Alqueva Dam Prehistoric Rock Art SOS

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    Portuguese government and European Union
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    International Rock Art Community
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PETITION TO STOP THE ALQUEVA DAM PROJECT TO PRESERVE ENDANGERED PREHISTORIC ROCK ART

It has come to my attention that completion of the Alqueva Dam project will cause the destruction of thousands of images of irreplaceable ancient rock art (petroglyphs). Over 400 panels of the prehistoric art are located within the impact zone of the dam along the Portuguese and Spanish sides of the Guadiana River.

I am sending this petition to you to urge that you suspend the Alqueva Dam project immediately. The rock art is an irreplaceable treasure that belongs to the cultural heritage of all people of the world. As a principled person dedicated to public service, your conscience must persuade you to preserve these precious prehistoric glyphs for the benefit of everyone.

The reason this petition is coming to you at this late date is because its only been a few months since a group of ecologists discovered the first of the endangered rock art sites and brought them to the publics attention. If proper surveys had been carried out in the Alqueva Dam impact zone and reported all the facts (including the rock art sites) before final development decisions, surely the project would have been disapproved during the planning stage.

You must move to stop this project now

2599 Signatures

  • Mila Simoes de Abreu
    • Address, country
    • Vila Real, Portugal
  • Robert G. Bednarik
    • Comments
    • The state-sanctioned cultural vandalism must stop!
    • Address, country
    • Melbourne, Australia
  • Angelo Fossati
    • Comments
    • stop the dam!
    • Address, country
    • Valcamonica - Italy
  • Belinha Campos
  • Ronnie Delaney
  • Mary Johnson
    • Address, country
    • USA
  • George J. Susino
    • Address, country
    • Adelaide, Australia
  • Antуnio Eloy
    • Address, country
    • Rua Sto Antуnio 7, 7230 Barrancos
  • susheng
    • Comments
    • sos rockartonALQUEVADAMPREHISTORIC
    • Address, country
    • 32beizongbuhutong,100735,beijing
  • B. K. Swartz, Jr.
    • Address, country
    • Muncie, IN, U.S.A.
  • Dr. Alice M. Choyke
    • Address, country
    • 1124 Budapest, Korompai u. 21-23/D, Hungary
  • Herman E. Bender
    • Comments
    • Unlike dams or any other modern structure built by man as a temporary convenience or solution, great art whether ancient or new is not a 'renewable resource' which can be recycled or recreated. More planning needs to be implemented on projects when the destruction of human thought, i.e. art and especially ancient art, is deemed expendable in the name of projects which have a finite lifetime of useful service measured in mere centuries, not millennia. Let us think of the board first cut too short to use and, no matter how many times it is recut, it will still be too short. Will the destruction of this ancient rock, for what are at best temporary 'fixes', justify the same logic or argument of denying the mistake of the board cut too short because of poor planning by knowingly repeating the mistake? It is best to get the true measure and worth of the project before beginning irreversible actions which are typically regretted in hindsight. Once the artwork is destroyed, it is gone, cut too short, forever.
    • Address, country
    • Mid-America Geographic Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 722, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, U.S.A. 54935
  • Paul Faulstich, PhD
    • Comments
    • Please protect this irreplacable and invaluable cultural resource
    • Address, country
    • Pitzer College
  • Manuela Carrasco
    • Address, country
    • Portugal
  • Jon Mullis
    • Comments
    • Such a fragile, unique and archaeologically important landscape should be preserved at all costs for the cultural heritage of nations.
    • Address, country
    • England
  • Paul Bouissac
    • Address, country
    • University of Toronto
  • Pedro Alexandre Caldeira Rodrigues
  • Maria Margarida Lanceiro Molarinho Mendes
  • Carol Diaz-Granados
    • Address, country
    • 7433 Amherst Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
  • Associate-Professor Mike Morwood
    • Address, country
    • Archaeology, University of New England
  • Robert Gerhard Franz Bednarik
    • Address, country
    • St Albans, Vic. Australia
  • Polly Schaafsma
    • Address, country
    • usa
  • Leigh Marymor
    • Comments
    • You don't know what you've got until it's gone.
    • Address, country
    • Bay Area Rock Art Research Association, San Francisco CA, USA
  • J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee
    • Comments
    • attend to this matter immediately
    • Address, country
    • 2860 - 6th. Av. West, Apt. 118,
  • Masaru Ogawa
    • Address, country
    • Naruto University of Education
  • Dr. William H.Waldren
    • Comments
    • Priceless heritage
  • Dr Anne Solomon
  • Christopher Chippindale
    • Address, country
    • University of Cambridge, England
  • Dr. Dirk Huyge
    • Address, country
    • Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels (Belgium)
  • Arsen FARADJEV
    • Comments
    • We need to do this ASAP
    • Address, country
    • Street Ramenki 11-1--33, 117607 Moscow, Russian Federation
  • Graham Mullan
  • Pedro Quartin Graзa
  • Prof. Robert Layton
    • Comments
    • Surely the same mistake cannot be made twice?
    • Address, country
    • Anthropology Dept., University of Durham, U.K.
  • margherita calderoni
  • Joгo Sйrgio Caldeira Rodrigues
    • Address, country
    • Lisboa, Portugal
  • Ewan M Lawson
    • Address, country
    • Sydney, Australia
  • Maria Eugйnia Quartin Simгo
    • Address, country
    • Portugal
  • Ludwig Jaffe
    • Comments
    • Stop the damn dam !
    • Address, country
    • London, UK
  • Tommy Charles
    • Address, country
    • SC Inst. of Arch. & Anthro.
  • John Harkey
    • Address, country
    • Providence, Rhode Island
  • James Fair
  • gipri colombia
    • Comments
    • firmas del grupo de 20 personas
    • Address, country
    • carrera 54 a No 174-12
  • Muсoz Guillermo
    • Address, country
    • carrera 54 a No 174-12
  • GIPRI/grupo arteyrupestre
    • Comments
    • firma de 10 personas
  • Michael Maselli
  • Blaze O'Connor
    • Address, country
    • Dublin
  • Andreas Gilbert
    • Address, country
    • P.O.Box 31812, Windhoek, Namibia
  • Luнs Jorge Cardoso de Sousa
    • Address, country
    • Pombal-Vila Boa de Quires
  • R. Paul Firnhaber
    • Address, country
    • Estes Park, Colorado USA
  • Ingeburg Nagel
    • Comments
    • Save a world heritage site!
    • Address, country
    • Lancaster, CA, USA