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A 2018 study found that carbonate crusts associated with selected paintings in three Spanish caves were at least about 65,000 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, however, are constraints on mineral layers—not direct measurements of paint—and the conclusion remains debated.
What did the researchers date?
Hoffmann and colleagues used uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating on calcite and other carbonate deposits associated with painted cave surfaces. The method measures radioactive disequilibrium between uranium and thorium in carbonate; it dates the mineral sample, not the pigment or the person who made the image.
The relationship between a deposit and a painting determines what its age can establish. A carbonate crust that formed over paint must be younger than the painting, so its date gives the art a minimum age: the painting is at least that old. Carbonate beneath pigment can instead provide a maximum age, because the painting must have been made after the underlying layer formed. These interpretations depend on the sample’s position relative to the art being clear.
The 2018 paper reported 53 samples from 25 carbonate formations and used sample-quality criteria and multiple subsamples to assess reliability. Its results are constraints for particular motifs and painting episodes, not one date that applies to all the art in each cave.
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What ages did the study report?
| Cave and location | Painted feature | Reported constraint |
|---|---|---|
| La Pasiega, Cantabria | Red scalariform sign | Overlying carbonate gave a minimum age of 64.8 thousand years |
| Maltravieso, Extremadura | Red hand stencil | Overlying carbonate gave a minimum age of 66.7 thousand years |
| Ardales (also called Doña Trinidad), Andalucía | One painted formation | Minimum age of 65.5 thousand years |
| Ardales (also called Doña Trinidad), Andalucía | Several painting episodes | The study reported paired maximum- and minimum-age constraints; the values are not stated in the cited summary |
The three numerical minimum ages above were reported by Hoffmann and colleagues in Science in 2018. They apply to selected features, not every painting in the caves.
Why did the authors attribute the art to Neanderthals?
The authors argued that the oldest minimum ages precede modern humans’ arrival in Europe by at least 20,000 years. On that chronology, they inferred that Neanderthals made the dated art. The dating itself does not identify an artist: the attribution follows from accepting the carbonate ages, the timeline for modern-human arrival, and the premise that Neanderthals were the only human population in Iberia at the relevant time.
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That distinction matters. A mineral date can constrain when a painted feature existed; connecting that age to a human population requires archaeological and chronological reasoning beyond the laboratory measurement.
Why is the Neanderthal interpretation disputed?
Critics have challenged both the archaeological inference and aspects of the dating. One line of criticism is that the ages alone do not prove who created the motifs. A separate methodological critique has raised the possibility of open-system behavior: if uranium moved through a carbonate deposit after it formed, a U-Th result could make the sample appear older than it really is.
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The original authors and other researchers have defended the dates in published responses and commentary. The available evidence does not establish that the dispute is settled. The key questions are whether each sample’s U-Th system remained reliable, whether its relationship to the paint is secure, and how the resulting age fits the archaeological evidence for human presence in Iberia.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does this compare with earlier cave-art dating?
A 2012 study by Pike and colleagues used uranium-series dating in 11 Spanish caves and reported minimum ages of 40.8 thousand years for a red disk, 37.3 thousand years for a hand stencil, and 35.6 thousand years for a claviform-like sign. Those earlier results show that carbonate dating had already pushed known cave-art chronologies back. They do not independently establish the 2018 study’s claim about Neanderthal authorship.
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