A 2018 study dated mineral crusts associated with paintings in three Spanish caves and found that some were at least 64,800 years old. Because that is at least 20,000 years before modern humans are thought to have reached Europe, the researchers concluded that Neanderthals made the art. The dates do not identify the painters directly, and both the archaeological inference and aspects of the dating method have been challenged.
What the 2018 study dated
Hoffmann and colleagues used uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating on carbonate crusts associated with paintings at La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales in Spain. The samples were mineral deposits, not paint: the method requires a small sample of carbonate whose position relative to a painted feature can be established.
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The paper reported 53 samples from 25 carbonate formations. Researchers used quality criteria and multiple subsamples to assess reliability, but the results are age constraints tied to particular samples and motifs—not one date that applies to every image in each cave.
How a crust sets a painting’s age
U-Th dating estimates when a carbonate deposit formed by measuring radioactive disequilibrium between uranium and thorium. The relationship between the deposit and the pigment determines what its age can tell us:
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- Crust over pigment: The painting must be older than the crust. Its dated formation gives a minimum age for the art.
- Carbonate beneath pigment: The painting must be younger than the underlying deposit. Its date can give a maximum age.
These limits depend on accurately documenting the sample’s position and on the carbonate system preserving the chemical conditions required for reliable dating. A minimum age is not the exact moment the image was made.
The reported ages at the three caves
| Cave and region | Painted feature | Reported constraint |
|---|---|---|
| La Pasiega, Cantabria | Red scalariform sign | At least 64,800 years old |
| Maltravieso, Extremadura | Red hand stencil | At least 66,700 years old |
| Ardales (Doña Trinidad), Andalucía | One painted formation | At least 65,500 years old |
Hoffmann et al. also reported paired maximum and minimum constraints for several painting episodes at Ardales. The three figures above are selected minimum ages, not precise dates for all the art at those sites.
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Why the authors attributed the art to Neanderthals
The authors argued that the oldest minimum ages predate modern humans’ arrival in Europe by at least 20,000 years. If those dates and the archaeological chronology are accepted, Neanderthals were the human population available to make the paintings in Iberia at that time. That is the basis for the paper’s conclusion that the art was Neanderthal-made.
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The U-Th measurements themselves date carbonate. They do not reveal the identity of an artist. The authorship conclusion combines those age constraints with evidence and assumptions about which human populations were present in the region.
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What critics dispute
The interpretation remains contested. Archaeological critics have argued that the dates alone do not establish who created the motifs. A separate methodological critique of U/Th dating in Spanish caves raised the possibility of open-system behavior: if uranium moved through carbonate after it formed, some apparent ages could be older than the deposits’ true ages.
The original authors and other researchers have defended the dates in published responses and commentary. The debate turns in part on whether the sampled carbonate retained a reliable U-Th system and whether its relationship to the painted feature is secure. The available evidence does not establish that the dispute has been definitively resolved.
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How the finding fits earlier cave-art dates
A 2012 study by Pike and colleagues reported minimum ages of 40,800 years for a red disk, 37,300 years for a hand stencil and 35,600 years for a claviform-like sign in Spanish caves. Those results had already pushed cave-art chronologies earlier. They provide context for the 2018 study’s older age constraints, but do not independently prove its Neanderthal authorship claim.
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Sources
- Hoffmann et al., “U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art,” Science (2018)
- Full text of the 2018 study
- PubMed record for the 2018 study
- “Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art” (2018)
- Pike et al., “U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain” (2012)
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