000 DRAWINGS ON ROCKS IN MONT BEGO IN THE FRENCH ALPS WILL BE REDUC...

36.000 drawings on rocks in Mont Bego in the French Alps

will be reduced.

Clottes disagrees. “The measure proposed by Henry

are being damaged so rapidly that they will not survive for

de Lumley is the most severe, and while it is the most

future generations.

effective, it is also certain to bring about protests from

The mountain, believed to have once been a site for prayer

people who live there,” he said. “The site was

and worship, is scattered with 4,000 year-old drawings cut

into bare rock. They include pictures of cows with horns,

classified as a historic monument years ago by the

cultivated fields and various gods and goddesses. But as the

Ministry of Culture, and we must do as much as

popularity of the site increases, the pictures are being ruined

possible to save what is there.”

David Lavergne, the regional architect, also wants to

by thoughtless graffiti.

avoid closing the site. “Henry de Lumley’s idea isn’t

Jean Clottes is the chairman of the International Committee

on Rock Art. He says, “People think that because the picture

ideal,” he said. “Our department feels that the best

have been there so long they will always continue to be

solution is to let people look at the site, but because

there. But if the damage continues as this rate there will be

the area is very big it is difficult to prevent visitors

from damaging it. I would prefer that everyone was

nothing left in 50 years.”

able to look at it, but the main problem is financial.

He describes seeing tourists stamping on the drawings,

wearing away the rock and definition of the artwork as they

We don’t have the funds to employ the necessary

do so. Some visitors, he says, even chop off parts to take

number of guards. We may have to consider charging

home as souvenirs

a fee. There seems to be no prospect of government

funding.”

“When people think they can’t take a good enough

photograph, they rub the drawings to get a clearer picture,”

In Nice, Annie Echassoux, who also worked on

researching the site, is alarmed that as the mountain

he said. “The drawings are polished by the weather, and if

becomes easier to reach – tourists can now avoid the

the sun is shining and the visitors can’t see them properly

they simply rub and scrape them to make them look

three-and-a-half-hour walk by hiring vehicles – the

fresher.”

damage will increase rapidly. She thinks that the only

Other researchers describe hoe people arrive carrying long

solution is to rope off the area and provide guides.

“You can’t say the plan can’t go ahead because there

sticks with sharp ends to scratch their own drawings, or even

their names, in the rock.

is no money,” he said. “That is not good enough.

Money must be provided because the Ministry of

But experts are divided over the best way to preserve the

Culture has classified this area as a historic site. If we

drawings. Henry de Lumley, director of the Museum of

don’t take steps, we will be responsible for losing the

Natural History in Paris, believes that the only way to save

the site is to turn the whole mountain into a “no-go” area,

drawings for the next generation.”