Chapter 1 – The Major Phases in the Conservation of Lascaux Cave
p. 51-71
Texte intégral
1The goals of this first paper of the symposium, dedicated to the preservation of Lascaux Cave and its underground environment, are numerous. I will first trace the history of the main modifications made to the cave starting in 1947, while attempting to clarify their impact on the natural equilibrium of the site. I will then discuss the significant operations that could not be specifically presented in this symposium. Finally, I will bring together into a continuum all the actions taken in the context of the crisis that has affected the cave since 2000. The first part of this presentation will be dedicated to the history of the modifications and other work carried out up until the period of stability that followed the first bioclimatic crisis. I will focus on defining the reasons and, insofar as possible, the ideas that determined the decisive choices that have been made. The second part will more broadly address the current crisis and consider the actions taken under the aegis of the Scientific Committee of Lascaux Cave as a prelude to the specific and detailed presentations made by the teams in charge of these operations1
1.1 Lascaux, an archeological site
2By way of introduction, it is important to describe how Lascaux Cave became an international reference as a prehistoric site immediately upon its discovery on September 12, 1940, by Jacques Marsal, Georges Agniel, Simon Coëncas and Marcel Ravidat, and in what respect it remains emblematic in our World Heritage. This cave, which had been closed for thousands of years, was suddenly opened during the troubled times of 1940. It was made known to the world in a blaze of good omens, significantly influencing the overall representation that we still have of it today. Unsullied by any prior exploration, numerous and significant archaeological artifacts remained on the surface of its deposits. Furthermore, it appeared entirely painted and engraved with works of art in an exceptional state of preservation. Particularly impressive were the polychrome and monumental paintings that decorate the first spaces, the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery, which I cannot avoid highlighting here2 (Aujoulat 2004; Windels 1948; Bataille 1955).
3The surprise and enthusiasm of the scientific community were spontaneous. The great media stir that accompanied this event, in total contrast with the gloomy news being spread throughout France and Europe by the newspapers of the time, was immediately followed by visits to the site by the local population. The entrance was prepared with makeshift earthworks and shelters of branches, under which the visitors queued between flimsy chestnut wood barriers… (fig. 5)

FIG. 5 –Testament to the popular success of the first visits to Lascaux: visitors of all ages flock to the cave entrance, sheltered by branches. They were channeled between weak barriers of chestnut trees.
© M. Larivière, archives privées de la famille Laval.
4The scientific authority of Henri Breuil, at the pinnacle of his fame, accompanied this recognition and his authentication of the cave art (fig. 6). He was the sole author of the first inspired descriptions submitted to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres on October 11, 1940. His opinion, supported by that of the local scientific community, very quickly led to the classification of the site as a Historic Monument in December of that same year. It weighed as well on the realization of the first deferred and disjointed studies and publications (Breuil 1941; Windels 1948; Breuil 1952) of the first modifications to the site and the decision to open it to the public.

FIG. 6 – A historic visit in 1940, by acetylene lamp. In the center, with arm extended, Count Begouën and Abbot Breuil. Seated, Jacques Marsal and Marcel Ravidat. Work is in progress to lower and even out the ground surface in the cave to facilitate visitor access.
© M. Larivière, archives privées de la famille Laval.
5Retrospectively, we can consider that Henri Breuil’s opinion profoundly influenced the owners and the Administration of the ‘Beaux- Arts’ Department in favor of opening the cave to the public and that he contributed to the formulation of the premises for the future restrictive modifications and developments forcibly associated with this operation. In this context, the other recommendations, made between 1940 and 1947, just before the official start of the preparatory works for opening the cave to the public, suggesting a more reserved attitude in favor of preventive conservation and sanctuarization of this exceptional but fragile site, were not taken into consideration (Lantier 1947; Geneste et al. 2003; Geneste 2007, 2008; Sire 2008).
6To situate Lascaux in time, the dating of the art works has been subject, in the words of Breuil, to a “sliding” chronology that has evolved— depending on the periods and authors—between the Gravettian and the Magdalenian periods. Following the work of Norbert Aujoulat and the recent radiocarbon dating to 18600 ± 190 BP of an antler spearhead found in the archaeological level considered to be contemporary with the realization of the works, it is now generally agreed that the prehistoric art at Lascaux dates to the end of the Solutrean and the very beginning of the Magdalenian periods (Aujoulat et al. 1998; Aujoulat 2004, 2008).
7Let us now return to the history of Lascaux to consider the period of the first modifications to the cave and its surroundings, starting in 1947 in preparation for its opening to the public in July 1948. These works occurred in response to the deliberate choice of the owners to open the site to public in order spread the notion of prehistoric art. The project was realized under the supervision of the Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, Yves-Marie Froidevaux (Froidevaux 1955; Sarradet 1979).
8In the first phase of modifications, large-scale earthworks were realized in the porch zone (cave entrance) (fig. 7) to facilitate visitor access by guiding their approach to the site and providing a parking area. The immediate and irreversible consequence of these works was the removal of the deposits that had for thousands of years sealed the entrance to the cave and regulated its natural equilibrium. Infiltration waters passed seasonally through these deposits and ran into the Hall of the Bulls and the right-hand gallery. Other modifications inside the cave consisted of stabilizing the floor by creating passageway trenches, walls and supporting structures, as well as digging ducts and cement basins for the installation of a fixed lighting system near the decorated panels (Leroi-Gourhan, Allain 1979; Sarradet 1979; Delluc, Delluc 2003) (fig. 8). These changes definitively modified the natural equilibrium of the site.

FIG. 7 – Significant terracing work was done in the porch area in order to make a large entrance door and a space to facilitate visitor access. The deposits that regulated the natural equilibrium of the cave by sealing its entrance were largely cleared away. Left, Léon Laval, correspondent for Prehistoric Antiquities of the Centre region and correspondent for the Historic Monuments Commission - prehistoric monuments sector from 1941 to 1949.
© M. Larivière, archives privées de la famille Laval.

FIG. 8 – Construction work in the Hall of the Bulls to adapt the cave for visits, prior to opening to the public on July 14, 1948.
© M. Larivière, archives privées de la famille Laval.
1.2 Destabilization of the natural environmental equilibrium
9After the cave was opened to the public and following its growing success between 1947 and 1960, increasingly larger objects were installed, having diverse consequences on the environment of the cave and therefore on its climatic and biological equilibrium and the preservation of the art works. As an indication, Lascaux received 30,000 visitors in 1955, increasing to 100,000 in 1960, with daily peaks of 1,800 visitors and an average of more than 70 people an hour.
10Molds and blackish coatings were reported on the walls as early as 1949, and a double access door (airlock) was installed in the entrance at the top of the stairs in 1950.
11During the 1955 tourist season, abnormal levels of carbon dioxide, intermittent water condensation on the walls and high temperatures when the cave was crowded became worrisome for the preservation of the art and created a certain degree of discomfort for the visitors (Froidevaux 1955; Sarradet 1979).
12In 1958, faced with the persistence of these phenomena, a powerful atmosphere regeneration system was installed in the cave at the request of the Historic Monuments Department (fig. 9). Placed under the entrance stairway, in the previous location of the of the debris cone, its principle consisted of pumping air in from the outside, which was then filtered, decarbonated with soda water, humidified with water and regulated to 14 °C by cooling. The stale air was extracted and regenerated air was reinjected through underground pipes running through all the galleries visited, though not going as far as the Chamber of the Felines or the Shaft. This equipment was installed in quite a rush between December 1957 and April 1958. The volume of sediment removed was estimated at 440 m3, or around 1,200 tons, in addition to the deposits excavated from the porch at the time of the initial modification phase. This work destroyed most of the Paleolithic archeological levels that were still in place in the cave and which had not been studied in any organized manner. Father André Glory, appointed by Breuil, was responsible for the supervision of the site between 1953 and 1962, though no human or material resources were made available to him. Through his perspicacity and numerous field observations, he managed to save an inestimable amount of information. Most of the documentation relative to the archeological floors available today is the result of the years of work and vigilance of this atypical researcher (most often performed at night since by day the cave was open to the public). It has been published in the context of judicious publishing ventures (Leroi-Gourhan, Allain 1979; Delluc, Delluc 2003; 2008). Retrospectively, it is still surprising that the authoritative voices of the scientific community did not speak out in favor of a more demanding obligation to salvage the archeological remains of Lascaux.

FIG. 9 –Plan and view of the machine installed in Lascaux Cave in 1957-1958.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Médiathèque du patrimoine. Distr. RMN / Image RMN.
1.3 The first environmental disequilibrium in 1962-1963
13In 1960, a discrete presence of green spots was observed by the Curator of Lascaux, Max Sarradet. These were located close to the paintings in the Axial Gallery. The scientific monitoring of the algal propagation (“green disease”) showed that the zones affected spread in quantity and density in the Hall of the Bulls and in the Axial Gallery during the winter of 1962-1963.
14In March 1963, a commission for the scientific study and preservation of Lascaux Cave was appointed by the Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, and the cave was closed to the public on April 20 of that same year. This committee was composed of around twenty specialists, including the prehistorian André Leroi-Gourhan, and conducted its activities until the mid 1970’s (fig. 10). The first analyses revealed the presence of fungi, numerous species of algae, ferns, mosses and bacteria (Sarradet 1979). Several measures were then taken: first, immediate therapeutic decisions had to be made to cope with the uninterrupted proliferation of algae despite the total ban placed on visits to the cave. Curative treatments were then applied: antibiotic solutions were sprayed and formalin solutions at different concentrations were applied to the floors and walls–including the decorated walls. Used in association with complementary measures, such as lowering the lighting intensity and shortening the time spent in the cave, as well as the use of a formalin-based footbath in the airlock entrance, these treatments overcame the microbiological proliferation after two years. The formation of limestone concretions (“white disease”), which led to a different type of alteration of the walls and art works, consisting of the formation of a very light veil of opaque calcite, was then observed. A general study of the climate inside the cave and of the hydrogeological functioning of the limestone massif in which it is located was immediately undertaken and continued over several years. Based on these studies, a regular log of the climatic measurements was begun and has continued uninterrupted until the present day. A second series of measures was taken with the goal of restoring the destabilized climatic conditions over the long term. A temporary climatic assistance system (fig. 11) was designed with the aid of the scientific committee in order to reduce and monitor variations in the climatic parameters of the cave. Its principle, developed by the physicist P.-M. Guyon, is simple and particularly efficient: to exploit and maintain the air convection processes that exist naturally in the cave, depending on seasonal conditions. This process consists of sending air that has been reheated in the galleries back along the ceiling to the entrance of the cave, and the inverse circulation of colder air, lower down.

FIG. 10 –• A meeting of the Scientific Committee at Lascaux on March 23, 1968.
© P. Vidal.

FIG. 11 – Equipment in the machine room: a primary and secondary circuits of the thermal regulation device, 1992; b detail of the thermal exchanger between the primary and secondary circuits, 1999.
Cliché a :© P. Vidal ; cliché b : © J.-M. Geneste.
15Between 1963 and 1976, the commission for the scientific study and preservation of Lascaux Cave (fig. 12) implemented a certain number of measures that would gradually constitute the first preventive conservation principles for sites and art works in underground environments (Brunet et al. 1997). These measures included:
– regular recording of the air and stone temperatures, the flow rate of the groundwater measured at the entrance porch, the partial pressure of the water and air vapor and the carbon dioxide level in different parts of the cave system; this latter is regularly pumped through the access shaft into the lower gallery system in order to maintain a rate close to 1 % in the cave. The main outdoor climatic parameters (temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and rainfall) are also measured;
– daily monitoring and visual inspection of the condition of all the decorated walls, including the presence or absence of condensation, and the taking of climatic measures, performed by technical personnel permanently in place;
– regular microbiological verifications of the atmosphere and preventive chemical treatment of the floors with a formalin solution;
– the first hydrogeological study of the massif;
– a temporary climatic assistance system for the atmosphere, developed by the physicist P. M. Guyon between 1965 and 1967, calculated according to the number of exceptional visitors (since the cave had been closed to the public) strictly adapted to capacity of the cave to return to an equilibrium at this moment in its history;
– a strict minimum limitation of the number of human hours spent in the cave, other than the hours required for its regular monitoring. This was set at five persons per day, five days a week. These principles have since remained in application, except in emergency situations.
1.4 Between 1976 and 2001: an apparent return to a bioclimatic normalization
16Two brief reminders:
1979 • Lascaux Cave, and others in the Vezere Valley, are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites;
1983 • a replica of the Hall of the Bulls and Axial Gallery, named Lascaux II and located on Lascaux hill, around 300 m from the real cave, is open to the public.
17Following the implementation of the first measures described above, and as early as 1964-1966, a stabilization of the biological and physicochemical condition of the decorated walls was recorded. The first commission gradually diminished its activities, and stopped completely in 1976. The scientific and administrative management of the site then continued in accordance with the established preventive conservation principles. Starting in 1992, the appointment of a Conservateur du Patrimoine dedicated solely to this monument was accompanied by the realization of a report on the sanitary condition of the site, published in 1995 in the document entitled Lascaux : État des Lieux (Geneste 1995). In 1996, faced with the very alarming deterioration of the equipment installed at the time of the first crisis, and whose materials were not adapted to such a long-term use, the DRAC of Aquitaine (Regional Department of Cultural Affairs) programmed a gradual modernization of the installations, which was implemented in stages until 2000.
1.5 The installation renovation program undertaken in 1996
18One of the first goals of the modernization program was to renovate the climatic assistance system designed by P.-M. Guyon and constructed between 1965 and 1967. Following a multidisciplinary process to validate this equipment, associating the DRAC of Aquitaine and several specialists and archeologists, the nature of the current needs was determined, as well as a protocol for accomplishing this work while ensuring the security of the site and art works. After long and complex discussions, it was concluded that given the lack of arguments in favor of operation without temporary climatic assistance, a similar system should be maintained. To be very clear, and because this subject was the object of debate in various print media, I will now detail some of the principles of this temporary climatic assistance equipment:
– to condense the humidity of the air, when it is too humid, on a static cell (drying by very light cooling);
– to preserve the natural convection of the air in the cave by maintaining, as needed, an artificial cold point to replace the natural cold point previously located on the debris cone at the entrance, which is no longer present.
19The manual and controlled starting up of this system benefits from the experience (understanding and skill) of the personnel permanently in place. Its operating conditions are seasonal, guided by the temperature and relative humidity graphs and regular verification of the condensation indicators.
20It was therefore decided to replace the system with a one that functions in the same way as the old one, but more efficiently for the sake of security, and made with materials adapted to the atmosphere in the cave (stainless steel and non-organic). The new installation was designed according to the recommendations of a firm of design consultants and entrusted to the Chief Architect, Philippe Oudin. The project specifications stipulated that it must be built under strictly controlled sanitary conditions; this was organized in several phases to ensure that there was a climatic assistance system in operating condition at all times. To enable interventions without introducing any climatic or biological disequilibrium into the decorated zone, the device was isolated beforehand from the zone of the art works by a temporary sealed wall. In addition, given the importance of the information provided by the log of climatic measurements of the atmosphere of the cave (recorded for nearly forty years) for controlling the climate, these recordings have been automated since 1996. Finally, the period chosen for the intervention, between December 2000 and April 2001, corresponds to months during which the system is usually not in operation. At the end of the most intensive phase of the preparatory works concerning the machine room, which was temporarily isolated from the decorated zone by a sealed partition, the new equipment, composed of two encased air processing units made of stainless steel (fig. 13) was put into operation during the first quarter of 2001, as soon as the work had been completed.

FIG. 13 – Hygrothermal regulator installed in the machine room in 1999-2000.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, CNP.
21A first, immediate remark to be made from a practical perspective is that, while being efficient, the new system is more imposing. In addition, the previously static cold cells became dynamic, as the air was directed by forced convection at a very slow controlled speed. Lastly, it operated in a less flexible manner.
22Despite these differences in the modernized design of the original system and in the way it is controlled, I would like to clarify here that the operation of the climatic assistance installation–based on the principles established in 1965 with the system recommended by P.‑M. Guyon (to ensure for several months of the year, the role of a natural cold point at the entrance to the cave, which by using the cave’s natural convections regulates excessively humid air)– has never been interrupted and is still operational.
1.6 The beginning of the crisis in 2001
23From here on, my presentation of the facts will be more succinct to allow the various contributors directly concerned to elaborate further on them.
24Several weeks after the completion of this work, a fungal contamination developed on both the floor and the foundations of the walls in the second airlock (Sas 2), at the entrance to the decorated zone and in the machine room on the recently installed equipment. A rapid search for the causes revealed a source of contamination in the insulating materials on the piping and on the bodywork of the new machine.
25This finding immediately led us to remove the heat insulation from most of the parts and to disassemble the central air treatment casings, thus modifying the initial efficiency of the new machine. The last environmental crisis therefore occurred at the beginning of the summer 2001, following a period of restoration of the obsolete installations in the machine room. It occurred in two phases that we can retrospectively identify as follows (Bastian et al. 2007; Orial, Mertz 2006):
26The first phase was above all marked by a brutal proliferation of fungi (Fusarium solani, Glyomastix) and bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens), which were particularly resistant to the quaternary ammonium based therapeutic treatments that are usually used in such situations. This sudden proliferation (fig. 14) was probably associated with multiple, inter-related causes: confinement of the cave for several months to make it possible to restore the obsolete equipment, unintentional introduction of allocthonous organic materials , a gradually acquired resistance of the microorganisms to the biocide products used for decades before (fungicides, formalin, etc.).

FIG. 14 – Detail of the first whitish mold that appeared in 2001 on some of the cave’s floors and sloped surfaces.
© B. Desplat / ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Drac d’Aquitaine.
27The second phase began at the end of 2006 and was characterized by a “black spot” (fig. 15) phenomenon that corresponds to colonization by melanin-containing fungi: Ulocladium, Scolecobasidium and Verticillium. This dark colonization was concentrated on the ceilings of the Passageway and the Apse, where there remain traces of painted and engraved works, paintings and a very rich engraved area, as well as on the ceiling of the Nave. In July 2007, it intermittently reached the decorated area, in particular the horns of the Black Cow in the Nave (fig. 16), the Antlers of the Stag in the entrance to the Apse and the engravings in the Passageway.

FIG. 15 – The Passageway in an area of the ceiling channel with no paintings or engravings: sampling of dark, melanin-producing fungus colonies for microbiological study. The limestone shows small, localized cracks filled with clay.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, CNP.

FIG. 16 – Detail of the Black Cow in the Nave in March 2008. Some dark, microbiological colonies are visible at the level of the horns.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, CNP.
1.7 Climatic monitoring of the cave and the treatments implemented
28The instrumentation that has been in place for many years in the cave allows continuous measurement of the temperature of the stone and air, as well as the carbon dioxide content and the partial pressure of the water vapor in the air. These climatic data are recorded and monitored permanently in the framework of a system that closely associates the Lascaux Cave personnel and GHYMAC Laboratory of Bordeaux 1 University, under the direction of Philippe Malaurent (cf. chapter 5). The setting of the current climatic regulation system is adjusted based on these climatic data (Lastennet et al 1999; Brunet, Malaurent 2006; Malaurent et al. 2006).
29During this crisis, a wide range of treatments was coordinated and implemented depending on the nature of the attacks and of the supports concerned (the walls of Lascaux have lithological variations and different surface conditions).
30Since the beginning of the crisis in 2001, a team of restorers specialized in the conservation of mural paintings has been monitoring the cave and intervenes when necessary (fig. 17). Its mission is to identify, on all types of supports (walls, floors, etc.), the developments that form visible colonies of microorganisms and to ensure their elimination3, when this is possible without risk. Several types of treatment have been applied under the authority of the Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques (LRMH) (Orial, Mertz 2006). These treatments will be presented in detail later in the LRMH contribution (cf. chapter 9), but for now, here is a brief summary of their main principles:
– manual or instrumented eradication (using, in particular, an injector- extractor whose use is limited to the artificial surfaces and certain floors composed of rubble);
– treatment by spreading quicklime on the floors and installations;
– chemical treatment by applying solutions with soaked compresses and by dabbing in the lower zones and the non-decorated walls; spraying of biocide products on the decorated zones.
– Several teams of restorers have successively worked at Lasca This sudden proliferation of microorganisms in Lascaux Cave in 2001, after a period of renovation work in the machine room, is likely associated with multiple and inter-related causes, the main ones of which are:
– a natural environment that has been excessively “artificialized” since the initial modifications to the site;
– earlier chemical treatments used since the time of the “green disease” (fungicides, formalin) that may have modified the biotope with a selection of strains and an association of resistant species;
– a climatic imbalance due to the work carried out in the machine room with the temporary confinement of the decorated part of the cave for several months following the installation of an artificial wall made of synthetic materials designed to protect the decorated zone from the work area;
– the duration of the programmed modification work, which was several weeks longer than scheduled; – the introduction of foreign materials into the machine room, which may have brought in contamination from the outside;
– the abnormally high rainfall levels of the end of the winter of 2000‑2001, resulting in the arrival of water to the entrance to the cave, which is unusual for this season.

FIG. 17 – Intervention, in June 2008, by a member of the restoration team on a darkish colony that appeared on the ceiling of the Passageway.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, CNP.
31In this context, the work carried out to replace the climatic assistance system may have been the last factor that triggered the crisis.
1.8 A comprehensive conservation plan adopted in 2004
32After the first treatments were initiated, the complexity of the situation led the Minister of Culture and Communication, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, to appoint a Lascaux Cave Scientific Committee, which was created in August 2002. This committee was chaired by Marc Gauthier, Honorary Inspecteur Général of Archeology. It brings together archeologists, curators specialized in restoration, hydrogeologists, microbiologists and climate specialists. It was renewed in 2006 and has been entrusted with the mission of assessing the impact of the emergency measures already taken and of developing a comprehensive conservation project to insure to the restoration of an equilibrium in the cave (Gauthier 2006; Sire 2008).
33In addition to the emergency measures, the goal of the scientific committee is to propose a “comprehensive conservation plan”, defining the priorities of the interventions and research required in the cave in order to understand the phenomenon of microbiological contamination in 2001 and prevent it from reoccurring. This implies going beyond the treatment of the symptoms to attempt to analyze the causes of the phenomenon in 2001. The committee thus established a series of priority actions in March 2004, which will be presented by Marc Gauthier (cf. chapter 2), and which are further detailed in other presentations in this symposium. These are:
● to realize an inventory of the Lascaux archives that were dispersed among various collections; this project was rapidly undertaken and realized at the DRAC of Aquitaine by Geneviève Caillabet. It makes it possible to locate, in public-sector and private collections, all of the archives and graphic, photographic or filmed documents concerning Lascaux, and to draw up a scientific inventory of them; a large amount of the work of the first Committee remains unpublished with the exception of a few specialized articles and no work after the crisis has led to the creation of a database to exploit the memory of this event and draw lessons from it, even if they are of limited use for predicting the future; furthermore, all the scientific, administrative, graphic, photographic and audiovisual documentation relative to Lascaux since it was discovered has been dispersed among different locations and institutions without being the subject of any inventory or regrouping until now;
● to realize a 3D digital terrain model of the cave (fig. 18) that can be used as a georeferenced base for both future studies and for immediate conservation needs; this work was accomplished in 2004 and 2005 in the framework of an order placed with the Cabinet Guy Perazio (cf. § 6.4.2) by the DRAC of Aquitaine;

FIG. 18 – Screenshots of 3D representations of the Axial Gallery.
© Cabinet Guy Perazio.
34● to realize a complete condition report of the cave in 2004-2005, in order to have an exhaustive inventory that can serve as basis for all later observations; this inventory was entrusted to a team of restorers4 working with Patrick Jallet and Françoise Joseph (fig. 19); this team was assisted by a geologist, François Rassineux, and a photographer, Philippe Dubarry, to visualize the glossary established; this work has made it possible to constitute a unique and essential documentary base; this tool can be accessed and consulted by the users concerned (Jallet et al. 2007).

FIG. 19 – Screenshots of the condition report.
© P. Dubarry / agence Orfi multimédia.
35● to conduct a new research program on the hydrogeology of Lascaux as a continuation of the initial research carried out by Jean Vouvé and his colleagues; because knowledge of the circuit taken by the waters is fundamental and there are suspicions that infiltration waters were the vector of the microbiological contamination observed in 2001, a study of the hydrogeology at Lascaux (fig. 20) was entrusted in 2005 to Roland Lastennet (cf. chapter 4), a hydrogeologist of the Geosciences-Hydrosciences-Materials-Construction Laboratory (GHYMAC) at the Bordeaux 1 University, and to Benjamin Lopez (Lopez et al. 2006).

FIG. 20 – Hypothesis of the general principles of water circulation in the Lascaux epikarst.
© Laboratoire Ghymac / université Bordeaux 1.
1.9 A microbiology-microclimate program
36In the context of the research into the causes of the phenomenon in 2001, it appeared useful to look for possible correlations between the development of the microorganisms and the microclimate and substrate parameters (fig. 21). This project is being carried out in the framework of a research partnership involving microbiologists from the INRA, a physicist from the CNR-ISAC (Italy), Adriana Bernardi, a climatology specialist, and geologists, microbiologists and physicists from the LRMH. It is coordinated by Claude Alabouvette, Directeur de Recherche at the INRA (Institut National de Recherche Agronomique) until January 2009 (cf. chapter 10), when Isabelle Pallot-Frossard, Director of the LRMH, will succeed him (cf. chapter 9).

FIG. 21 – The PR1 measuring station installed at the entrance to the Axial Gallery to obtain microclimate parameters for the «Microbiology-Microclimate» program.
© Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, CNP.
37Since June 2005, a digital simulator has been under development at the Transfers-Flows-Fluids-Energetic (TREFLE) Laboratory of Bordeaux 1 University in the framework of an agreement between EDF R&D, the Ministry of Culture and Bordeaux 1 University. The development of the simulator was entrusted to Delphine Lacanette at the TREFLE Laboratory (cf. chapter 6), who is working with Philippe Malaurent from the GHYMAC Laboratory (cf. chapter 5), and with the support or the EDF Research and Development Unit, represented by Jean-Benoît Ritz (Lacanette, Caltagirone 2006; Lacanette et al. 2007). This main function of this device, which is used for a variety of tests for the preservation of the cave, is to precisely define the type of air regulation system needed in the cave and to modify the current system based on the climatic parameters measured in the cave during the 1960’s (fig. 22).

FIG. 22 – Screenshot of the Lascaux simulator showing changes in the air circulation speeds and temperatures between 1981 and 2000 on a cross-section of the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery.
© Laboratoires Trefle et Ghymac / université Bordeaux 1.
38The simulator has revealed a natural modification to the internal climatic regime of the cave between 1981 and 1999. This new method makes it possible to apprehend this change and assists in the conception of a new climatic assistance system with optimal efficiency in all known circumstances. Frédéric Benoist, of the Aquitaine OTCE construction engineering design office, was entrusted with the mission of designing this new system.
39The natural environment in the area surrounding Lascaux Cave is essential for the preventive conservation of the site. It is necessary to control urban development, modifications that can affect the underground environment and the flow of visitors to the Lascaux II replica. The Dordogne General Council and Montignac municipality have clearly expressed their desire to achieve, in cooperation with the State, a global protection of Lascaux hill. The land owned by the State on the surface (fig. 23) has been extended in order to control the circulation zone of infiltration waters that could reach the cave.

FIG. 23 – Plan for State acquisition of several parcels of land close to the cave, on the Lascaux hill, in order to extend the environmental surface protection zone.
© Cabinet Guy Perazio.
1.10 The future preservation of Lascaux Cave
40As the Curator of Lascaux Cave from 1992 to the end of 2008, I was progressively confronted with the latest succession of events. Along with my colleagues jointly responsible for the site, I thus have an attentive and cautious perspective of the intervention methods, decision making processes and scientific certainties in the domain of cultural heritage conservation where, as in other domains, scientific knowledge and instrumentation, with forcibly multidisciplinary origins, are constantly evolving.
41The sudden evolution of this closely monitored site is extremely worrying because the decorated walls of Lascaux are being attacked in a manner that they never have been since their discovery. In the face of this series of biological and climatic disorders whose future repercussions are unknown; one of the primary goals for the conservation of Lascaux in the coming years will be to control the phenomena that threaten the preservation of the art works by working actively to restore the natural environmental stability that has been lost. Even if no destruction or loss of a complete work or fragment of a painted or engraved image has been reported to date, we must continue to search with the greatest attention and with a convergence of resources for new means for treating the cave and restabilizing its bioclimatic equilibrium, as other contributors will also undoubtedly emphasize.
42The lesson to be learned from the history of activities and modifications carried out in this remarkable archeological site is that the heritage departments of the State must, with their specialized personnel, now exercise an extreme degree of multidisciplinarity to confront the emergence of problems whose solutions lie in areas very remote from their original areas of competence.
43From the moment of their discovery, and before any research or modifications can be undertaken, it is now agreed that care must be taken to never to brutally deteriorate or transform the natural functioning conditions of these complex underground environments. The absolute guarantee for the conservation of this type of monument lies in maintaining their environmental equilibrium.
44The work of the various Lascaux Cave commissions has led to a series of measures, methodological provisions and knowledge in complementary disciplines, which can be applied to other decorated caves suffering from difficulties following long periods of intensive tourist frequentation, as well as to other types of cultural heritage.
45Acknowledgments
46I would like to thank all the researchers and teams working at Lascaux who have allowed me to use their documents. I particularly thank the team of the Centre National de Préhistoire who took part in the various phases of writing this summary, notably Annie Lagrange for her attentive revisions and Stéphane Konik for his pertinent scientific remarks.
47References
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Notes de bas de page
1 For a summary, see the dossier on decorated caves published in 2006 in issue No. 2 of the journal Monumental, and on the Lascaux website: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/fr/00.xml
2 Unless otherwise indicated, the photographs illustrating this presentation were taken in the cave during the weeks preceding this symposium and therefore represent for the audience at this gathering, a faithful image of the current state of preservation of the cave and its art works.
3 Several teams of restorers have successively worked at Lascaux: in 2001 coordinated by Isabelle Dangas; from September 2001 to December 2003, the team worked under the direction of Rosalie Godin; the members of the team that has been involved since January 2004 are Alina Moskalik-Detalle, Diane Henry-Lormelle, Françoise Morin, Tristan Maheo and Julien Assoun.
4 The team responsible for this condition report was composed of six restorers working in place in pairs each week: Françoise Joseph, Laurence Blondaux, Anne Liégey, Patrick Jallet, Emmanuel Desroches, and Christian Chatellier
Auteur
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