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Why build a copy of a cave?

Lascaux II lets visitors enter a reconstruction of parts of a cave rather than the original painted chambers. Opened in 1983, it reproduces the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery. The project raises a tangible conservation question: which qualities of an experience can a careful copy preserve while visits are moved away from the original?

3–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • What would you measure to judge the fidelity of a cave replica?
  • Which aspects of encountering an original cannot be reproduced?

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Why does a radiocarbon date need a second kind of clock?

History4–5 minA radiocarbon measurement does not translate directly into one calendar year. The amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere has varied, so dating relies on comparison with material whose age is already known.

History

Reading a buried timeline

A deep object is not necessarily the oldest thing at an archaeological site. A later pit can cut through earlier ground, leaving a sequence that has to be reconstructed from relationships between layers.

12–15 min

Reading a buried timeline

History12–15 minA deep object is not necessarily the oldest thing at an archaeological site. A later pit can cut through earlier ground, leaving a sequence that has to be reconstructed from relationships between layers.

History

When Britain’s railways needed a shared clock

A timetable becomes awkward when the clocks at its two ends disagree. In nineteenth-century Britain, railway journeys helped turn local time into a shared coordination problem, while the telegraph helped distribute an answer.

8–10 min

When Britain’s railways needed a shared clock

History8–10 minA timetable becomes awkward when the clocks at its two ends disagree. In nineteenth-century Britain, railway journeys helped turn local time into a shared coordination problem, while the telegraph helped distribute an answer.

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