Following the invitation extended to them by Professor Yves Coppens to participate in the last meeting of the Lascaux Scientific Council, Paul-Marie Guyon and Pierre Vidal performed two presentations, last December 6, in front of the members of this council.

Paul-Marie Guyon (Honorary Research Director at the CNRS, who made the first comprehensive climatic studies of Lascaux, and conceived the climatic assistance machine implemented in the cave in the 60s) described the startegy he used in the years 60 to study the climate of the cave, the method used for collecting and analyzing the data, the conclusions drawn from from these studies related to the climatic constraints to be respected for ensuring the maintenance of the cave, and the principle of the climatic assistance machine he conceived that ensured the good preservation of the cavity until the replacement of this machine in 2000-2001.

Pierre Vidal (Honorary Research Ingenior at the CNRS, in charge of the maintenance of the cave until 1995) then explained how, between 1965 and 1995, he proceeded to respect the "set points" established by the study of P-M Guyon thus avoiding any incident in the cave.

Their presentations were followed by intense and intere'sting discussions with the members of the Council.

The Powerpoint presentations used during their talks can be seen by clicking on the following links:

This first contact between the Lascaux Scientific Council and some members of the LIST appears very positive. We hope it to be a first step towards an active collaboration between the Scientific Council and the LIST, aimed at making a better use of the scientific expertise and of the experience of the cave that are gathered within the LIST.