'Gate to Hell' found in Turkey

[Joe S2]

Thought that I would try to live-in up the History and Archeology part of the board! 


http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/01/gate-to-hell-found-in-turkey/

[Mat]

Neat, thanks for the link.

[rick2]

i recently visited Pamukkale and hierapolis and i think the existence of a Plutonium was well known
i think they placed a gate over it after 2 german tourists died in 2008 when they entered the site

if you can hierapolis is worth a visit as it s massive and only partly excavated
when i was there i stumbled upon a christian burial ground that was not signposted in any maps of the place

it s outside the walls and you can see half buried sarcophagies

[Andrew McCabe]

i recently visited Pamukkale and hierapolis and i think the existence of a Plutonium was well known
i think they placed a gate over it after 2 german tourists died in 2008 when they entered the site

There was a hotel above the village at the top of the hot-spring area of Pamukkale whose swimming pool was full of Roman ruins. I recall returning to the hotel at 1am, very inebriated with two friends, and skinny dipping around the Roman columns. It felt nice and warm and bubbly, no doubt due to the Plutonium. Nice. I couldn't find the hotel in an internet search, perhaps it was too radioactive.

Edit: just opened the initial link and I realise you are discussing Plutonium, the gate to hell, and not Plutonium, a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. No differences anyway. Whether the gate to hell or a dangerously radioactive chemical, I'd still have gone skinny dipping drunk around the roman ruins at 1am.

[Chrismon]

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

[SC]

Going slightly off topic, though still perhaps hell-related, Plutonium is not in fact dangerously radioactive.  I have held some (exactly 1.000 grams of Pu-239) in a glass test tube in my bare hand.  In fact separated Pu is about the least radioactive element in spent nuclear fuel.  The really hot elements  both in terms of radioactivity and in actual temperature are the transuranic elements Americium and Neptunium.  The problem is that when you separate the uranium from the spent fuel you usually still have an Am-Ne-Pu mix and you have to separate out the Pu.  But pure Pu has very low radioactivity.  And it is usually a black or dark silver metal, not a cool green glowing rod a la the Simpsons.

Shawn

 

[Akropolis]

This is no "discovery." I was there in 1964 and it was touted as such back then by local guides.
PeteB

[OldMoney]

A couple of the hotels at the top of the travertines have been removed, or
were in a process of being removed. The pool area was still there last time I
visited, and - much like Andrew did (though not drunk and nude!) - went for
a swim in the spring waters - bubbly and warm. Swimming in the hot spring
water, among the fallen columns and blocks was wonderful and relaxing.

The first time I was there you could still take a dip in the "cotton castle" pools,
but they had been silting up and not taken care of for some time, and this was
not helped by the numerous (global) tourists who ignored many of the basic
courtesies and caused damage to the travertines - the "pretty" white bits seen
in many of the touristy photos of Pammukale.

The site itself is fascinating, with many of the tombs and lower profile structures
partially or wholly submerged in layers of the silt and carbonate that makes up
the structure of the pools on the 'glamourous' and popular part of the hill-site.

Walter Holt

[Vincent]

Hope our "ruins" of today's building and structures will be as enjoyed by future tourist.