In Search Of…


I swing my legs into the opening. Mud squelches beneath me. My feet search around until I fi nd a rock to brace myself on. I shimmy down, pushing with my hands and feeling my way with my feet.


It’s dark. I’m now completely inside the narrow passage. My back is against one wall, and my face is about 15 centimeters from the other. T e way I’m wedged between rock layers, I’m closer to standing than lying fl at. T e only sounds I can hear are my own breathing and the quiet trickling of water.


Aſt er a couple of minutes of wriggling, I feel a pair of hands grab my feet. Gustavo guides my feet to the cave fl oor. Now I’m standing on the main level of El Portillo.


My husband and expedition photographer, Dillon, joins me. We set up some lights and get to work right away. We are looking for the signs that are shown on the one and only map that exists for this cave. Made in 1979 by an archeologist, the map includes a note about “two red dots” on the cave walls. More than anything, I want to fi nd them.


Ice Age


Over time, Earth’s climate has changed between very cold periods, during which glaciers covered large parts of the world, and warm periods, during which many of the glaciers melted. An ice age can last for millions of years. At the height of the last ice age, much of Northern Europe was covered by ice more than a kilometer thick.


This time was not empty of life, though.


Ice age people lived here, among the cold weather and fi erce predators. They were tough and resilient people. They left behind many artifacts, such as tools clothing, and primitive structures. They also left behind artwork painted and engraved on cave walls. What their art meant, we do not know.


ADVENTURER DVENTURER 19 19


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24