Vandals destroy 8,000-year-old artwork

thinkSPAINtoday ^ | Tuesday, August 7, 2007 | Samantha Kett

[SunkenCiv]

Fluorescent yellow paint was sprayed over carvings, thought to be around 8,000 years old, inside the Cova de la Clau in Palma de Gandia, last week. However, they left a 16,000-year-old engraving of a horse in the Cova del Parpallo untouched... Some of the carvings, which were discovered in 2001, have been removed and are held in various museums throughout the province, but those that remain have been declared UNESCO heritage sites. This is not the first time prehistoric engravings in La Safor caves have been under threat from vandals. Three years ago, graffiti was found in the Cova del Parpallo, but it had not covered the rock art. A year previously, dirty blankets and hypodermic needles were found inside the same cave. Four years ago, the Cova de les Meravelles ('cave of wonders') in Gandia and the Cova del Bolomor in Tavernes de la Valldigna suffered damage, their Paleolithic carvings destroyed by graffiti... Fences that are easy to break down or climb over, and broken padlocks, are all that keep undesirables out.

[SunkenCiv]

Obviously this is the work of the Cova del Parpallo liberation front.

[SunkenCiv]

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[bannie]

Call me stupid...but I just don't get vandalism.

It has no point!

[weegee]

Some regimes find ancient art an affront to Islam:

[wagglebee]

That was my first thought too, I figured the jihadists were blowing up more things that “offended” them.

[george76]

In my younger days, I could not understand why so many Roman and Greek status were vandalized. In some ways, I still do not.

Seeing the Taliban in Afgan in 2001 destroy the very old Buddas does open a view into the soul on these really awful people who enjoy destroying others work.

Very sad.

[Eaker]

Claymores.

[mtbopfuyn]

Yep, there ya go.

[YOUGOTIT]

Just like stupid young EU nuts. They have also vandalizes many of the walls in Pompeii and other Roman and Greek ruins. It is a shame but they know no better or should we say that they are just totally stupid as some here in my great country are. A vandal is a vandal and some should be eliminated.

[LachlanMinnesota]

It can be a form of censorship by those whose ideologies are, shall we say, a bit insecure...

[wildbill]

My God, the Vandals are back in Spain after centuries. Where have they been hiding all this time?

[bannie]

Thank you...I guess that makes a sick kind of sense.

[AndyJackson]

Where have they been hiding all this time?

IIRC they ended up in North Africa.

[SunkenCiv]

North Africa and Arabia. ;’)