A deep cave in the west of Spain has become a place of amazing discovery, which may make anthropologists completely reconsider the views on the history of art. In the Maltravieso cave, hands are found, whose age exceeds 66 thousand years. This fact indicates that the first artists in the history of mankind were not Homo sapiens, but Neanderthals.
Prints and stencils of human hands – one of the oldest forms of visual creativity, preserved in archaeological layers. There are more than 60 red prints in the Maltravieso cave, but their exact age remained a mystery for a long time. They were made using the simplest technique: the red pigment was applied to the wall, and the arm was used as a stencil. Some drawings are in hard-to-reach places of the cave, and, obviously, their creation required considerable efforts. So, there is a chance that they could have a ritual or symbolic meaning.
Determining the age of such painting is a difficult task. A radiocarbon analysis, usually used in archeology, is not applicable here, since mineral pigments do not contain organic material. Researchers used the Uranus-thorough dating method, which allows you to determine the age of carbonate crusts covering the drawings. This technique gives a minimum dating of drawings. The image itself can be much older if mineralization took place gradually.
As part of the study, the results of which are published in the journal Journal of Archaeological Science: REPORTS , a team of scientists conducted an analysis of carbonate deposits in two key halls of the cave: “Gallery of a snake” and “Hall of paintings”. 22 samples of Korok were collected, which were then studied in the Laboratory of Southampton University.
Uranus-thorough dating has another big advantage: it does not damage the drawings themselves. This allows to save original images for future research. The oldest of the analyzed crust has the age of 66.7 thousand years, which suggests that Neanderthals were the authors of these drawings.
Despite this, the age of other samples varies from 46.6 to 55.2 thousand years. The formation of carbonate peels was difficult: moisture penetrating into the cave besieged minerals unevenly. However, even the “young” crusts confirm that the drawings were created long before the appearance of modern people in the region.
Researchers emphasize