Browsing by Author "Pettitt, Paul"
Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Are hand stencils in European cave art older than we think? An evaluation of the existing data and their potential implicationsPublication . Pettitt, Paul; Arias, Pablo; García-Diez, Marcos; Hoffmann, Dirk L.; Maximiano Castillejo, Alfredo; Ontañon-Peredo, Roberto; Pike, Alistair W. G.; Zilhão, JoãoSince their discovery at the turn of the 20th century, hand stencils and prints have usually been assumed to belong largely, or entirely to the Mid Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian sensu lato). These assumptions – rarely backed up by stringent consideration of chronometric data – derive from the pioneering chronological schemes of Breuil and Leroi-Gourhan. Here, we compile an exhaustive list of European Upper Palaeolithic caves which contain stencils and prints, and critically assess the available chronometric data. We conclude that in all or almost all known cases they are probably older, belonging to the Early or Initial Upper Palaeolithic, and for some examples one cannot rule out an older date.
- Datación numérica por la serie de uranio del arte rupestre del estilo paleolítico de la Cueva de ArdalesPublication . Hoffmann, Dirk L.; García-Diez, M.; Zilhão, João; Standish, C. D.; Pettitt, Paul; Milton, A.; Cantalejo-Duarte, P.; Muñoz, J. R.; Weniger, G. C.; Pike, Alistair W. G.
- Problematizing Bayesian approaches to prehistoric chronologiesPublication . Pettitt, Paul; Zilhão, JoãoIn recent years Bayesian exploration of radiocarbon datasets has been employed widely in prehistoric archaeology. Pertinent especially to major biogeographic and behavioural changes such as human dispersals and extinctions, the spread of agriculture and culture change, the method can offer a powerful means to improve considerably the precision of prehistorians’ investigation of some of the most major questions in human prehistory. As such its potential is profound – it has even been regarded as the third radiocarbon revolution – but its appropriateness is dependent on the assumptions that must be made of the samples selected for dating. How sound are these assumptions, and therefore how reliable are Bayesian analyses? Here, we introduce some aspects and assumptions that underline Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon measurements, and we problematize their application in Palaeolithic archaeology. We conclude that many existing models are faulty, and suggest some criteria for quality control in this field.
- The chronology of hand stencils in European Palaeolithic rock art: implications of new U-series results from El Castillo Cave (Cantabria, Spain)Publication . García-Diez, Marcos; Garrido, Daniel; Hoffmann, Dirk; Pettitt, Paul; Pike, Alistair; Zilhão, JoãoThe hand stencils of European Paleolithic art tend to be considered of pre-Magdalenian age and scholars have generally assigned them to the Gravettian period. At El Castillo Cave, application of U-series dating to calcite accretions has established a minimum age of 37,290 years for underlying red hand stencils, implying execution in the earlier part of the Aurignacian if not beforehand. Together with the series of red disks, one of which has a minimum age of 40,800 years, these motifs lie at the base of the El Castillo parietal stratigraphy. The similarity in technique and colour support the notion that both kinds of artistic manifestations are synchronic and define an initial, non-figurative phase of European cave art. However, available data indicate that hand stencils continued to be painted subsequently. Currently, the youngest, reliably dated examples fall in the Late Gravettian, approximately 27,000 years ago.