Dakar 2010 race trashes archaeological sites in Chile

[wtmusic]

"Dakar Race Caused USD 570K Worth Of Damage In Chile

Maybe this will make the Dakar organizers rethink riding in South America. The Chilean organization (CMN) that looks after the national monuments is claiming 300 million pesos (about US$ 570,000) from the Dakar organizers. According to them, 56 of 111 historical sites have been damaged during the race.

According to CMN, 13 sites lost all archeological data, while 4 sites have received more than 50% damage.

So they want ASO (the Dakar organizers) to cough up... That'll make the race a tad more expensive for the next one."

http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/dakar-race-caused-usd-570k-worth-of-damage-in-chile.htm

Imagine that...offroad motorsports causing environmental damage. Huh.

[Posteritatis]

1. Ugh, were they *aiming* for the sites or something? (nt)

[Javaman]

4. I think it was an additional "achievement" system. nt

[Ian David]

2. They wanted to make it look like Mario Cart, I guess. n/t

[Cleita]

3. Mining interests in the last century have done far more damage to

archaeological sites. When my dad worked for the mines in Chile, collecting pre-Columbian mummies and any artifacts that looked like they had value that were unburied in the mining process became a hobby of the American mining engineers. No one was concerned that they were destroying sites in the process. When I was a child there were ruins back in the hills that we played in. I know those are gone because the mine, an open pit one, has taken over. The house I lived is gone too because of the same process.