Caves are particularly well suited to uranium-thorium, Standish says, because they’re not exposed to wind that can carry stray bits of thorium and skew the results. ![]() ![]() Like radiocarbon dating, uranium-thorium dating relies on how the radioactive isotopes have decayed to find a date. Prior to its use in archaeological settings, uranium-thorium dating was used to date corals and understand how the environment has changed over time. Now, as the technology for measuring radioactive decay has advanced, only a tiny amount of material is necessary. ![]() This method, called uranium-thorium dating, has existed for about 20 years, but was previously considered too destructive for use in the caves since it required scraping large amounts of material from the walls. Because the carbonate deposits come from above the paint itself, that means it must have been placed on the wall sometime before. By analyzing the deposits that have covered the pigment in subsequent years, the archaeologists can find minimum dates for when the paint was applied. To learn the age of the red paint in three Spanish caves- La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales-researchers took 53 samples of stone from around the artwork. A hand stencil, some of which date to Neanderthal times, can be seen on the wall. ”ĭurham University professor Paul Pettitt records and samples cave paintings in Maltravieso cave. Genetically speaking, we don’t have any evidence of humans being in Europe at all. While she acknowledges that there’s no direct evidence here that Neanderthals were the ones doing the painting, “It’s a more likely explanation than humans ninja-ing in from Africa. “At this point there’s probably somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of sites that have any sort of direct dating,” says paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger of the University of Victoria, who isn’t affiliated with the study. In many cases, researchers have been forced to date the art indirectly, based on other artifacts or signs of habitation in the caves, like traces of hearth fires. While black, carbon-based designs can be analyzed with radiocarbon dating, the brilliant red pigment is made of minerals that don’t decay the way carbon does. In the past, archaeologists have struggled to accurately date cave art. “The only word of caution is that there’s no direct evidence that this is Neanderthals. “It’s very exciting that they’re getting these dates for art, especially as we’ve been working towards arguing for the cognitive capacities of Neanderthals for many years,” says paleoanthropologist Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum, who wasn’t involved with the study but has previously studied Neanderthal rock engravings in Gibraltar. Instead, they think this art might’ve been the product of Neanderthals. In a paper published today in Science, Standish and others argue the paintings are too old to have been made by Homo sapiens, who only entered Europe sometime around 40,000 years ago. For decades, these abstract artistic renderings have been a meager glimpse of life in the Ice Age, and evidence of the cognitive abilities of our ancient ancestors. Yet humans entered the caves again and again, armed with their flickering torches and red or black pigments, all so they could leave their mark on the walls. ![]() So it must’ve been quite amazing, but also very daunting.” “You have all these fantastic speleothems in the cave and sometimes calcite crystals that sparkle. “ would’ve used small torches and their field of view would’ve been so small, and the light would’ve been flickering,” says archaeologist Chris Standish, of the University of Southampton. Keep in mind this was the era of megafauna, animals like saber-toothed cats and cave hyenas and cave bears that were 50 percent larger than modern grizzlies. Put yourself in the distant past, 65,000 years ago, and imagine entering a cave in Spain.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |