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Caves of Altamira Reopen: Spanish Culture Ministry to Defy Scientists’ Warnings

Cave of Altamira, SpainThe Spanish Culture Ministry have announced that the Caves of Altamira the so-called Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art are to reopen after eight years of closure, despite serious warnings from scientists that the world-famous ancient drawings and polychrome rock paintings within may suffer irrevocable damage from moisture generated by visitors.

In a statement to reporters on Tuesday, Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde and the sites board of directors announced that public access will resume before the end of this year, albeit on an unspecified, restricted basis.

The cave complex located in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, and first discovered in 1879 was closed to the public in 2002, after green fungus generated by the body heat and breath of visitors was found to be forming on the facade of paintings in the main hall.

A replica of Altamira located just a few hundred metres away in a museum in the nearby town of Santillana del Mar has drawn 2.5 million visitors since 2001. But local government officials in Cantabria have lobbied for the reopening of the real thing, and successfully, after Altamiras board of directors last week voted in favour of resuming public access at the site which at its peak of popularity in the 1970s attracted as many as 3,000 people per day.

Altamira is an asset we cannot do without, the Cantabria regions president, Miguel Angel Revilla, commented.

Altamiras Paleolithic art is between 14,000 and 20,000 years old, and represents the first set of prehistoric cave paintings ever discovered. Several famous painters, including Pablo Picasso, are said to have been inspired by its charcoal and ochre images, which include several iconic depictions of red and black bison.

Decay of the paintings caused by a change in the fragile atmosphere in the cave was first detected in 1977, and Altamira was subsequently closed for five years, before reopening in 1982 with heavily restricted access. The waiting list to view the caves which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 later grew to the point where visitors had to book up to three years in advance.

Its Revillas intention to now try and attract heads of state to visit the caves. In recent years Revilla has been forced to turn down requests to visit Altamira from former French president Jacques Chirac and Mexican president Felipe Calderon, but he has expressed a hope that Barack Obama will be one of the first people to people to witness the cave complex’s ancient masterpieces after access resumes.

I have already written the invitation letter, Revilla said, and in English.

The caves have recovered from the damage, but to open them again is not a good idea. The risks are immeasurable.

Scientists will greet the news of Altamiras imminent reopening with no shortage of dismay. Just last year, the governments main scientific research body, the CSIC, strongly recommended that the caves remain closed. The people who go in the cave have the bad habit of moving, breathing and perspiring, said CSIC researcher Mariona Hernandez-Marine.

We have made it very clear that it should not be reopened at this time, commented Sergio Sanchez Moral, director of a two-year CSIC investigation at Altamira. The caves have recovered from the damage, but to open them again is not a good idea. The risks are immeasurable.

Decay from moisture generated by visitors is a problem at many ancient sites around the world. Lascaux Cave in France, adorned with similarly venerable prehistoric paintings, has fought its own battle with fungus and has been closed for long periods over the last few years (read about the battle to preserve ancient rock art around the world in this article).

Extensive work had to be carried out on the Great Pyramid of Giza in the early 90s, using robots, in order to improve ventilation, after increased humidity from visitors began eroding the monuments stones (more on that in this article). Dr Zahi Hawass head of Egypts Supreme Council of Antiquities last year warned that a number of tombs in the Valley of the Kings, including the tomb of King Tut, may have to close soon if they are to be preserved.

Altamiras paintings are described by UNESCO as masterpieces of creative genius, and as humanitys earliest accomplished art.

Its thought that the caves location, deep underground where it is largely isolated from external climatic influences, is what has allowed its ancient artistic treasures to be preserved for so many centuries. As anticipation of Altamiras reopening grows, it remains to be seen whether they will endure much longer.

Prehistoric Gilf Kebir Cave Paintings to Unlock Secrets of Ancient Egypt

Prehistoric cave painters in the Sahara Desert gave rise to ancient Egyptian civilisation, according to a German archaeological team. The paintings in a caves in Gilf Kebir, a vast sandstone plateau near the Egyptian-Libyan border, may be over 400 miles from the River Nile. But the team claims it was once a thriving community which later spread east to create Egypt’s famous cities and landmarks.

The plateau, a Martian landscape the size of Switzerland, is home to two famous caves, the ‘Cave of the Swimmers’ and the ‘Cave of the Beasts’ – Watch our amazing video of the caves and their paintings here. The former was discovered by Hungarian explorer Lszl Almsy and immortalised in the novel and Academy Award-winning movie The English Patient. But it is the latter which the team believe could unlock the secrets of how ancient Egypt began.

Rudolf Kuper, of Kln’s Heinrich Barth Institute, believes the Cave of the Beasts’ detail dates it back around 8,000 years. He claims its artists’ descendents would eventually emigrate to the Nile Valley to create pharaonic Egypt. “It is the most amazing cave … in North Africa and Egypt,” German expert Karin Kindermann tells AP. “You take a piece of the puzzle and see where it could fit. This is an important piece.”

“You take a piece of the puzzle and see where it could fit. This is an important piece.”

The Eastern Sahara is the world’s largest warm dry desert. Modern Egyptians refer to it as the ‘Great Barrier’, known further afield as the Great Sand Sea. Yet at around 8,500 BC the region enjoyed seasonal rainfall and became a fertile savannah. By contrast the Nile Valley was an inhospitable swampland. Settlements sprang up across Gilf Kebir, but the rainfall slowly subsided. By 5,300 BC it has stopped altogether, and by 3,500 BC the settlements had disappeared completely. Ancient Egypt would appear along the now-bountiful Nile just a couple of hundred years later.

“After 3 – 4,000 years of savanna life environment in the Sahara, the desert returned and people were forced to move eastwards to the Nile Valley, contributing to the foundation of Egyptian civilisation, and southwards to the African continent,” says Kuper. “It was a movement, I think, step-by-step, because the desert didn’t rush in. The rains would withdraw, then return, and so on. But step by step it became more dry, and people moved toward the Nile Valley or toward the south.”

HD Video: Prehistoric Paintings in the Gilf Kebir

Read the transcript of this video here

Kuper and his team are conducting tests on the geological, botanical and archaeological evidence at the cave, and will compare it to other sites in the region. They have already discovered more drawings in the cave, which extend up to 80cm below the sand. “It seems that the paintings of the Cave of the Beasts pre-date the introduction of domesticated animals,” Kuper told AP. “That means they predate 6000 BC. That is what we dare to say.”

The Eastern Sahara has been home to some of archaeology’s strangest stories in recent years, including the theory that a necklace belonging to Tutankhamun came from outer space. A pair of Italian brothers also claimed to have discovered a lost Persian army who made a fateful detour through the area, yet the discovery has come under intense scrutiny. Kuper claims his team’s work is further enhancing the area’s profile as a key prehistoric site. “Now we have increasing evidence how rich the prehistoric culture in the Eastern Sahara was,” he says.

‘Painted Stone Goat’ Discovered in Henan, China, Could be World’s Oldest Map

Dragon's Gate GrottoesAn ancient ‘stone goat’ covered in strange rock paintings has been discovered in central China. The ‘incredible’ relic was found by a team of student archaeologists led by Ma Baoguang in Yangce Town, Biyang County, Henan Province.

The goat, which is 8m long and 3.7m wide, is covered in around 500 of the paintings, which consist of rounded craters joined by lines to create what experts believe may be an ancient map of the region, famous for the village of Banpo and Yangshao culture. Several larger craters have also been spotted. “It is quite incredible that a large stone goat carries ‘Hetu and Luoshu’ (maps of the Yellow and Luo rivers) on its back,” says Mr Ma.

“It is quite incredible that a large stone goat carries ‘Hetu and Luoshu’ (maps of the Yellow and Luo rivers) on its back.”

In just one week Mr Ma and his team have discovered over a thousand of the hieroglyphic roundels, in just a 5km area which includes villages such as Chenzhou, Tangligou, Xuzhuang, Leigutai, Anzhai and Guogang.

If the markings are an ancient map, they may have some way to go to steal the title of ‘world’s oldest’ away from one in the northern Spanish town of Abauntz, which was deciphered last October. Abauntz’ map dates back around 14,000 years, while one in the ancient Turkish city of atalhyk dates back to around 6,200 BC. Read our top ten cave paintings here.

ArchaeoVideo: Prehistoric Paintings, The Swimmers and The Beast in Gilf Kebir

Its hard to imagine that anyone could have once lived on the Gilf Kebir, an arid, remote, desolate sandstone plateau the size of Switzerland, located in the far southwest of Egypt. Yet, as we discover in an exclusive new Heritage Key video report by Nico Piazza, around 10,000 years ago water, and with it vegetation and animal and human life, once ran through the barren land Egyptians today call the Great Barrier.

This long-forgotten prehistoric civilization that once called Gilf Kebir home left their mark in the form of cave paintings and other forms of rock art, in locations such as the spectacular Cave of Swimmers. Located in the 1930s by Hungarian Count and explorer Lszl Almsy (who was later fictionalised as the core character in Michael Ondaatjes book The English Patient, which was adapted into a multi-Academy Award-winning movie) it features images of scores of tiny people swimming elegantly across the walls.

The big question everyones asking is: what the heck are these animals?

Even they pale in comparison to the scenes depicted in the Foggini-Mestekawi Cave, however, discovered much more recently in 2003 by members of a party led by desert tours company Zarzora Expeditions. It bears silhouettes of dozens of hands (not dissimilar to Cueva de la Manos in Argentina) as well as representations of hunting, fishing, games, parents holding their childrens hands even, in some cases, what looks a bit like people taking dancing lessons.

Animals feature heavily too gazelles, giraffes, dogs and lions. Most strange and fascinating of all is the beast a weird, headless creature, with a body like a bull or elephant and the legs of a man. It features frequently, and often appears to be feasting on humans. The big question everyones asking, ponders tour guide Mahmoud Nour El Din in the video, is: what the heck are these animals?

ArchaeoVideo: Prehistoric Paintings in the Gilf Kebir

(What’s said in this short docu? If in doubt, check out the video’s transcription here,
or press the arrow in the right below corner of the player, chose ‘CC’ – close captions – and turn the subtitles on!)

They were probably imagined by the prehistoric Egyptian artists, and somehow represent their understanding of the transition from life to death. Hybrid creatures such as the god of the desert and chaos Set were a common element in the belief system of later Egyptian civilizations, many of whom worshipped animal cults. As Foggini-Mestekawi Cave proves, the germ of the idea of the afterlife and mans ability to communicate with it clearly began to gestate very early in the minds of Egyptians, in a long-forgotten corner of the cradle of civilization.

Sandro Vannini and the Lost Tombs of ThebesFascinated by ‘hidden heritage’ locations in Ancient Egypt?

Then make sure to watch this video, where Sandro Vannini and Nico Piazza take you on a journey exploring the Lost Tombs of the Theban necropolis.

Dr Janice Kamrin and Dr. Zahi Hawass supply us with more information on the over 800 tombs that can be found in the necropolis.

Each one of them is unique and offers us a glimpse into what life on earth must have been like in the Egypt of the Pharaohs.

Follow these experts while they explore TT69, TT79, TT104 and TT100, the tomb of Rekhmire.

Tut Tomb Closure Could Lead to KV62 Replica for Tourists

Tourism is a massive industry in Egypt, thanks to the countrys venerable past it accounts for 11% of GDP, and creates jobs for around 12% of the total national workforce. Chief among Egypts antiquarian attractions are the tombs of the pharaohs, the vast network of lavishly decorative burial chambers for its ancient rulers spread across the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, such as KV62 the final resting place of Tutankhamun. So why, then, is the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities calling for them to be closed?

The Council have been faced with an almighty catch-22. The tombs are extremely fragile and poorly ventilated; with so many tourists funneling through them every year, the quantity of humidity and fungus generated through breath and sweat is gradually eroding the soft stone of the chambers, slowly destroying paintings and carvings thousands of years old. This means that the tombs could disappear in between 150 and 500 years, warns Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, in a statement.

A team of experts is currently using laser technology to examine the tombs in order to build the replicas which would then open to visitors in a place near the Valley of the Kings. – Zahi Hawass

Its a similar problem to that faced by many fine examples of cave art around the world. So whats the solution? In the short term, expedients such as improved ventilation (a project to improve ventilation at the Great Pyramid of Giza, for similar reasons, was undertaken in the early 90s). In the long term, the only feasible expedient might be a similar one to that settled upon at cave complexes such as Lascaux and Altamira building exact replicas nearby. A team of experts is currently using laser technology to examine the tombs in order to build the replicas, adds Hawass, which would then open to visitors in a place near the Valley of the Kings.

Unsurprisingly the most popular tombs are among the first slated for closure, including those of Tutankhamun, Nefertari and Seti I so if you want to see the real things, best get to Egypt soon. Visitor numbers are becoming restricted though, so dont hold your breath (No, actually do hold your breath. Ah, you get the point).

If you’re serious about preserving the wonders of antiquity, however, you might want to do the right thing by the boy king, and visit Virtual King Tut instead.

Picture by Michael Reeve. All rights reserved.

New Rock Art Discovered in Scotland

An amateur enthusiast has reignited Scotland’s rock art heritage this week, by discovering more than 90 ancient cup marks on a rock in Perthshire. The stunning find was made by George Currie at Ben Lawers, near Loch Tay. Similar discoveries have been made in the area, but Mr Currie’s is the first containing so many marks.

Some cups still show the signs of individual blows by their maker’s tools, while others are encircled by a ring. The purpose of the marks remains a mystery, though Derek Alexander, an archaeologist for the National Trust for Scotland, is convinced the area is a hotbed of similar artworks that are yet to be uncovered: “This is an exciting find as it shows that there remains undiscovered prehistoric rock art to be found in the Scottish hills,” Mr Alexander tells the BBC. “More surprising are the quantity and variety of the symbols displayed on this boulder. Through both targeted research by professional archaeologists and the work of dedicated amateurs like George Currie,” he continues, “we now know that Ben Lawers forms one of the major concentrations of cup and ring marks in the Highlands, which suggests it was a very significant landscape in prehistory.”

“Some cave art is clearly decoration, with very talented artists expressing themselves in different ways.”

Far from popular belief, you don’t have to go antipodean to see stunning rock and cave art. Creswell Crags, near Worksop, is a Paleolithic cave settlement discovered in 2003, which contains some of the most eye-catching ancient imagery in the world. The 13,500 year-old masterpiece is now the subject of a small museum. “Creswell was a Palaeolithic condo,” says archaeologist Paul Bahn. “Some cave art is clearly decoration, with very talented artists expressing themselves in different ways. A lot of them involve passing on information, telling stories, perhaps creation myths.” Though Creswell is the only known British cave art, rock art is startlingly common – with most examples found in the north of England, Scotland and Ireland. Cup marks can also be found at Old Bewick, Northumberland; and on Long Meg in Cumbria.

The area of Tayside and Perthshire, not generally known for its ancient heritage, has been hitting the archaeological headlines recently due to some incredible finds at Forteviot.