Scientists meet to save Lascaux cave from fungus

[Adsos Letter]

Source: Associated Press
JENNY BARCHFIELD

PARIS – Geologists, biologists and other scientists convened Thursday in Paris to discuss how to stop the spread of fungus stains — aggravated by global warming — that threaten France's prehistoric Lascaux cave drawings.



Black stains have spread across the cave's prehistoric murals of bulls, felines and other images, and scientists have been hard-pressed to halt the fungal creep.

Marc Gaulthier, who heads the Lascaux Caves International Scientific Committee, said the challenges facing the group are vast and global warming now poses an added problem.

"All of Lascaux's problems have always been linked to the cave's climatization, meaning the equilibrium of air inside the cave," Gaulthier told reporters at a news conference before the symposium. Now, rising temperatures have complicated matters by stopping air from circulating inside the caverns, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090226/ap_on_sc/eu_france_cave_drawings;_ylt=Aie1HAReOOmcDnjAGZtCly5vieAA

[ConsAreLiars]

1. Those are very intriguing places. Interesting coinicidence -->

Earlier in the day I had been idly wondering about which kids should have which books in my library, and one which I happened to focus on because the book was unique and the only answer was "both," was one I picked up inside one those caves in the Dordogne, maybe "Cave of the Trois Freres" or maybe another. So I grabbed it and tried looking through to try to refresh my memory, unsuccessfully. In looking through it I discovered I had Copy Number 85 of a printing of 500 of Henri Breuil's 1952 classic "Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art." Turns out to be collectible worth some hundreds of dollars. When I saw it in that cave's souvenir shop. I just thought it was a great, and informative and beautiful compilation, of the art done in that region in that era. Looking for a short review to post, I discover it is somewhat lusted after by the moneyed class. I think I'll advise the kids to share it, read it, feel it - it is a work of in and of itself - and hold onto it until the trust bunnies will up the price a bit more.