Friday, June 23, 1995

Carbon Monoxide Blamed In 9 Deaths In French Cave

Nine people died during a teen-agers' outing in a cave in northern France used by German troops in World War II to conceal V1 ''doodlebug'' rockets, rescue workers said Thursday. Dead were three teen-agers, the father of one of them and five members of the team that went to look for them. The nine were apparently killed by a high concentration of carbon monoxide gas in the tunnels, outside the village of Buchy near the northern River Seine port of Rouen. The lethal gas may have been created by a fire lit by the teen-agers. The cave was used during the war to hide some of the V1 rockets that German forces fired at Britain across the English Channel.

Thursday, June 8, 1995

Paintings In Cave Could Be Oldest

Scientific tests have shown some of the masterly drawn beasts discovered last December in a cave in the Ardeche to be at least 30,000 years old, making them the world's oldest known paintings, the culture ministry announced this week.

The ministry said French and British specialists had determined that charcoal pigments of two rhinoceroses and a bison found in the Chauvet cave in the southeastern Ardeche were between 30,340 and 32,410 years old.

The oldest previously known cave painting has been dated at 27,110 years old and shows the simple outline of a human hand; it was discovered in 1992 near Marseilles, France. The art at Lascaux, which is similar in style to that in the newly found cave, is thought to be about 15,000 to 17,000 years old.

Archaeologists were surprised by the early date for the Chauvet drawings; the team studying the great underground gallery, with more than 300 animal images, many of them leaping or running across great panels, had initially estimated they had been painted perhaps 20,000 years ago.

Friday, June 23, 1995

Carbon Monoxide Blamed In 9 Deaths In French Cave

Nine people died during a teen-agers' outing in a cave in northern France used by German troops in World War II to conceal V1 ''doodlebug'' rockets, rescue workers said Thursday. Dead were three teen-agers, the father of one of them and five members of the team that went to look for them. The nine were apparently killed by a high concentration of carbon monoxide gas in the tunnels, outside the village of Buchy near the northern River Seine port of Rouen. The lethal gas may have been created by a fire lit by the teen-agers. The cave was used during the war to hide some of the V1 rockets that German forces fired at Britain across the English Channel.

Thursday, June 8, 1995

Paintings In Cave Could Be Oldest

Scientific tests have shown some of the masterly drawn beasts discovered last December in a cave in the Ardeche to be at least 30,000 years old, making them the world's oldest known paintings, the culture ministry announced this week.

The ministry said French and British specialists had determined that charcoal pigments of two rhinoceroses and a bison found in the Chauvet cave in the southeastern Ardeche were between 30,340 and 32,410 years old.

The oldest previously known cave painting has been dated at 27,110 years old and shows the simple outline of a human hand; it was discovered in 1992 near Marseilles, France. The art at Lascaux, which is similar in style to that in the newly found cave, is thought to be about 15,000 to 17,000 years old.

Archaeologists were surprised by the early date for the Chauvet drawings; the team studying the great underground gallery, with more than 300 animal images, many of them leaping or running across great panels, had initially estimated they had been painted perhaps 20,000 years ago.