Once again an age record for prehistoric art has been broken. Cave paintings have been found in northern Spain that must be more than 40,800 years old. Now the question is who made them. An 'ordinary' early hominin or the long-extinct Neanderthal?
The cover of the prestigious magazine Science you don't just get it as a scientist. And when that front cover is adorned with a beautiful photo of deep red prehistoric cave drawings, something very special must have been discovered about those drawings…
The caves in question, Altamira, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo, all located on Spain's northern coast, have been protected for years by UNESCO, the UN agency that watches over our World Heritage.
In the caves are the various prehistoric wall paintings. Images of bison, horses, human handprints and indistinct stripes and spheres are drawn through and over each other.
The works of art are indeed special; especially old. For a single image, archaeologists were able to determine a minimum age of 40,800 years. It is a red colored disc, of which it is unclear what it represents. Another depiction of a human handprint turned out to be at least 37,300 years old, and an image presumably depicting a bat or other implement must be at least 35,600 years old. This age coincides with the time when the first modern humans (Homo sapiens ) settled in Europe.
Much is still unknown about the earliest inhabitants of Europe and their abilities to produce symbolic art. Recent dating reveals intriguing new possibilities. On the one hand, it is possible that the earliest modern hominids began decorating their shelters immediately after settling in Europe. That would indicate that they were already more developed than previously thought by the time they arrived in Europe.
Another possibility is that the drawings were made by Neanderthals. After all, for the cave drawings, the researchers determined how old they are minimum must be. Neanderthals are anomalous humanoids that emerged shortly after the arrival of the Homo sapiens have disappeared from Europe. Outcompeted or even wiped out, some researchers say.
The actual age may therefore lie in the time when the caves were inhabited by Neanderthals. But that's speculation, the researchers write. So far, there are certainly strong indications, but no proof yet, that Neanderthals were capable of making abstract drawings. If that turns out to be the case, scientists will have to adjust the image of the 'primitive' Neanderthal. It is certain that Neanderthals still lived on the Spanish peninsula shortly before the Homo sapiens got there.
The researchers were able to determine the minimum age by using so-called uranium-thorium dating, or U-Th dating. They examined mineral deposits that sat on the tick pigment. Because these deposits formed later on the drawings, they can never be older than the drawings themselves. The age of the mineral is therefore a minimum age for the underlying drawings. With U-Th dating, a few milligrams of the material is sufficient. This is in contrast to the usual C14 method (carbon decay) which requires much more material.
Just weeks ago, paleontologists reported in the scientific journal PNAS that they dated the oldest European cave drawings in France's Abri Castanet caves. That record is now off the table. Science may now put the oldest works of art on its cover. It can go that fast in science.