Science· 2018Q1
U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art
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- Q1SCImago
- 2018year
Short summary
Cave paintings in three Iberian sites are at least 64.8 ka old, predating modern human arrival in Europe by over 20 ka, implying Neandertal authorship.
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Key points
- U-Th dating of carbonate crusts provides minimum ages for cave art.
- Three Iberian sites (La Pasiega, Maltravieso, Ardales) show art older than 64.8 ka.
- This art predates modern human arrival in Europe by at least 20,000 years.
- Neandertal authorship is implied for this early cave art.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
The extent and nature of symbolic behavior among Neandertals are obscure. Although evidence for Neandertal body ornamentation has been proposed, all cave painting has been attributed to modern humans. Here we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science, 2018 · DOI ↗
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Field: Anthropology
AnthropologySocial Sciences