Fungus Once Again Threatens French Cave Paintings
For the second time in a decade, fungus is threatening France’s most celebrated prehistoric paintings, the mysterious animal images that line the Lascaux cave in the Dordogne region of southwest France, scientists say.
No consensus has emerged among experts over whether the invading patches of gray and black mold are the result of climate change, a defective temperature control system, the light used by researchers or the carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors.
But after inspection by a team of microbiologists, the government has approved a new treatment of the blemishes with a fungicide and ordered that the cave be sealed off for as long as four months so that its delicate environment can be stabilized.
The Lascaux paintings, with their astonishing array of horses, bulls, stags, ibexes and oxen, some at rest, others galloping, charging and leaping, are thought to be 15,000 to 17,000 years old. The early Europeans who roamed this region used crushed minerals to create some 600 images in red, ochre, deep brown and black, some so powerful and vivid that they are considered among the finest examples of Paleolithic cave art.
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No consensus has emerged among experts over whether the invading patches of gray and black mold are the result of climate change, a defective temperature control system, the light used by researchers or the carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors.
But after inspection by a team of microbiologists, the government has approved a new treatment of the blemishes with a fungicide and ordered that the cave be sealed off for as long as four months so that its delicate environment can be stabilized.
The Lascaux paintings, with their astonishing array of horses, bulls, stags, ibexes and oxen, some at rest, others galloping, charging and leaping, are thought to be 15,000 to 17,000 years old. The early Europeans who roamed this region used crushed minerals to create some 600 images in red, ochre, deep brown and black, some so powerful and vivid that they are considered among the finest examples of Paleolithic cave art.