Finally, to rock art research, the identification of carbon-based organic pigments is of special interest since it opens the way for radiocarbon dating. Dating rock art is one of the major challenges faced by archaeologists, and it is absolutely necessary to place the art in a cultural context. Not without technical difficulties and strict protocols to be followed in order to minimize damaging the paintings, in Western European Palaeolithic caves, both French and Spanish researchers have focused on determining the age of spectacular rock paintings by dating charcoal pigments, obtaining more than a hundred dates so far.

Dating rock art is one of the major challenges faced by archaeologists, and it is absolutely necessary to place the art in the cultural context (Not without technical difficulties and strict protocols to be followed in order to minimize damaging the paintings, in Western European Palaeolithic caves, both French and Spanish researchers have focused on determining the age of spectacular rock paintings by dating charcoal pigments, obtaining more than a hundred dates so far. Standard procedures have been adopted for dating archaeological charcoal, using acid to remove carbonates and combustion to collect carbon for AMS 14 C dating.

Characterizing the pigments and paints of prehistoric artists

This paper offers a broad and critical overview of current discussions on the potential uses and the characterization of pigments in prehistory, with a special focus on prehistoric rock art. Today, analytical approaches to pigments and paints allow us to go beyond the identification of the elemental and molecular composition of these archaeological remains, to explore also raw material procurement, and transformation and use strategies of interest to investigate the technological and socio-cultural practices of prehistoric artists and their change over space and time. The paper also summarizes the palette of prehistoric artists, as well as the techniques and analytical strategies used to date to characterize prehistoric pigments and paints (colors, raw materials, binders, and recipes) used in prehistoric rock art.