Paul Pettitt
Durham University, Archaeology, Faculty Member
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
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... more
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.
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Book reviews. Quartär. Internationales Jahrbuch für Eiszeitalter- und Steinzeitforschung/International Yearbook for Ice Age and Stone Age Research, Band, 55 (2008). 163 pages, 95 illustrations, 2 tables. English and German text. 2008. Rahden: Marie Leidorf; ISSN: 0375-7471; ISBN 978-3-86757-921-6...more
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Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
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ABSTRACT
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Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
The paper presents and analyses 46 new radiocarbon measurements undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit with the aim of critically evaluating the existing chronology for Bronze Age metalwork. Samples chosen, from both old... more
The paper presents and analyses 46 new radiocarbon measurements undertaken at the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit with the aim of critically evaluating the existing chronology for Bronze Age metalwork. Samples chosen, from both old museum collections and more ...
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... “Il Principe” (the Prince) is the nickname given to a spectacular Mid Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian) burial discovered at Arene Candide, Italy in 1942. ...
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"Spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) remains have been recovered from British Middle and Upper Pleistocene sites at intervals within the period 700–730 ka BP. Morphological studies have suggested that hyaenas of the Last Interglacial sensu... more
"Spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) remains have been recovered from British Middle and Upper Pleistocene sites at intervals within the period 700–730 ka BP. Morphological studies have suggested that hyaenas of the Last Interglacial sensu stricto (Ipswichian: Marine Isotope Stage [MIS] 5e, 130–115 ka BP) and Last Glacial (Devensian: MIS 3, 61–24 ka BP) were two distinct populations, the Ipswichian hyaenas becoming extinct in Britain during MIS 5 and the Devensian ones arriving via a subsequent migration from continental Europe. However, the apparent presence of hyaenas in later MIS 5 deposits has led to the alternative suggestion that there was a southern relict population from which the Devensian hyaenas originated.
We obtained ancient DNA (aDNA) sequences from four Devensian hyaena specimens from Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, dated to around 45 ka 14C BP. Each of these four specimens belonged to the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clade A. This clade is not thought to have been present in Europe until ~360 ka BP, after the initial arrival of hyaenas in Britain. The DNA results, therefore, suggest that there were at least two waves of hyaena dispersals into Britain. The results are consistent with the repeated dispersals into Britain of another Pleistocene social carnivore, Homo sapiens."
We obtained ancient DNA (aDNA) sequences from four Devensian hyaena specimens from Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, dated to around 45 ka 14C BP. Each of these four specimens belonged to the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) clade A. This clade is not thought to have been present in Europe until ~360 ka BP, after the initial arrival of hyaenas in Britain. The DNA results, therefore, suggest that there were at least two waves of hyaena dispersals into Britain. The results are consistent with the repeated dispersals into Britain of another Pleistocene social carnivore, Homo sapiens."
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Genetics, Archaeology, Geology, Biological Anthropology, and 18 moreZooarchaeology, Geoarchaeology, Evolutionary genetics, Palaeolithic Archaeology, Biotechnology, Biomolecular archaeology, British Prehistory (Archaeology), Ancient DNA (Archaeology), Ancient DNA Research, Neanderthals (Palaeolithic Archaeology), Ancient Dna (Biology), Mitochondrial DNA, aDNA Analysis, Ancient DNA, Devensian, forensic DNA, Hyaenas, and Skeletal Trauma Analysis
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This paper is concerned with the statistical precision of radiocarbon dating at the earlier range of its efficacythe period into which falls the extinction of the Neanderthals. The many potential problems affecting accuracy of this... more
This paper is concerned with the statistical precision of radiocarbon dating at the earlier range of its efficacythe period into which falls the extinction of the Neanderthals. The many potential problems affecting accuracy of this technique are discussed as a caveat as to ...
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... show evi-dence of climatic change, however, although these changes occur in opposite directions the sequence at the Kempton Park site shows a relatively warm climate giving way to colder conditions, while a transition from cold to... more
... show evi-dence of climatic change, however, although these changes occur in opposite directions the sequence at the Kempton Park site shows a relatively warm climate giving way to colder conditions, while a transition from cold to warm is seen at the Ismaili Centre site in ...
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Chemical and isotopic analyses have been made of pigment samples from two separate rock art sites in Argentina. The purpose of the study has been to establish the feasibility of extracting carbonaceous material from the samples which will... more
Chemical and isotopic analyses have been made of pigment samples from two separate rock art sites in Argentina. The purpose of the study has been to establish the feasibility of extracting carbonaceous material from the samples which will permit reliable radiocarbon ...
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The chronology of European Upper Palaeolithic cave art is poorly known. Three chronometric techniques are commonly applicable: AMS 14 C, TL and U-Th, and in recent years the efficacy of each has been the subject of considerable debate. We... more
The chronology of European Upper Palaeolithic cave art is poorly known. Three chronometric techniques are commonly applicable: AMS 14 C, TL and U-Th, and in recent years the efficacy of each has been the subject of considerable debate. We review here the use of the UeTh technique to date the formation of calcites that can be shown to have stratigraphic relationships to cave art. We focus particularly on two recent critiques of the method. By using specific examples from our own work using this method in Spain, we demonstrate how these critiques are highly flawed and hence misleading, and we argue that the U-Th dating of calcites is currently the most reliable of available chronometric techniques for dating cave art.
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The hand stencils of European Paleolithic art tend to be considered of pre-Magdalenian age and scholars have generally assigned them to the Gravettian period. At El Castillo Cave, application of U-series dating to calcite accretions has... more
The hand stencils of European Paleolithic art tend to be considered of pre-Magdalenian
age and scholars have generally assigned them to the Gravettian period. At El Castillo Cave, application of
U-series dating to calcite accretions has established a minimum age of 37,290 years for underlying red hand
stencils, implying execution in the earlier part of the Aurignacian if not beforehand. Together with the series
of red disks, one of which has a minimum age of 40,800 years, these motifs lie at the base of the El Castillo
parietal stratigraphy. The similarity in technique and colour support the notion that both kinds of artistic
manifestations are synchronic and define an initial, non-figurative phase of European cave art. However,
available data indicate that hand stencils continued to be painted subsequently. Currently, the youngest,
reliably dated examples fall in the Late Gravettian, approximately 27,000 years ago.
age and scholars have generally assigned them to the Gravettian period. At El Castillo Cave, application of
U-series dating to calcite accretions has established a minimum age of 37,290 years for underlying red hand
stencils, implying execution in the earlier part of the Aurignacian if not beforehand. Together with the series
of red disks, one of which has a minimum age of 40,800 years, these motifs lie at the base of the El Castillo
parietal stratigraphy. The similarity in technique and colour support the notion that both kinds of artistic
manifestations are synchronic and define an initial, non-figurative phase of European cave art. However,
available data indicate that hand stencils continued to be painted subsequently. Currently, the youngest,
reliably dated examples fall in the Late Gravettian, approximately 27,000 years ago.
Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Rock Art (Archaeology), Palaeolithic Archaeology, Paleolithic Europe, Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition, and 8 moreModern human origins, Paleolithic art, rock art, Upper Paleolithic, Prehistoric Rock Art, Rock Art, Ice Age Cave Art, Paleolithic Art, Origin of symbolic behaviour, and Cave art
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Research Interests: Archaeobotany, Environmental Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Settlement Patterns, Medieval Archaeology, and 7 moreNeolithic Archaeology, Bronze Age Europe (Archaeology), Neolithic & Chalcolithic Archaeology, Neolithic Europe, Ancient Topography (Archaeology), Radiocarbon Dating (Archaeology), and Roman Archaeology
El arte rupestre paleolítico es un documento excepcional del comportamiento simbólico de los primeros grupos humanos. Después de más de un siglo de estudio, la información disponible para el estudio de su cronología numérica es escasa.... more
El arte rupestre paleolítico es un documento excepcional del comportamiento simbólico de los primeros grupos humanos. Después de más de un siglo de estudio, la información
disponible para el estudio de su cronología numérica es escasa. Se presentan las fechas obtenidas por la aplicación del método de la serie del Uranio a depósitos de calcita asociados a
motivos rupestres de tres cuevas españolas (Altamira, El Castillo y Tito Bustillo) inscritas en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial por la UNESCO. Los resultados demuestran que la tradición pictórica en cuevas se remonta, al menos, a los inicios del Auriñaciense, con una edad mínima de 40.800 años para un disco rojo, 37.300 años para una mano negativa y 35.600 para un signo rojo. Estas edades mínimas revelan que el arte rupestre formaba parte del repertorio cultural de los primeros humanos europeos anatómicamente modernos en Europa o que, los neandertales también pudieron involucrarse en la decoración de las cavidades.
Paleolithic cave art is an exceptional archive of early human symbolic behavior, but because obtaining reliable dates has been difficult, its chronology is still poorly understood after
more than a century of study. We present uranium-series disequilibrium dates of calcite deposits overlying or underlying art found in three caves, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo, Spain. The results demonstrate that the tradition of decorating caves extends back at least to the Early Aurignacian period, with 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 symbol. These minimum ages reveal either that cave art was a part of the cultural repertoire of the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or that perhaps Neandertals also engaged in painting caves.
disponible para el estudio de su cronología numérica es escasa. Se presentan las fechas obtenidas por la aplicación del método de la serie del Uranio a depósitos de calcita asociados a
motivos rupestres de tres cuevas españolas (Altamira, El Castillo y Tito Bustillo) inscritas en la Lista del Patrimonio Mundial por la UNESCO. Los resultados demuestran que la tradición pictórica en cuevas se remonta, al menos, a los inicios del Auriñaciense, con una edad mínima de 40.800 años para un disco rojo, 37.300 años para una mano negativa y 35.600 para un signo rojo. Estas edades mínimas revelan que el arte rupestre formaba parte del repertorio cultural de los primeros humanos europeos anatómicamente modernos en Europa o que, los neandertales también pudieron involucrarse en la decoración de las cavidades.
Paleolithic cave art is an exceptional archive of early human symbolic behavior, but because obtaining reliable dates has been difficult, its chronology is still poorly understood after
more than a century of study. We present uranium-series disequilibrium dates of calcite deposits overlying or underlying art found in three caves, including the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo, and Tito Bustillo, Spain. The results demonstrate that the tradition of decorating caves extends back at least to the Early Aurignacian period, with 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 symbol. These minimum ages reveal either that cave art was a part of the cultural repertoire of the first anatomically modern humans in Europe or that perhaps Neandertals also engaged in painting caves.