Talk:Lascaux

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[edit] Date of discovery

Lascaux and 1940 contradict regarding the date the caves were discovered, they say 12 September, and 1 November respectively. - cohesion★talk 07:54, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

[1] says 12 September. - cohesion★talk 07:57, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

a quick google search yeilds only sites that take their information from wikipedia claiming 1 November, while many others claim 12 September. I'll make the change. --Someones life 19:59, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Star Map

This[2] isn't mentioned? I don't know enough about it to write myself Chopper Dave 22:23, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Fascinating. I saw that mentioned in the Cro-Magnon article. Might be interesting to add it here. It's along the lines of the work by Alexander Marshack. But I wonder if it was published. Maybe a brief mention. I'll maybe add it, if you don't. I really need to get back to this article and do the refs properly. Soon, I hope. TimidGuy 16:06, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] storing some info about stone lamps

May add something about this to the article. Since I had typed it in elsewhere am storing it here in case I decide to add.

On page 117-118 Curtis describes an excavation of Lascaux that took place in 1959. He writes, "A number of tools and blades also appeared, as well as dozens of plain lamps that are little more than stones with a small hollow, and one exquisite lamp carved from pinkish sandstone. It is shaped like a broad spoon and decorated with the same barbed lines found on the spear points and in the painting. The presense of so many lamps in the Shaft adds weight to the theory that things took place at times when the carbon dioxide level was high. Each individual lamp would have burned less brightly in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxice, so more lamps that usual would have been necessary." TimidGuy 11:43, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fungus Talk

Let's get some Fungus talk going. I read about it many months ago. When they first did the air circulation system decades ago, much care was taken with natural air flow. They redid the old system a couple years ago, and BOOM! fungus grows like wild fire. Apparently, the major concern was cost, not the mind numbing slow, careful, and correct operations that most natural, irreplaceable landmarks get. This story has a bad guy and everything! Can someone help? (my first post) Turtlefoot 00:05, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Fungus Talk

I agree that the Lascaux cave Wikipedia page should have a section on the recent attacks from fungi and mold growth. The matter is a controversial one, in that the French government has claimed that the only problem has been picking up the pieces of the problems from 40 years ago (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/), while Lauscaux advocates, especially the International Committee for the Preservation of Lascaux (ICPL) (http://www.savelascaux.org/index.php), have claimed that the French government have hidden (and at times: lied about) the true condition of the caves and the seriousness of the stability and life expectancy of the cave paintings. The issue has received worldwide attention, especially after the articles published in TIME magazine (http://www.savelascaux.org/TIMEMagazine.pdf), and the most recent issue (May/June 2008) of Archaeology Magazine. Since the issue has become more publicly known, I think that the Wikipedia page should provide every angle of the available information for those wishing to know more of the matter. Rache125 (talk) 16:44, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Seems like this could be mentioned, but maybe keep it to a few sentences -- so that the controversy doesn't overwhelm a somewhat anemic article. Would be great if we could also add more content about the painting themselves. This article could be a lot richer. Would you like to draft a proposed section? TimidGuy (talk) 17:24, 13 April 2008 (UTC)


[edit] Carbon dioxide created the replica caves?

Lascaux II, a replica of two of the cave halls - the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery - was opened in 1983, 200 meters from the original. It was created due to carbon dioxide wearing down the original paintings.

The article already mentions the original Lascaux closing due to CO2, but this second reference implies that CO2 actually created the second cave. MMetro (talk) 22:10, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

I tried to fix it. Is the revised version better? TimidGuy (talk) 11:40, 15 April 2008 (UTC)