speleofact

plural speleofacts

1. geographyitem deliberately extracted from a speleothem for the purpose of usage in a particular function

   Note that the burnt bone was covered by a reddish and blackened speleofact

   2016, Jacques Jaubert, Sophie Verheyden, Dominique Genty, Michel Soulier, Hai Cheng, “Early Neanderthal constructions deep in Bruniquel Cave in southwestern France”, in Nature, volume 534, number 7605, →DOI, →ISSN, page 114

   2 more examples

   Speleofacts, like artifacts, are formed by removal of material, addition of material, or both. Speleofacts are of two general types: speleogens, such as scour troughs, dome-pits, and drip pockets, form by solution and corrasion excavating cave rock and sediments; speleothems, such as flowstone, stalactites, and cave pearls, form by deposition of calcite within the cave.

   1967 March 1, Arthur Lange, “Caves and Karst, Volume 9, No. 2, March/April 1967”, in Caves and Karst, volume 9, number 2

   Prehistoric humans intentionally modified stalagmites in the Cova Dones cave in Spain, forming over 100 structures—known as speleofacts—as a result.

   2025 June 4, Dario Radley, “Over 100 prehistoric structures uncovered in Cova Dones cave, Spain”, in Archaeology News Online Magazine