Anthropology
Related: About this forumNew Battle for the Dating of Chauvet Cave
The discoveries in Chauvet cave formed a crucial part of our understanding of palaeolithic cave art, but two researchers have questioned the early dating of the images
They conclude that although Chauvet cave displays some unique characteristics, it appears to belong to a far more evolved phase of parietal art that sits within a Franco-Cantabrian tradition around 26,00018,000 years ago. This tradition, the researchers argue, is far removed from the earlier motifs of its origins, known from art on stone blocks and shelter walls dated by stratigraphy to the Aurignacian (around 31,000 ± 1,000 BP) in France and Cantabrian region of Spain. The decoration from this period is often more stylistic and markedly geometric, and therefore the Chauvet animals would be too early for the Aurignacian period that they are presently dated to.
Growing evidence supports older date
However, there is another twist in the tale, and one which could weaken Combiera and Jouves assertions. The site of Altxerri B in Spain has been found to contain similar and even older dated artworks stretching back 40,000 years. Archaeological, geological and stylistic evidence, together with radiometric dates, suggest an Aurignacian chronology for this Spanish cave art. The ensemble in Altxerri B can therefore be added to the small but growing number of sites dated to this period, corroborating the hypothesis of more complex and varied figurative art than had been supposed in the early Upper Palaeolithic.
Another piece of evidence that supports the earlier dating of the Chauvet images relies on the depiction of animals that would have been extinct by 29,000 years ago, such as the cave bear and rhinoceros, begging the question of how later groups painted animals that had been missing for thousands of years?
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/05/2014/new-battle-for-the-dating-of-chauvet-cave