- PARIS (Reuters) - Stunning
prehistoric engravings uncovered in a cave in western France could be just
a foretaste of the treasures held in the dank interior, but the public
will probably never get a glimpse, an archaeologist said on Thursday.
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- Art experts have hailed the find at Cussac in the Dordogne
valley as a major discovery, with the grotto chamber covered in spectacular
drawings of wild animals, hybrid beasts, birds and women and erotic imagery.
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- ``This site is of world importance,'' said Dany Barraud,
the Culture Ministry's head of archaeology in the Dordogne region.
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- Initial estimates have suggested the vivid engravings
are between 22,000 and 28,000 years old -- much earlier than famous wall
paintings in the nearby Lascaux cave complex that are reputed to be more
than 16,000 years old.
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- ``We are talking about monumental engravings. We have
found more than 100 engravings so far, but we think that there are many
more. The trouble is that it is an extremely fragile site which is hindering
our work,'' Barraud told Reuters.
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- The cave floor consists of unstable clay, while the limestone
walls are flaky and susceptible to temperature changes, preventing large
groups from visiting the chamber.
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- In addition, there is a high level of carbon gas in the
underground passages, which means that archaeologists can only spend a
maximum of three hours on site before having to return to the surface for
fresh air.
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- REPLICA PLANNED FOR TOURISTS
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- ``It will not be opened to the public, but the local
authorities are considering creating a replica of the site in a nearby
cave for tourists,'' said Barraud.
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- The Cussac cave was uncovered by speleologist Marc Delluc
last September, but the importance of the finding was only made public
this week.
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- The engravings are dotted along a chamber 900 meters
(yards) long, some 15 meters wide and more than 10 meters high.
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- Among the artwork is a picture of a bison some four meters
long -- one of the biggest single prehistoric engravings ever found --
and one scene featuring up to 40 figures.
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- Among the line carvings are animals with deformed heads,
a bison with a horse's head, silhouttes of women and half a dozen representations
of female erotica.
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- ``There is undoubtedly a very special atmosphere at Cussac...
There is an originality here,'' said Jean Clottes, an adviser on Prehistoric
Rock Art at the Culture Ministry.
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- Archaeologists have also found human remains in the cave,
although they are not yet sure if the relatively well-preserved skeletons
date from a later age than the artwork.
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- The Cussac discovery is the second major prehistoric
art site found in France in less than a decade.
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- In 1994, potholers stumbled across a complex of galleries
full of paintings in the Ardeche gorge. Experts believe the animal pictures
there are some 32,000 years old and, as with Cussac, the public has been
barred access to safeguard the site.
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