Description:
Cet article vise à rapporter les présentations, échanges et débats qui ont rythmé le symposium sur la conservation en milieu souterrain et plus particulièrement sur la grotte de Lascaux. Ce symposium organisé les 26 et 27 février 2009 par la Direction de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication a suscité un vif intérêt : 267 participants représentant 18 pays. L'objet du symposium était de faire un état le plus objectif possible de l'état actuel de la grotte de Lascaux, d'appréhender les causes des attaques bactériologiques qui ont affecté la cavité en 2001 et en 2006/2007, et de poser les modes d'action à venir pour développer les recherches interdisciplinaires en milieu souterrain et la conservation des cavités ornées. Durant ce symposium, les faits concernant Lascaux ont été exposés en toute transparence, y compris les erreurs commises. Les débats et échanges ont été d'une grande qualité tant en ce qui concerne les difficultés rencontrées (connaissance de l'écologie microbienne souterraine, interactions environnement/cavité et hydrogéologie ; climatologie/activité biologique...), les événements survenus et les processus de décision. Karstologia se devait de rendre compte de ce symposium qui met en avant l'immense champ de recherche à mener en milieu souterrain. Ceux qui pensaient qu'on savait déjà tout sur le milieu souterrain auront saisi que beaucoup reste à faire.
Lascaux cave and prehistoric : art conservation in subterranean environments This article aims to provide a summary of the presentations, dialogues, and debates that have punctuated a milestone symposium (26-27 February 2009) about conservation issues in subterranean environments, and more specifically, in the Lascaux cave. This symposium, organized by the department of Architecture and Heritage which is part of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, has been met with a significant interest : 267 attendees from 18 countries. The primary purpose for this symposium was to provide an objective report on the current conditions in Lascaux ; to grasp the causal factors associated with bacteriological attacks affecting the cave in 2001 and again in 2006/2007 ; and to lay out the future directions in interdisciplinary research focused on the subterranean environments and on the conservation of archaeological remains in deep caves. Throughout the symposium, information related to the current state of Lascaux were provided indiscriminately and transparently, particularly with respect to human errors made in the past. Also important were the exceptional volume of high quality debates and dialogues between experts and attendees on a variety of topics concerned primarily with some of the difficulties met by the researchers (such as the lack of knowledge concerning the ecology of microbial populations in subterranean contexts ; the interactions between karstic environments and hydrogeology, and questions concerning climatology and its impact on subterranean biology, etc...), but also in regards to the different phases of contaminations and eradications, as well as the structures in place to facilitate decision making. It is therefore imperative for Karstologia to present a summary of this important symposium — an opportunity to put forward the width and complexity of an emerging field of research in subterranean environments. Those who thought that all was understood in regards to the complexities of subterranean environments will have been ushered to think otherwise — much is still to be done.