The age of the Côa valley (Portugal) rock-art: validation of archaeological dating to the Palaeolithic and refutation of ‘scientific’ dating to historic or proto-historic times

Antiquity ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (266) ◽  
pp. 883-901 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Zilhão
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic

The dating studies of the ‘modern rock-art scientists’, when critically examined, are found not to show that the Côa valley petroglyphs are of recent age. Their Upper Palaeolithic characteristics, and therefore their likely late Pleistocene age, are consistent with their archaeological context.

Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Southern France ◽  
European Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Cave Art ◽  
Illustrated Book

Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves at Creswell Crags on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, was the most surprising illustration of this. The discoverers (the editors of the book) brought together in 2004 a number of Palaeolithic archaeologists and rock art specialists from across the world to study the Creswell art and debate its significance, and its similarities and contrasts with contemporary Late Pleistocene ("Ice Age") art on the Continent. This comprehensively illustrated book presents the Creswell art itself, the archaeology of the caves and the region, and the wider context of the Upper Palaeolithic era in Britain, as well as a number of up-to-date studies of Palaeolithic cave art in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy which serve to contextualize the British examples.

scholarly journals Initial Upper Palaeolithic humans in Europe had recent Neanderthal ancestry

Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 592 (7853) ◽  
pp. 253-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateja Hajdinjak ◽  
Fabrizio Mafessoni ◽  
Laurits Skov ◽  
Benjamin Vernot ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family History ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Genome Wide Data

AbstractModern humans appeared in Europe by at least 45,000 years ago1–5, but the extent of their interactions with Neanderthals, who disappeared by about 40,000 years ago6, and their relationship to the broader expansion of modern humans outside Africa are poorly understood. Here we present genome-wide data from three individuals dated to between 45,930 and 42,580 years ago from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria1,2. They are the earliest Late Pleistocene modern humans known to have been recovered in Europe so far, and were found in association with an Initial Upper Palaeolithic artefact assemblage. Unlike two previously studied individuals of similar ages from Romania7 and Siberia8 who did not contribute detectably to later populations, these individuals are more closely related to present-day and ancient populations in East Asia and the Americas than to later west Eurasian populations. This indicates that they belonged to a modern human migration into Europe that was not previously known from the genetic record, and provides evidence that there was at least some continuity between the earliest modern humans in Europe and later people in Eurasia. Moreover, we find that all three individuals had Neanderthal ancestors a few generations back in their family history, confirming that the first European modern humans mixed with Neanderthals and suggesting that such mixing could have been common.

CLIMATE@COA project: Climate and human adaptation during the Last Glacial Period in the Côa Valley region (Portugal)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Dimuccio ◽  
Thierry Aubry ◽  
Lúcio Cunha ◽  
Nelson Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
North East ◽  
The Last Glacial

<p>In Portugal, climate fluctuations of Late Pleistocene are well-known from marine record on the western Iberian continental margin, particularly of Marine Isotope Stages 4, 3 and 2, and they include various events of secular abrupt climate changes. During cooling phases the Heinrich Events (HE) occurred, corresponding to episodes of massive ice-discharges from Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. Furthermore, several climate phases with relatively warmer conditions, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles, characterized by an abrupt warming (D-O event) followed by a more gradual cooling, took place in-between HE. This pronounced climate instability that characterizes the Last Glacial Period between ca. 80-12 ka is recorded in a variety of marine and terrestrial archives worldwide. It had a recognized impact on the bioclimatic zones and, possibly, on the Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) settlements of Iberia.</p><p>Based mainly on the study of geoarchaeological records preserved in caves and rock-shelters of Iberia, a correlation framework with climate shifts has been proposed to explain the observed discontinuities between sequences containing late Middle and early Upper Palaeolithic remains. Moreover, a climate driven model has been advanced to explain the chronological differences between northern and southern Pyrenean data by a later dispersion of AMH and the persistence of last Neanderthals in Southern Iberia, which were interpreted as a direct impact of HE4 (40-38 ka) in the distribution of large ungulate populations.</p><p>Despite all these data, the exact impact of HE on terrestrial systems, the evaluation of the latitudinal differentiation of their impact and time-gap, as well as the correlation between periods of relative stabilization/soil formation and the D-O events remain to be clearly established. In addition, the whole framework relating to the Middle-to-Upper Palaeolithic transition has been excessively dependent on karst archives and it should be investigated in other geomorphological settings - among these the fluvial and Iberian plateau (“Meseta”), both present in the Côa Valley region (Douro Basin, north-east of Portugal). Alluvial and colluvial deposits preserved in the Côa Valley (e.g. at the Cardina-Salto do Boi, Quinta da Barca Sul, Penascosa, Fariseu, Olga de Ervamoira sites) have demonstrated to be a valuable record of information about Late Pleistocene sedimentary processes, depositional environments, and hunter-gatherer’s behaviour at local and regional scales.</p><p>In this context, the CLIMATE@COA project (COA/CAC/0031/2019), funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), proposes an integrated multi/interdisciplinary approach based on the stratigraphical, sedimentological, geochemical, geomorphological, geoarchaeological, and geochronological analyses of terrestrial record (natural and cultural) preserved in the Côa Valley and surrounding plateau areas, with the aim to develop an evolutionary model for the region and to deduce the environmental forcing factors for such evolution - namely climate and ecosystem changes. In addition, the project’s data will allow to define better the chronology of the transition between Neanderthal and AMH and to infer on land use and social organization in its environmental context.</p>

VeriWcation of the Age of the Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair W. G. Pike ◽  
Mabs Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Arm Span ◽  
Almost All ◽  
International Experts ◽  
Bison Priscus ◽  
Critical Reason ◽  
Cave Art

Upon discovery of the Creswell cave art in April 2003, and a systematic survey and study of known images in June of the same year, it was believed on several grounds that the art was clearly of Pleistocene antiquity (Pettitt 2003). The reasoning was as follows: . The sharp line and bright colour of engraved graffiti dating to the 1940s stand in clear contrast to the eroded and dulled nature of the genuine art. Clearly, on the grounds of weathering the art is not a modern forgery. . In several places, thin flowstone crusts clearly overlay engravings, demonstrating a degree of antiquity for the art. . The location of almost all of the art at heights considerably above the reach of an adult’s arm span, given the current level of the floor in Church Hole Cave, indicates that if the engravings were made after 1876 (when the sediments were excavated down to their current levels) a ladder would have been necessary. While this cannot be ruled out, it would imply considerable effort in forging the art, certainly to avoid drawing attention to the perpetrator. . Several images bear clear resemblances to known Upper Palaeolithic art, particularly that of the Magdalenian, both in terms of style and subject matter. By contrast, none of the art can be said to have Holocene parallels, that is, if it were Mesolithic or later, it would be unique. On the grounds of parsimony it seems that the closest estimate of antiquity therefore was Pleistocene. . At least one of the images (the large bovid) represents a species known to be extinct in Europe, either since the seventeenth century (if identified as Bos primigenius) or the Late Pleistocene (if Bison priscus). The discovery team were therefore confident from the first that genuine Upper Palaeolithic cave art had been discovered. This having been said, a critical reason for the ‘Creswell Art in European Context’ conference was to expose the art to the scrutiny of international experts in Palaeolithic archaeology and rock art, and the clear consensus of the conference delegates was that the art is genuine.

scholarly journals The Timing and Nature of Human Colonization of Southeast Asia in the Late Pleistocene: A Rock Art Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (S17) ◽  
pp. S553-S566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Aubert ◽  
Adam Brumm ◽  
Paul S. C. Taçon
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Human Colonization

scholarly journals Siega Verde and the open-air rock art of the northern Iberian Peninsula (Spain)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo De BALBÍN-BEHRMANN ◽  
Jose Javier ALCOLEA-GONZÁLEZ
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
River Bank ◽  
Good Representative ◽  
Northern Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Southern Mediterranean ◽  
A Site ◽  
Palaeolithic Art

Siega Verde was the third open-air rock art site to be discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, even before Côa and the controversy that followed that discovery. Its practicable size and the study carried out without any publicity allowed the analysis of a new reality that would change the interpretation of Palaeolithic art. From the start of the research, stylistic criteria were used to date the art in the absence of archaeological excavations. Although this has often been criticized, it meant that Siega Verde and Côa could be dated from Leroi-Gourhan’s Style II onwards. Excavations at Fariseu, a site belonging to Côa in Portugal, have proved that hypothesis archaeologically, as well as supporting the applicability of Leroi-Gourhan’s styles. Siega Verde is a good representative of Palaeolithic art in the open, on rocks by a river-bank or on prominent hills, but it is not the only form that can be catalogued as open-air rock art, because there are intermediate forms. These are found in cave entrances and in rock-shelters all over the Iberian Peninsula, especially in areas where little evidence of Palaeolithic art used to be known, such as on the southern Mediterranean coast and in Andalusia. This site possesses an exterior Upper Palaeolithic art ensemble, similar to the art found inside caves and of the same age, but in a different location. Formal relationships are usual inside and outside the caves and in both cases they represent a communicative code that did not need the dark and mystery to be expressed.

Travelling Through the Rock to the Otherworld: The Shamanic ‘Grammar of Mind’ Within the Rock Art of Siberia

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-432
Author(s):  
Andrzej Rozwadowski
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
The Other ◽  
Rock Surface ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
The World ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Universal Nature ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Cave Art

One of the aspects of the relationship between rock art and shamanism, which has been supposed to be of a universal nature, inspired by trance experience, concerns the intentional integration of the images with rock. Rock surface therefore has been interpreted, in numerous shamanic rock-art contexts, as a veil beyond which the otherworld could be encountered. Such an idea was originally proposed in southern Africa, then within Upper Palaeolithic cave art and also other rock-art traditions in diverse parts of the world. This paper for the first time discusses the relevance of this observation from the perspective of unquestionable shamanic culture in Siberia. It shows that the idea of the otherworld to be found on the other side of the rock actually is a widespread motif of shamanic beliefs in Siberia, and that variants of this belief provide a new mode of insight into understanding the semantics of Siberian rock art. Siberian data therefore support previous hypotheses of the shamanic nature of associating rock images with rock surface.

The Evolution of Modern Behaviour and its Implications for Maritime Dispersal During the Palaeolithic

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Leppard
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Dispersal Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Bodies Of Water

Oceans and seas are more frequently thought to have been barriers to than enablers of movement for archaic hominins. This interpretation has been challenged by a revisionist model which suggests that bodies of water facilitated the dispersal of pre-moderns. This paper addresses the revisionist model by defining maritime dispersal as a series of cognitive and organizational problems, the capacity to solve which must have arisen during the evolution of Homo. The central question posed is: knowing the type of social and cognitive configuration necessary for strategic maritime dispersal, and knowing the social and cognitive capacities of hominin species implied in the revisionist dispersal model, how likely is it that such species possessed the capacity to undertake purposive maritime colonization? Available data suggest that the evolution of modern cognitive architecture during the Late Pleistocene correlates positively with increasing evidence for maritime dispersal in the Upper Palaeolithic, and that behavioural modernity is implicated in the appearance of strategic maritime dispersal in Homo. Consequently, it is likely that deliberate trans-oceanic seagoing is restricted to Anatomically Modern Humans, and possibly Neanderthals.

scholarly journals Open-air rock-art, territories and modes of exploitation during the Upper Palaeolithic in the Côa Valley (Portugal)

Antiquity ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (291) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Aubry ◽  
Xavier Mangado Llach ◽  
Jorge David Sampaio ◽  
Farid Sellami
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Material Procurement ◽  
Lithic Raw Material

A study of the differential preservation of the famous Côa engravings, in the light of the site of Fariseu, place the distribution of the art in a chronological setting, which is in turn placed within the context of lithic raw material procurement.

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