Integration of Remote-Sensing Techniques for the Preventive Conservation of Paleolithic Cave Art in the Karst of the Altamira Cave

Abstract

Rock art offers traces of our most remote past and was made with mineral and organic substances in shelters, walls, or the ceilings of caves. As it is notably fragile, it is fortunate that some instances remain intact—but a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors can lead to its disappearance. Therefore, as a valuable cultural heritage, rock art requires special conservation and protection measures. Geomatic remote-sensing technologies such as 3D terrestrial laser scanning (3DTLS), drone flight, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) allow us to generate exhaustive documentation of caves and their environment in 2D, 2.5D, and 3D. However, only its combined use with 3D geographic information systems (GIS) lets us generate new cave maps with details such as overlying layer thickness, sinkholes, fractures, joints, and detachments that also more precisely reveal interior–exterior interconnections and gaseous exchange; i.e., the state of senescence of the karst that houses the cave. Information of this kind is of great value for the research, management, conservation, monitoring, and dissemination of cave art.