| Title |
U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Science, February 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1126/science.aap7778 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
D L Hoffmann, C D Standish, M García-Diez, P B Pettitt, J A Milton, J Zilhão, J J Alcolea-González, P Cantalejo-Duarte, H Collado, R de Balbín, M Lorblanchet, J Ramos-Muñoz, G-Ch Weniger, A W G Pike |
| Abstract |
The extent and nature of symbolic behavior among Neandertals are obscure. Although evidence for Neandertal body ornamentation has been proposed, all cave painting has been attributed to modern humans. Here we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 1,257 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 181 | 14% |
| United States | 116 | 9% |
| United Kingdom | 99 | 8% |
| Japan | 53 | 4% |
| France | 19 | 2% |
| Canada | 16 | 1% |
| Netherlands | 16 | 1% |
| Germany | 15 | 1% |
| Italy | 11 | <1% |
| Other | 122 | 10% |
| Unknown | 609 | 48% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1054 | 84% |
| Scientists | 166 | 13% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 26 | 2% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 10 | <1% |
| Unknown | 1 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 485 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 485 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 92 | 19% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 75 | 15% |
| Student > Bachelor | 62 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 47 | 10% |
| Professor | 32 | 7% |
| Other | 71 | 15% |
| Unknown | 106 | 22% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Arts and Humanities | 106 | 22% |
| Social Sciences | 57 | 12% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 43 | 9% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 33 | 7% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 17 | 4% |
| Other | 95 | 20% |
| Unknown | 134 | 28% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3472. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 April 2024.
All research outputs
#1,673
of 25,793,330 outputs
Outputs from Science
#97
of 83,281 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#16
of 345,053 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Science
#3
of 1,266 outputs
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