Radiocarbon dating and chemical imaging of carbon black-based Paleolithic cave art in the Dordogne region (France)
Ina Reiche (PSL University)
Lucile Beck (Université Paris-Saclay, Paris)
Ingrid Caffy (Université Paris-Saclay, Paris)
Yvan Coquinot (Louvre)
Matthias Alfeld (TU Delft - Team Matthias Alfeld)
Anne Maigret (Louvre)
José Tapia (PSL University)
Marc Martinez (Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN))
Anthony Lescale (Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN))
Patrick Paillet (Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle)
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Abstract
Paleolithic parietal art in the Dordogne, Southwestern France, was known to present representations solely made with mineral coloring matters. We found a significant number of carbon black-based figures in the galleries of the Font-de-Gaume cave in Les Eyzies, Dordogne, Southern France [I. Reiche, Y. Coquinot, A. Trosseau, A. Maigret, Sci. Rep.13, 22235 (2023)]. Further reflectance imaging spectroscopy allowed a precise noninvasive discrimination between manganese- and carbon-based blacks. Consequently, in the Dordogne region, direct dating of drawn or painted lines was unlocked. Dating parietal representations can prove challenging because of the small amount of matter and the possible contaminations by other carbon sources. The sampling was conducted for radiocarbon dating on two selected figures identified as being made with carbon black: the Bison figure HB15 (named by Breuil, today GPCarG-006), located on the left at the level of the Carrefour in the public area of the cave, as well as on the Mask (human or animal face, GL3D-009) on the right of the remote sector 3 of the lateral gallery. Slightly more recent than expected, the obtained dates are of 13461-13162 calBP for the Bison, and of 8993-8590 calBP (left eye), 15981-15121 calBP (upper lip), and 15297-14246 calBP (lower lip) for the Mask. Except for one date, these results represent the experimental confirmation of the Paleolithic age of cave art in the Font-de-Gaume cave. This study opens numerous perspectives for a more systematic dating of the parietal representations of the cavern and motivates further research of carbon black-based Paleolithic parietal art in the Dordogne region.
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