Thomas Dalton wrote:
A wall carving is more likely to last longer.
A carving in a cave, maybe. A carving on the wall of a building, probably not. All it takes is for that building to be knocked down, and the information is lost. With a book, every single copy ever made would need to be destroyed to lose the information.
Not to mention the effect of acid rain. The paintings at the Lescaux caves have been there a long time, but they have been affected by those visitors who insist on breathing while they look at the pictures. We can believe something if enough Wikipedians have seen it, but it would be nicer if one of them had the presence of mind to bring a camera.
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