Considering that the oldest dated image in Pictograph Cave is 2,149 years old, it is surprising that even 15 of the 103 original ochre and charcoal images of warriors and animals are still visible.
The question now confronting Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which manages the site as a state park, is whether to try to preserve the art and slow the decay of the cave, or let nature take its course as the art fades inevitably into oblivion.
Jannie Loubser, an archaeologist and rock art expert from Atlanta, surveyed the site on Friday to help the state decide what to do, or not do, next. With the help of Sara Scott, of FWP's heritage resource program, Loubser took detailed measurements and notes on the current condition of the cave.
"Whatever can be done to protect the place and increase its lifespan, most people would agree that's the way to go," Loubser said. "But we need to be kind of minimalist about it."
Wet weather this winter and spring has helped speed deterioration in the large cave southeast of Billings. Water has seeped into cracks and the porous sandstone, which then freezes and can break off. A broken-off piece is how one pictograph of a turtle was dated as 2,149 years old.
The decay of the lower portions of the cave has also been accelerated by the excavation of the cave floor between 1937 and 1941, which removed several feet of dirt and left the lower cave walls exposed.
"The whole thing is shifting like an eggshell that you broke the bottom off of," Loubser said.
Read more, with a photo gallery at the Billings Gazette
http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/article_355ada0f-fd07-5dbc-b8f5-4949a25af69d.html?oCampaign=hottopics
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