"Unearthing France's Carbon-Based Cave Art Unlocks Precise Radiocarbon Dating"
Researchers have made the first discovery of carbon-based cave art in France's Dordogne region, specifically in the Font-de-Gaume cave. This breakthrough could potentially allow for precise radiocarbon dating of the art, which has previously been challenging due to its coloration with iron- or manganese-oxide-based material. The findings open up new opportunities for reevaluating existing art in the region and improving our understanding of the creation phases and inter-regional comparisons of Paleolithic art. Non-invasive analytical methods, such as visible-light and infrared photography, portable X-ray fluorescence, and micro-Raman spectroscopy, were used to study the carbon-based drawings beneath the iron and manganese oxide-based pigments.