Aerobiological behavior of Paleolithic rock art sites in Dordogne (France): a comparative study in protected sites rangi
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Aerobiological behavior of Paleolithic rock art sites in Dordogne (France): a comparative study in protected sites ranging from rock shelters to caves, with and without public access Johann Leplat . Alexandre Franc¸ois . Ste´phanie Touron . Millena Frouin . Jean-Christophe Portais . Faisl Bousta
Received: 3 June 2019 / Accepted: 28 February 2020 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Microbial organisms can cause huge crises in decorated caves, as seen in emblematic sites such as Lascaux cave. The preservation of such sites involves understanding the healthy microbial behavior of caves before the damage occurs. Indeed, knowledge of normal cave behavior is a prerequisite to identifying potential imbalance. This study seeks to determine whether models of aerobiological behavior could be identified in several caves of different sizes, ranging from rock shelters to large caves that are open or closed to the public. Aerial rates of fungi and bacteria were monitored over 3 years in nine sites in Dordogne (France). This study revealed that in a context of caves where public visits were carefully managed, fungal J. Leplat (&) A. Franc¸ois S. Touron M. Frouin F. Bousta Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques (LRMH), Ministe`re de la Culture, 29 rue de Paris, 77420 Champs-sur-Marne, France e-mail: [email protected] J. Leplat A. Franc¸ois S. Touron M. Frouin F. Bousta Centre de recherche sur la conservation (CRC, USR 3224), Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Ministe`re de la Culture, CNRS, Sorbonne Universite´s, CP21, 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France J.-C. Portais Direction Re´gionale des Affaires Culturelles de la re´gion Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Conservation Re´gionale des Monuments Historiques, 54 rue Magendie, CS 41229, 33074 Bordeaux Cedex, France
and bacterial rates were more affected by the size of the caves than by the opening of sites to the visitors. The study confirmed that large caves can generally be described as ‘‘self-purifying caves’’ as they were strongly affected by the exterior environment at their entry but much less so at locations further inside the cave, while small caves can be described as ‘‘non-selfpurifying caves’’ since they were strongly affected by the exterior environment throughout their whole length. The results also highlighted the difficulty to determine a limit value of microbial rates valid for all caves because of the specificities of each one. Keywords Cultural heritage preservation Decorated cave Air quality Microbiological airborne particles Fungal diversity Environmental conditions
1 Introduction The Dordogne region of France is well known for the number and the quality of human occupation sites dating from the Upper Paleolithic (mainly Magdalenian, * 17,000–12,000 years ago; Leroi-Gourhan 1984). In particular, the Ve´ze`re valley boasts 147 prehistoric sites and 25 ornamented caves, 15 of which have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1979 (UNESCO 1979)
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