Hidden Charcoal Sets New Ages for Font-de-Gaume Ice Age Paintings
A CNRS-led team used noninvasive Raman microspectrometry and hyperspectral imaging to detect charcoal in the black pigments of Font-de-Gaume’s Paleolithic cave paintings, proving carbon was present and enabling direct radiocarbon dating for the first time. They dated the bison panel to about 13,461–13,162 calBP and parts of a mask to roughly 9,000–15,000 calBP, suggesting Dordogne cave art is older than previously thought and paving the way to date other sites like Lascaux. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 9, 2026.