Seminari d'Estudis i Recerques Prehistòriques, Facultat de Geografía i Història, Departament d'Història i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08001 Barcelona, Spain;
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Aug 17;118(33). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2021495118.
Cueva de Ardales in Málaga, Spain, is one of the richest and best-preserved Paleolithic painted caves of southwestern Europe, containing over a thousand graphic representations. Here, we study the red pigment in panel II.A.3 of "Sala de las Estrellas," dated by U-Th to the Middle Paleolithic, to determine its composition, verify its anthropogenic nature, infer the associated behaviors, and discuss their implications. Using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, we analyzed a set of samples from the panel and compared them to natural coloring materials collected from the floor and walls of the cave. The conspicuously different texture and composition of the geological samples indicates that the pigments used in the paintings do not come from the outcrops of colorant material known in the cave. We confirm that the paintings are not the result of natural processes and show that the composition of the paint is consistent with the artistic activity being recurrent. Our results strengthen the hypothesis that Neanderthals symbolically used these paintings and the large stalagmitic dome harboring them over an extended time span.
西班牙马拉加的阿尔达勒洞穴是欧洲西南部保存最完好、拥有最丰富图形的旧石器时代绘画洞穴之一，拥有超过一千个图形表示。在这里，我们研究了中石器时代 U-Th 测年的“星空大厅”中 II.A.3 面板上的红色颜料，以确定其组成，验证其人为性质，推断相关行为，并讨论其影响。我们使用光学显微镜、扫描电子显微镜结合能量色散 X 射线光谱、微拉曼光谱和 X 射线衍射，对来自该面板的一组样本进行了分析，并将其与从洞穴地板和墙壁上收集的天然着色材料进行了比较。地质样本明显不同的质地和组成表明，绘画中使用的颜料并非来自洞穴中已知的颜料露头。我们确认这些画不是自然过程的结果，并表明油漆的成分与反复进行的艺术活动一致。我们的研究结果加强了这样一种假设，即尼安德特人曾在很长一段时间内象征性地使用过这些画和包含它们的大型石笋穹顶。
