new discovery 

The Cantabrian Paleolithic paintings are "the oldest in the history of mankind"

 

A team of eleven researchers used a new measurement date drawings of Altamira and El Castillo at least 40,000 years ago

14.06.12 - 18:09 -

Gonzalo Sellers | Santillana del Mar

The crust of the paintings

Carbon 14 is already exceeded. To develop the draft of the rock paintings dating has been used so-called 'method of uranium'. A process that takes as a starting point to obtain calcíticas crusts and formations that are in direct contact with the rock art. The scientific basis of laboratory analysis lies in two isotopes of uranium, U-238 and U-235, which decay into stable forms through complex chains that include the formation of another element, thorium. The method measures the end the imbalance between uranium and thorium and is marking the age of the object of analysis. The samples are tiny fragments of calcite taken from the crust of the paintings, a shot that does not affect the conservation of rock art.

This procedure will get much more precise dating to the extent that researchers come to speak of "absolute dates" when it comes to crusts of calcite associated with Paleolithic style figures, especially those that have not been made with organic materials.

Progress in the analysis process has allowed to overcome the limitations of the traditional test Carbono14, if the problems mentioned conservation (with uranium is not necessary to extract a part of the pigments of the paint) and possible contamination of the sample.

In the late twentieth century, the application of carbon-14 dating organic carbon allowed the pigments used in the embodiment of black drawings. The results thus obtained (Altamira, Castillo, Fireplaces, La Pasiega, including cavities) were satisfactory according to the researchers. The 'but' was that the method could only be applied to black paint made with coal, which prevented their use on the grounds outlined in red, black manganese and engravings. The application of uranium series has put an end to these limitations.

The cave paintings of Altamira and El Castillo are much older than you pensab a. The negative hands and red discs that decorate the walls of the Cantabrian caves were painted at least 40,000 years ago, when so far all studies were at a period between 18,000 and 15,000 years. The new method used by a group of eleven British and Spanish scientists to calculate its origin by measuring the uranium in place of carbon, can label the Cantabrian cave art as "the oldest history of mankind." So far, the oldest known samples of rock art found in France and Portugal, with an age of between 25,000 and 30,000 years. "We have opened an unexpected horizon. This represents a paradigm shift in the origin of prehistoric art and the nature of the game, "said Joao Zilhao yesterday, one of the researchers who conducted the study published today in eleven caves in Cantabria and Asturias in the journal 'Science', considered the 'bible of science'.

This group of scientists , including those found Cesar Gonzalez Sainz, University of Cantabria, and Carmen de las Heras, José Antonio Lasheras and Ramon Montes, Altamira Museum, has collected more than two hundred samples in the two caves in Cantabria and the Tito Bustillo (Asturias) in 2008 ripped from this project . Fifty of them are those that have passed through the lab and they have shown, according to this study, the age of the paintings of northern Spain.

In the Science article focuses on ten. Two of Altamira, six of El Castillo and three of Tito Bustillo. From the cave of Santillana del Mar is the red horse speaks in the ceiling and polychrome double strokes and parallel curve are at the center of the dome. It was at least 37,000 years ago when they were drawn. "This confirms the interest of Altamira, a cave which is now shown that it was occupied during the Upper Paleolithic," said Jose Antonio Lasheras. Altamira Museum director revealed Thursday that, in reviewing the objects found in the cave, were found some who could match the years of these paintings. In El Castillo, one of the red discs that decorate the walls has at least 40,800 years, and is the oldest symbol of those studied. In the cave of Tito Bustillo was dated a figure representing a human body in 35,000 years.

The protagonist of this discovery has been the method used. uranium analysis has allowed the date to "reliability" as Zilhao, the earliest artistic representations of history. So far, archaeologists used carbon-14, but this system only analyzes the remains of organic pigments, ie drawings made with charcoal. The so-called black paintings.

With that caveat, the figures of animals and symbols of Altamira and El Castillo had been fixed in all investigations in the 18,000 years old. These dates do not add up to researchers who sign the study. If there were representations oldest in Portugal and France, there were only two options in Northern Spain: there were really old paintings or was doing something wrong? It was in 2005 when asked that question and in 2008, after securing funding € 150,000 from the University of Bristol, when they began working with the method of uranium. A system that leaves out the paintings in black and to analyze the ocher, which are made with mineral pigments and non-organic.

Operation

The explanation of how it works is simple. The water entering the caves, the same way stalactites and stalagmites, calcite forms a very thin film on the walls that will cover the Paleolithic paintings over the years. This is a problem for tourists who want to see the drawings, but a boon for researchers, since uranium is trapped and decays into isotopes that, when analyzed, provide insights into the age of the calcite.

The next step is logical. If the calcite is 40,000 years, the paintings below it have at least that age. And that is the core of the research presented yesterday at the Museum of Altamira. "This approach gives us maximum reliability, is the most accurate and there is currently used by geologists," said Zilhao. The researcher believes that the study results are "indisputable" and that this is the first time that the measurement of uranium in a systematic way a set of caves and not in isolation, which gives even further secure the process.

Not for the first time this year that a group of researchers that data, they say, are the oldest art shows. It happened in Nerja and France, but the situations are "not comparable" as Marcos Garcia said yesterday. In Nerja, also said that it was not published any study, there was no dating no figure or geological event, but several groups of carbons in the soil ranging from 18,000 up to 43,000 years old. And in France, the origin of the drawings in coal was determined by carbon-14 in about 30,000 years. "Many are questioning the method used," he said.

"We must abandon the race to see who discovered the oldest representation. It's ridiculous. The important thing here is that we have taken a quantum leap over the snippets that were given so far, thanks to a much finer scientific method, "added the researcher also Cesar Gonzalez.

The discovery in the Cantabrian and Asturian caves goes beyond a new dating of the paintings. It not only point to the oldest art of mankind, but to put on paper the "high probability" that the Neanderthals also made ​​representations the walls of caves. A 'privilege' that, until now, scientists only gave the 'homo sapiens'. "By placing the pictures at least 40,000 years ago, we place just at the time of overlap of the two. It is an open hypothesis, although we can not prove, "said Zilhao.

This research project does not end with its publication in the journal Science. After closing the first phase and funding for this year the Ministry of Economy, researchers want to expand the use of the measurement of uranium caves in Spain and Italy and France.