though it has a family tree, it is important not because of its ancestors but because of its individuality. The poem, like any human being, is something more than its most complete analysis. Like any human being, it gives a sense of unified individuality which no summary of its qualities can reproduce; and at the same time a sense of variety which is beyond satisfactory final analysis.”
—Donald Stauffer (b. 1930)
“The history of a soldier’s wound beguiles the pain of it.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)