U-series dating of Palaeolithic rock art at Fuente del Trucho (Aragón, Spain)

Abstract

This paper concerns the dating of the Palaeolithic rock art of the Fuente del Trucho cave. We used the U–Th method to date calcite crusts superimposed to the paintings. Whenever sub-samples of a single crust could be dated we obtained stratigraphically consistent results and the correction for detrital contamination is negligible. Our results are strictly reliable as minimum ages and suggest that the decoration of this site is of a Gravettian or earlier age, even though a Solutrean chronology cannot be excluded in a few cases. These results are upheld by stylistical comparison with Spanish and French parietal and mobiliary art.