The fifteen expedition members who had been voluntarily held in a cave in the Pyrenees for 40 days found daylight on Saturday. They recounted their experiences, marked by an asynchronous sleep but also by “astonishment” in front of this environment.
Blinded by the sun, wearing sunglasses, the members of the Deep Time expedition reconnected with the outside world, their faces slightly pale but in good condition.
Without a watch, phone or natural light, the fifteen volunteers, led by the French-Swiss explorer Christian Klot, had to get used to the 10.5 degrees and 100% humidity in Lombrives Cave, in Areej, to generate their own electricity with a pedal boat a 45-meter water intake system.
>> Read: Study the effects of lack of time signs by isolating yourself in a cave
Effect of moisture
“Humidity is very influential. We have seen with the passage of time and exhaustion the need to increase food,” said Christian Klot, who spoke at length to the press.
In particular, other participants indicated that they felt much less time passed when they were warned that the 40-day period had expired.
“It was a real shock. I thought there were still five or six days left,” said Emily Kim Fu, a 29-year-old nurse who was part of the group.
No time signs
During the experiment, the participants also noticed a large variation in their sleep cycles. So when some people got up, others went to bed.
“We didn’t have any time markers,” said Tiffin Voire, 32, a psychomotor psychotherapist. “We might have slept more on some nights and less on others,” said Mary Caroline Lagash, a 50-year-old goldsmith.
“I don’t remember my dreams. I had a good surprise. I remember some dreams in the cave,” said Arnod Borrell, a 29-year-old biologist.
>> Find explanations for the Deep Time experience in the CQFD:
Back to the truth
Mr. Clot, founder of the Institute for Human Adaptation, confirmed that he had just learned that there was a “new confinement in France,” and spoke of “a return to reality,” noting that the absence of a mask in the cave was an “interesting form of freedom”.
However, according to the Franco-Swiss explorer, Deep Time aims to study our ability to adapt to the loss of spatial and temporal milestones, a question that has been particularly raised with the health crisis.
afp / kkub
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