Non-Specialists Perception about Endokarst and Exokarst Scenarios: Visions from High School Students

The aim of this work is to recover some methodological aspects of the study about the mind representations of caves in Brazil. The basis of this research consisted of one essay, approaching the social representations of a particular group of high school students on the exokarst and the endokarst. The results showed that the meanings vary only slightly, however, the most interesting result was due to the fact that students, who had already visited caves in some period of their lives, still held “negative” concepts regarding this environment even before visual stimulations. About 640 words associated with the exokarst and the endokarst were mentioned, emphasizing: fear, dark, shadowy, skull, hidden places, fantastic and beauty, which helped identifying relations between the cultural and psychological aspects of the group, mainly general views about the obscure and mysterious aspects of this landscape and its prominence over natural beauties. Analyzed data showed that the development of new research on mind representations of caves is very important, mainly for environmental education programs promoting adequate concepts about caves and extending activities of educational ecotourism in Brazilian caves

On the origin of the name Dinara

This short paper on the origin of the name Dinara based on literature is in fact an open question and a challenge for future researchers. The authors are relatively well acquainted with the Western part of Dinaric karst and corresponding ”western” literature and from this point of view they tried to find out where and when appeared the name Dinara for the mountain as well as for the whole Dinaric chain as we call it nowadays. Based on older literature and maps they found out that the name Dinara appeared in the 16th century in a novel, not in a professional work, while in the 17th (Evliya Çelebi) and during the 18th centuries it became largely used by authors describing Balkans (Fortis 1774, Hacquet 1785). During the 19th century it was a generally adopted name, often as Dinaric Alps. Authors make an appeal to researchers whose topic is Dinaric karst to pay attention to this question; especially to older publications which are not generally known and accessible.Key words: Dinara, Dinaric Mountains, origin of name.Vprašanje izvora imena DinaraPričujoči kratki prispevek na podlagi pregledane literature predstavlja nerešeno vprašanje izvora imena Dinara, kar je lahko tudi izziv za prihodnje raziskovalce. Kot poznavalca predvsem zahodnega dela Dinarskega krasa in ustrezne »zahodne« literature sta avtorja poskušala ugotoviti, od kod izvira oziroma od kdaj se pojavlja ime Dinara za samo goro s tem imenom pa tudi za celotno Dinarsko gorstvo, kot ga pojmujemo danes. Na podlagi starejše literature in zemljevidov ugotavljata, da se ime Dinara pojavi v 16. stol. v romanu, ne v strokovni publikaciji, v 17. (Evliya Çelebi) in 18. stol. ga že pogosteje uporabljajo opisovalci tega dela Balkana (Fortis 1774, Hacquet 1785), v 19. stol. pa je že splošno priznano ime, pogosto kot Dinarske Alpe. Avtorja pozivata raziskovalce, ki se ukvarjajo z Dinarskim krasom, naj posvetijo nekaj pozornosti temu vprašanju, posebno o starejši literaturi, ki ni splošno znana in dostopna.Ključne besede: Dinara, Dinarsko gorstvo, izvor imena.

Espeleologia, Carstologia e a pesquisa científica

As ideias apresentadas neste texto tm por objetivo ilustrar os conceitos expostos e trabalhados durante o II Encontro de Geografia do Campo das Vertentes, na Universidade Federal de So Joo Del Rei a fim de demonstrar a Espeleologia como uma cincia multidisciplinar. O autor aborta aspectos da histria da espeleologia, bem como dos campos de estudo possveis de utilizar as cavernas para a pesquisa cientfica

Espeleologia, Carstologia e a pesquisa científica

As ideias apresentadas neste texto têm por objetivo ilustrar os conceitos expostos e trabalhados durante o II Encontro de Geografia do Campo das Vertentes, na Universidade Federal de São João Del Rei a fim de demonstrar a Espeleologia como uma ciência multidisciplinar. O autor aborta aspectos da história da espeleologia, bem como dos campos de estudo possíveis de utilizar as cavernas para a pesquisa científica

Caves, Stories, History and Popular Traditions in the Semi-Desert (Sertão) of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil

The symbiosis between man and caves usually causes a mixture of fascination and respect. When looking back at the history of Antique civilizations, there are references to this relationship made in almost all cases. Caves were men’s first home, their first meeting places, shelters, and ritualistic places. Nowadays, even with the fear of darkness and closed areas that is so usual, that old-time connection still exists. In the contemporary world, some places still hold a special sacred meaning to many social groups. Thus, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, to the shrine of Fatima in Portugal, to the Ganges River in India or to the cave church of Bom Jesus da Lapa in the interior of Bahia State, Brazil, are closely related when it comes to spiritual complicity. These sites play a key role as a collective reference of human sacrifice in an increasingly automated, technical and individualistic world much more than as strengthers of the religious faith. In Brazil there are many important religious sites. This paper mentions important sites specifically from the northeastern region. The examples are the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus da Lapa, the Cave of Patamuté, the Brejoes Cave, and the Milagrosa Cave. All these examples show clear manifestations of popular traditions and year after year illustrate the important roles that caves play in regional Brazilian societies. This paper is not intended to diminish the physical studies of karst areas but it wants to emphasize the importance of the human variable, especially in developing countries, for the relationship between karst and caves in the popular tradition, transmitted by means of oral stories and folk beliefs goes beyond the scientific advances