* Educache: A discontinued opencaching cache type, similar to an "earthcache" but not constrained to the subject of geology.
Also accepted by ARSUP as a suitable qualification for University of Box: Department of Industrial Archaeology.
For decades, cavers and explorers have puzzled over all the numbers written on the walls of Bath and Wiltshire's underground quarries. They were written in the 19th century by the quarrymen and are clearly related to their quarrying activities. At first glance, they may correctly be assumed to be tallies and calculations pertaining to the stone. But on closer analysis, how exactly are the numbers related? And when a modern-day explorer performs some test calculations on the numbers, why don't they agree with the quarrymen's old markings?
In 2012, a caver from the Mendip decided to tackle the riddle. He enlisted the help of a caver from Wiltshire who was more familiar with the whereabouts of these tallies; they are the sort of old markings that seem to be everywhere when you are not looking for them, but once you go searching specifically for them, they become much more elusive.
Many samples of numbers were found and photographed. Different patterns of numbers were observed: some looked tabular; some were more vertical, like arithmetic calculations. Cavers often work best in teams, and this project proved to be no exception: after some analysis, the Mendip caver cracked the riddle of the tables, and the underlying ideas from that enabled the Wiltshire caver to solve the vertical riddles.
The cache will work through some of this and related subjects with a mixture of research, fieldwork, and adventure, to shed more light on this area's history from the last 150 years or so.
To continue
My first is in the first picture, my second is in the second:
My whole is in Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, the Bahamas, and if appended to tiny.cc/ will lead you to the next stage.