230Th dating of flowstone from Ignatievskaya Cave, Russia: Age constraints of rock art and paleoclimate inferences

Yuri Dublyansky; Vladimir Shirokov; Gina E. Moseley; Pavel A. Kosintsev; R.  Lawrence Edwards; Christoph Spötl

doi:10.1002/gea.21851

²³⁰Th dating of flowstone from Ignatievskaya Cave, Russia: Age constraints of rock art and paleoclimate inferences

Yuri Dublyansky, Vladimir Shirokov, Gina E. Moseley, Pavel A. Kosintsev, R. Lawrence Edwards, Christoph Spötl

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Paleolithic antiquity of parietal art in Ignatievskaya cave, Southern Ural, is supported by its subject (Late Pleistocene animals) as well as by paleontological and palynological data, and ¹⁴C dates from cultural layers associated with artistic activity (17.8−16.3 cal ka BP; association is established by finds of ochre in these layers). However, three ¹⁴C dates of charcoal motifs yielded younger, Holocene ages (7.4−6.0 cal ka BP). In this study, we constrain the age of parietal art in the cave by ²³⁰Th dating of flowstone that brackets the paintings. Flowstone did not form in the cave between c. 78 and 10 ka BP, due to widespread permafrost in northern Eurasia at that time. Our ²³⁰Th dates do not support the middle Holocene age of art in Ignatievskaya cave and are consistent with its Upper Paleolithic antiquity instead.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	532-545
Number of pages	14
Journal	Geoarchaeology
Volume	36
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21851
State	Published - May 1 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Geoarchaeology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC

Keywords

Paleolithic cave art
Th dating
Ural
permafrost

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