Polychrome Ceiling of Altamira Cave. Image: Museum of Altamira / Pedro Saura
By Núria Quinana, University of Barcelona Press
The prestigious American publication Journal of Archaeological Science has published an online article that proves that the first phases of Palaeolithic art in Altamira Cave (Santillana del Mar, Cantabria) were done by the first Homo sapiens who settled Europe. They were produced during a period of at least 20,000 years (between 35,000 and 15,200 years ago), so they are older than previously thought. The research, which is planned to be included on a printed issue, also proves the great symbolic importance that Altamira held for Palaeolithic groups and the re-use and integration of previous motifs in each of the new phases in the development of the symbolic space.
The research has been carried out by a multidisciplinary group of chemists and archaeologists, led by the Consolidated and High-Performance Research Group on Prehistory of the University of the Basque Country and composed by the National Museum and Research Centre of Altamira, the Spanish National Research Centre for Human Evolution (CENIEH), the University of Barcelona, the University of Bristol and the University of Southampton. João Zilhão, ICREA research professor from the Prehistoric Studies and Research Seminar (SERP), is the UB researcher who participated in the study.The SERP, led by professor Josep M. Fullola, is a research group linked to the Chair of Prehistory of the Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology of the UB.
Uranium series dating is the main procedure used in the research. It was applied not to paintings, but to calcite deposits overlying or underlying cave paintings and engravings. This new technique allows circumventing some limitations of radiocarbon dating, which can only be applied to organic pigments, and does not affect paintings. Uranium series dating does not damage art works as it not necessary to extract pigments; some calcite is enough to carry out the analysis.
The research has taken into account the spatial distribution of paintings and engravings and their relationship with a domestic context to make an interpretation of the results obtained from dating. Through this procedure a close cultural link between symbolic and domestic areas has been demonstrated. This new research continues the article published on Science in June 2012 entitled “U-series dating of Palaeolithic art in 11 caves in Spain”. The publication resulted from a sampling and measuring project funded by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council between 2008 and 2012. In 2013 – 2014 the project is funded by the National Geographic Society, and from 2014 it will be continued thanks to a three-year project funded again by NERC.
Further information:
http://www.ub.edu/web/ub/en/menu_eines/noticies/2013/06/077.html
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