In Argentina, the oldest rock paintings were discovered in a cave: they are about 8,200 years old – News

The oldest example of rock art

Science Advances

In northwestern Argentina, archaeologists discovered a collection of almost 900 unique rock paintings. They depict geometric patterns, human figures and animals.

According to scientists, cave art was previously thought to have been created within the last few thousand years. However, in a study published in the journal Science Advances, scientists refute this.

They note that one of the cave’s most mysterious motifs, the comb pattern, first appeared about 8,200 years ago. It is the oldest example of rock art, write the New York Times and Arkeonews.

The find was discovered in the Cueva Huenul cave (Cueva Huenul 1) – a rock shelter with an area of ​​630 square meters, located in the north of Patagonia.

As the researchers note, for thousands of years cave artists reproduced the same drawing in black pigment. This design was probably used for communication between people in the face of climate change.

According to the study, during the late Holocene, this region of Patagonia was known for its dry and hot climate.

“We assume the transmission of information between several generations of people who inhabited the same region, the same place”, says study co-author Ramiro Barberena, an archaeologist from the Catholic University of Temuco in Chile.

Archaeologists established the age of this work when they isolated small fragments of black pigment from the drawings. For this, they used radiocarbon dating.

The use of this method became possible due to the origin of the pigment – it was obtained from vegetable matter: it is probably charred wood obtained from burnt bushes or cacti.

Although the purpose of the comb motif is a mystery, research into the use of such a motif in caves may shed light on the lives of the prehistoric peoples of Patagonia.

We will remind, in the desert of Saudi Arabia, mysterious carved images of camels in life size were found.