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Saving the Mystery Symbols Carved into Australia’s Boab Trees

42 points by Thevet 4y ago

acadapter 4y ago
This problem is kind of like the loss of ancient texts due to the fragility of papyrus. They should place a large granite block next to every tree with these symbols, and make hard copies (sic) of the writing.
- tokai 4y ago
  Or just let things perish. Literally nothing last forever.
  - iamgopal 4y ago
    Reminds me of let it go scene from fight club. But in back of my mind floyd is singing , don’t give in without a fight.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    > Literally nothing last forever. Not even the heat death of the Universe? That's great news!
mc32 4y ago
A bit of an aside, but it looks like boabs are related to baobabs (genealogically and etymologically), though distinct plants.
- valarauko 4y ago
  Boabs are baobabs. Baobabs are a genus, with most of the 8 known species native to Madagascar and mainland Africa. Boabs is the Australian nickname for baobabs, applied to the one native Australian baobab.
Luc 4y ago
> off-road vehicles with “endless” tires. What are 'endless' tires? Google didn't help.
- mkmk 4y ago
  Not entirely sure but I think the point here might be that you need multiple spares, due to all of the punctures you'll get going off-road in this harsh environment.
  - ljf 4y ago
    Exactly this - tires can be a bigger impediment to travel than fuel - can be easier to get hold of more fuel in the outback than the tires you need. If you read it with that in mind it makes perfect sense: Although the team knows of ten other carved boabs that, at least at one time, stood sentinel over the red-earthed landscape, they had no way of accessing them during their survey without off-road vehicles with “endless” tires.
- jofer 4y ago
  The vegetation there (varieties types of spinifex, among other things) tends to have thorns that are much harder and sharper than anything in the US or Europe. Even though modern off-road tires are way way way tougher than they used to be, it still tends to go straight through them. Note: I've never even been there, but my wife spent several years doing field work in the remote outback, so I hear a lot of stories. They carried 4 spare tires, a lot of patches, and typically completely destroyed all 8 in a field season. And they were mostly hiking... The vehicle was just to 1) drive 8 hours from Alice springs to get there, and 2) drive up washes and avoid needing to carry rock samples excessively far.
- teh_klev 4y ago
  I could be wrong but I think they're rubber tracks: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1564118A1 https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1564118A1 or something like: http://www.americantracktruck.com/index.php?page=track-system-information http://www.americantracktruck.com/index.php?page=track-syste... https://mattracks.co/ https://mattracks.co/ Could be the article got their terminology a bit mixed up?

42 points by Thevet 4y ago

This problem is kind of like the loss of ancient texts due to the fragility of papyrus. They should place a large granite block next to every tree with these symbols, and make hard copies (sic) of the writing.

tokai 4y ago
Or just let things perish. Literally nothing last forever.
- iamgopal 4y ago
  Reminds me of let it go scene from fight club. But in back of my mind floyd is singing , don’t give in without a fight.
- Maursault 4y ago
  > Literally nothing last forever. Not even the heat death of the Universe? That's great news!

mc32 4y ago

A bit of an aside, but it looks like boabs are related to baobabs (genealogically and etymologically), though distinct plants.

valarauko 4y ago
Boabs are baobabs. Baobabs are a genus, with most of the 8 known species native to Madagascar and mainland Africa. Boabs is the Australian nickname for baobabs, applied to the one native Australian baobab.

Luc 4y ago

> off-road vehicles with “endless” tires. What are 'endless' tires? Google didn't help.

mkmk 4y ago
Not entirely sure but I think the point here might be that you need multiple spares, due to all of the punctures you'll get going off-road in this harsh environment.
- ljf 4y ago
  Exactly this - tires can be a bigger impediment to travel than fuel - can be easier to get hold of more fuel in the outback than the tires you need. If you read it with that in mind it makes perfect sense: Although the team knows of ten other carved boabs that, at least at one time, stood sentinel over the red-earthed landscape, they had no way of accessing them during their survey without off-road vehicles with “endless” tires.
jofer 4y ago
The vegetation there (varieties types of spinifex, among other things) tends to have thorns that are much harder and sharper than anything in the US or Europe. Even though modern off-road tires are way way way tougher than they used to be, it still tends to go straight through them. Note: I've never even been there, but my wife spent several years doing field work in the remote outback, so I hear a lot of stories. They carried 4 spare tires, a lot of patches, and typically completely destroyed all 8 in a field season. And they were mostly hiking... The vehicle was just to 1) drive 8 hours from Alice springs to get there, and 2) drive up washes and avoid needing to carry rock samples excessively far.
teh_klev 4y ago
I could be wrong but I think they're rubber tracks: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1564118A1 https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1564118A1 or something like: http://www.americantracktruck.com/index.php?page=track-system-information http://www.americantracktruck.com/index.php?page=track-syste... https://mattracks.co/ https://mattracks.co/ Could be the article got their terminology a bit mixed up?