Rock paintings are the most valuable historical evidence of the development of human culture. To accurately determine their age, the radioisotope method is mainly used.
In 1994, in the south of France, archaeologist Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered a cave that was later named after him - Chauvet Cave. On its walls, more than 300 images of ice age animals were found that died out after the onset of warming or were destroyed by primitive people. The age of the drawings (33,000 - 30,000 years) was determined using radiocarbon analysis of the traces of soot from the torches with which the artists illuminated the walls.
In May 2912, a group of European and American anthropologists discovered in the Abri-Castanet cave in the south of France, on a piece of limestone rock, an image of female genitals, drawings of animals and an icon similar to the number "8". This rock was previously the ceiling of a cave that collapsed, presumably as a result of an earthquake. Accordingly, the side with the carvings carved on it was pressed against the floor of the cave. Scientists split the piece and found drawings on its inner side, the age of which was determined by radiocarbon analysis at 35,000-37,000 years.
Other objects of ancient art were also discovered in the cave: beads from mammoth bones and talcum stone, shells and bones with traces of processing. Like the inhabitants of the Chauvet Cave, the ancient artists from Abri-Kastanet belonged to the Aurignacian culture.
In June 2012, the results of studies of rock paintings in the Altamira Cave in the Spanish province of Cantabria became known - approximately 40,800 years. Artful polychrome images of animals and handprints are made with ocher, charcoal, hematite and other natural dyes. The age of the figures was determined by analyzing the ratio of the isotopes of uranium-234 and thorium-230 in the lime build-ups formed in the figures.
Scientists who have studied the rock painting in the Altamira cave put forward two hypotheses of its origin: the work of the Neanderthals or primitive people who migrated to Europe from Africa. In Africa, beads were found, the age of which was determined to be 100,000 years. Neanderthals, according to some theories, could not compete with the ancestors of modern humans - Cro-Magnons - and disappeared in the process of evolution.
