Red dot becomes 'oldest cave art'
23 June, BBC
Red dots, hand stencils and animal figures represent the oldest
examples yet found of cave art in Europe.The symbols on the walls at 11
Spanish locations, including the World Heritage sites of Altamira, El
Castillo and Tito Bustillo have long been recognised for their
antiquity.But researchers have now used refined dating techniques to get
a more accurate determination of their ages.
One motif - a faint red dot - is said to be more than 40,000 years
old.
"In Cantabria, [in] El Castillo, we find hand stencils that are
formed by blowing paint against the hands pressed against the wall of a
cave," explained Dr Alistair Pike from Bristol University, UK, and the
lead author on a scholarly paper published in the journal Science."We
find one of these to date older than 37,300 years on 'The Panel of
Hands', and very nearby there is a red disc made by a very similar
technique that dates to older than 40,800 years."This now currently is
Europe's oldest dated art by at least 4,000 years," he told reporters.
It
is arguably also the oldest reliably dated cave art anywhere in the
world.The team arrived at the ages by examining the calcium carbonate
(calcite) crusts that had formed on top of the paintings.
This material builds up in the exact same way that stalagmites and
stalactites form in a cave.In the process, the calcite incorporates
small numbers of naturally occurring radioactive uranium atoms. These
atoms decay into thorium at a very precise rate through the ages, and
the ratio of the two different elements in any sample can therefore be
used as a kind of clock to time the moment when the calcite crust first
formed.
Uranium-thorium dating has been around for decades, but the technique
has now been so refined that only a tiny sample is required to get a
good result.
This enabled the team to take very thin films of deposits from just
above the paint pigments; and because the films were on top, the dates
they gave were minimum ages - that is, the paintings had to be at least
as old as the calcite deposits, and very probably quite a bit older.
The oldest dates coincide with the first known immigration into
Europe of modern humans (Homo sapiens).
Before about 41,000 years ago, it is their evolutionary cousins, the
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), who dominate the continent.Dr
Pike's and colleagues' work therefore raises some intriguing questions
about who might have authored the markings.
If anatomically modern humans were responsible then it means they
engaged in the activity almost immediately on their arrival in Europe.
If Neanderthals were the artisans, it adds another layer to our
understanding of their capabilities and sophistication.
The great antiquity of the paintings leads co-author Joao Zilhao, a
research professor at ICREA, University of Barcelona, to think the
Neanderthals produced the motifs.
Finding even older paintings than the red dot at El Castillo might
confirm that "gut feeling", he said."There is a strong chance that these
results imply Neanderthal authorship," Prof Zilhao explained.
"But I will not say we have proven it because we haven't, and it
cannot be proven at this time."What we have to do now is go back, sample
more and find out whether we can indeed get dates older than 42, 43,
44,000.
"There is already a sampling programme going on. We have samples from
more sites in Spain, from sites in Portugal and from other caves in
Western Europe and so eventually we will be able to sort it out.
"Tracing the origins of abstract throught and behaviours, and the
rate at which they developed, are critical to understanding the human
story.
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