Cave of El Castillo

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Famous archaeologist Hermilio Alcalde Del Rio discovered this site more than 110 years ago

In a 2012 study, using uranium-thorium. The large red stippled disk in the Panel de las Manos section was dated to more than 40,000 years old
Some say it is the oldest cave drawing on earth

Also represented in this cave are female handprints
An important representation.

Bibliography: Pike, A. W. G.; Hoffmann, D. L.; Garcia-Diez, M.; Pettitt, P. B.; Alcolea, J.; De Balbin, R.; Gonzalez-Sainz, C.; de las Heras, C.; Lasheras, J. A.; Montes, R.; Zilhao, J. (14 June 2012). “U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain”. Science. 336 (6087): 1409–1413. Bibcode:2012Sci…336.1409P. doi:10.1126/science.1219957. PMID 22700921. S2CID 7807664.. “We present uranium-series disequilibrium dates of calcite deposits overlying or underlying art found in 11 caves, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (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 Neanderthals also engaged in painting caves.” The El Castillo red stippled disk (sample O-83) was dated to 41.40±0.57 ka (95% CI, corrected). Table 1: Ages are corrected for detritus by using an assumed 232Th/238U activity of 1.250±0.625 and 230Th/238U and 234U/238U at equilibrium. See also: “Spain claims top spot for world’s oldest cave art : Nature News & Comment”. Nature.com.

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