Monday, May 09, 2022

You're Not Allowed in This Cave

Those who are responsible for archaeological sites, both historic and prehistoric, are faced with a dilemma. How do you balance historic preservation with teaching people about it? It's like the folks living near a tourist attraction trying to balance the money people bring in with the damage they cause. But that's something you can't really balance. Even restricted tourism will damage fragile ancient artifacts over enough time. But what good are the artifacts if we can't see them? France came up with a scheme to protect Chauvet cave and its ancient paintings by building Grotte Chauvet 2 Ardèche. Tom Scott went there to show us because we can't afford to go to the south of France. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is not only a Lascaux 2 cave (also an exact replica), but also a Lascaux 3 (travelling exhibit) and a Lascaux 4 (bigger multimedia cave).

xoxoxoBruce said...

I like the idea, I'm not much on Throg stood on the very spot, but seeing what Throg painted on a wall (even a duplicate) is very interesting.
Go to see the Mona Lisa or a similar stature painting and see how close you can get. Not likely as close as you can to these works.