Preserving Ancient Cave Art
When the art that is being preserved was painted on cave walls over 1000 years ago, there isn't much use for the sort of museum-grade lighting controls that we supply. So how does the National Forest Service protect and preserve these cave painting in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah? It's less about controlling the light and more about stopping graffiti.
Forest archaeologist Tom Flanigan explains, "You see his horns right there. A V-shaped body with feet. He might have a bow in his hand, and off to the side here we see a quadruped, which may have antlers. That's open to interpretation."Kids, while in your drunk or high states it might sound kind of cool to think that you can add to the ancient wall art and then a thousand years from now some archaeologist can ponder the meaning of "420," but it's never cool to deface art. Just don't do it.
Next to it there is recent vandalism: graffiti and evidence of illegal drug use and fires. "You've got some great graffiti in here. Potheads and mushrooms. People's initials. So-and-so loves so-and-so."