Here's what Wikip. has to say about Los Tayos:
As a result of the claims published in von Däniken’s book, an
investigation of Cueva de los Tayos was organized by Stan Hall from
Britain in 1976. One of the largest and most expensive cave
explorations ever undertaken, the expedition included over a hundred
people, including experts in a variety of fields, British and
Ecuadorian military personnel, a film crew, and former astronaut
Neil Armstrong. The team also included eight experienced British
cavers who thoroughly explored the cave and conducted an accurate
survey to produce a detailed map of the cave. There was no evidence
of Von Däniken’s more exotic claims, although some physical features
of the cave did approximate his descriptions and some items of
zoological, botanical and archaeological interest were found.
The C.P.C. (Craven Pothole Club?) published an expedition report that
I don't have. An article appeared in the BCRA Bulletin (of the British
Cave Research Association), number 14, November 1976. I've had my
computer "read" if for you. Sorry, I haven't made any effort to clean
up what the OCR program did.
LOS TAYOS EXPEDITION, ECUADOR : JULY - AUGUST 1976
David. Judson
With the interest created by Juan Moritz after a small Ecuadorian
Army expedition
to the Los Tayos caves in 1969» and the even greater interest
created "by the
fantastic claims of Eric Von Danekin in his book, "Gold of the
Gods11, the
Expedition^ primary objective was to investigate the caves
thoroughly and make
a factual report on its findings•
The Los Tayos Caves are situated in the south-east of Ecuador,
approximately 10
kilometres from the border with Peru. The oaves were known to be
in an area of
Jurassic limestone at an altitude of approximately 2500 feet, near
to the Rio
Coangas, a southern tributary of the Rio Santiago. The caves were
known to
have been visited by a party of Italian missionaries in 1884» and by
a German
party in 1955> (both taken there by the local Jivaro Indians). It
was also
known that the caves were visited annually (each April), by the
local Indians.
We found that they were currently taking away about 500 oil bird
chicks each
year - which they then render down for their oil.
The Expedition was initiated by Stanley Hall, an engineer from
Dollar in Scotland
- a friend of Juan Moritz. The Army were invited to participate;
they supplied
personnel - 40 officers and men, and full logistical support
including the supply
of equipment and food and liaison with the Ecuadorian Army who
supplied air
support and jungle trained forced. It was decided at an early
stage that a
secondary objective should be to provide a team of scientists who
would study
all aspects of the cave and the surrounding terrain, and work
closely with other
scientists based in Ecuador. At a rather late stage it was
appreciated that
there was a need for a strong team of civilian cavers, whose brief
it would be
to look after cave exploration, survey, photography and to attend to
the
requirements of the scientists actually carrying out work
underground. Eventually
a team of eight cavers was assembled: Peter Holden (Army); Dr John
Prankland;
David Judson; David Checkley; John Whalley; Peter Cardy; Arthur
Champion and
John Harvey. The team was only recruited during the final two
months prior to
the departure of the Expedition.
The duration of the Expedition was fixed at 45 days, (by reason of
economy on
air tickets), leaving UK 50th June. With the excellent air support
given by
the Ecuadorian Army and Air Force, the first party reached base camp
on the Rio
Santiago, (only 15 kilometres from the caves), only two days after
leaving
Heathrowl After a further four days, (including abortive efforts
to move up
river in inflatable boats), we reached a cave site by Puma helicopter.
Exploration was pursued on the same day, (day 6), by Judson and
Champion,
who descended a 50 metre shaft, a 6 metre pitch, observed the small
square
passage and the rectangular arch shown in "Gold of the Gods", and
explored a
large boulder strewn passage for a distance of one kilometre and a
depth of
almost 200 metres. The passage ended at a sump pool, where an
active inlet
passage brought in a sizeable stream but sumped immediately
downstream.
Under the direction of John Harvey, the cavers worked for the
following six
days on the erection of a heavy timber platform, and the rigging of
petrol
generator and electric hoist for descent by scientists and other non-
cavers
into the main cave. During this period the permanent stream sink was
explored, Cammando Cave, and this eventually linked up with the main
cave at
the sump pool and at other points. A third, parallel system.
Shovel Pot, was
subsequently explored. This opened off the entrance chamber of
Commando Cave.
The stream met within Shovel Pot appears to originate from the upper
sinking
point of the Los Tayos stream, and almost certainly enters the main
system, but
a positive link was not established.
The whole cave system appears to have been developed as a result of
the
progressive down cutting of the Los Tayos stream together with its
old tributary,
(now permanently sinking at Commando Cave), cave development being
initiated at
Archaeological Shaft and Main Shaft, where two major joints crossed
the line of
the stream bed. M6 Passage appears to be a secondary system, its
original entry
point now being unknown. Commando Cave and Shovel Pot appear to be
more recently
developed routes, both presently active in varying degrees.
The resurgence for the Los Tayos system is unknown, but the system
is heading
down a steady dip of 10-15° towards the Rio Coangas, and may not
have very far
to go in depth, and 1-2 kilometres in distance. The main
characteristic of the
whole system is the remarkably rectangular form of most of the
passages, this
applies especially to the larger and older ones. This has been
occasioned by
the general thinly bedded, well jointed nature of the limestone,
which becomes
more pronounced with depth. The Main Passage, through Stanley Hall
to the
sump presents a superb example of progressive cavern collapse, with
a maximum
width of almost 100 metres being reached in Stanley Hall.
The main scientific activities carried out within the caves were:
fauna
collection, by Ashmole, Jefferson and Campbell; sampling guano for
presence
of histoplasmosis spores, by Frankland and Cavanagh; bat collection
and studies
of bat parasites, by Stebbings, Gaskell and Hutson; oil bird
studies, by Snow;
archaeological work, by Father Porras and assistants; geology by
Wilkinson.
Towards the end of the Expedition a piece of pottery was found in a
small
passage near to the foot of the Archaeological Shaft and this led to
many more
finds in the immediate vicinity by Father Porras and his
assistants. It is
believed that these remains, pottery fragments, ceramic ornaments,
and currency
of the day, in the form of large shells originating from the Pacific
Coast, are
in the order of 5500 years old. Work is still in progress on
dating of these
objects, and a further Ecuadorian expedition is being planned to
pursue this
further with a major dig, possibly in 1977»
Early in August, when evacuation of the cave site was already well
under way,
Professor Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) our Honorary
President,
put in an appearance at the Santiago Base Camp. He was offered a
chance of a
look around the cave system. He was flown to the cave site by
Allouette
helicopter, together with Stanley Hall and five of the caving team,
and they
descended into the cave by ladder. A minor collision that day at
Santiago,
between the Allouette and one of the Arava supply aircraft put the
helicopter
out of action for 24 hours and the whole party had to sleep out
rough at the
cave site - I understand that 'moontalk1 was prevalent?
Other areas were also visited by various members of the
Expedition. A small
party led by Bob Stebbings spent about ten days collecting bats and
exploring
a cave system of approximately one kilometre close to the Rio Yuapi,
a northern
tributary of the Santiago about 15 kilometres downstream from
Santiago.
Checkley and others also visited an interesting river cave near to
Tena, (north
of Pastaza, in the central Oriente). The Tena area appears to
offer plenty
of scope for further cave exploration.
Another article appeared in Caving International, number 1, October
1978. It contains very nicely printed detailed plan and profile maps
of the cave. -- Mixon
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