Saturday, April 20, 1963: Lascaux cave paintings

Dating back some 17,000 years, the underground paintings in southwestern France were discovered in 1940, and public access was allowed in 1948. On April 20, 1963, the caves were closed to the public because of damage to the paintings, primarily from the carbon dioxide generated by the thousands of visitors to the site.
* Lascaux, from Great Archeological Sites (French Ministry of Culture and Communication): @
* International Committee for Preservation of Lascaux: @
* "Early Color Photos from Another World" (from life.com): @

* From Bradshaw Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland): @
* From United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): @
* From Encyclopedia Britannica: @
* From Atlas Obscura: @

* From Sacred Destinations: @ 
* "The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists" (Gregory Curtis, 2006): @
* "Lascaux: The Prehistory of Art" (video from Réunion des Musées Nationaux; first of 6 parts): @ 

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Thursday, November 3, 1960: Carbon-14

Willard F. Libby, a professor at UCLA, is awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry "for his method to use carbon-14 for age determination in archaeology, geology, geophysics and other branches of science."

* More from Nobel Prize website: @

* Time magazine article (November 1960): @

* Time article on Libby's work for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (August 1955): @

* More about carbon dating: @ and @ and @

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Undated: Vinland

Springtime finds Norwegian explorer-author Helge Ingstad and his wife, Anne Stine Ingstad, at the northwestern tip of Newfoundland, Canada, where they are searching for evidence that Norse Vikings had lived in what was called "Vinland." At L'Anse aux Meadows ("Jellyfish Cove"), a local fishermen shows them what look to be house foundations. Subsequent excavations reveal this to be the earliest known European settlement in the New World, predating Christopher Columbus by some 500 years.

* More about Vinland: @

* Smithsonian's "Vikings" website: @

* "The Vinland Mystery" (documentary): @

* L'Anse aux Meadows Historic Site: @

* Map of Viking voyages: @

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