Scientists Date Ancient Cave Paintings in France to 16,000 Years Ago

Ancient cave paintings in France have now been directly dated, giving scientists new proof that some of the art in the famous Font-de-Gaume cave was made in the Paleolithic era about 16,000 years ago.

The study, published in PNAS, marks a major step for researchers studying prehistoric art in southwestern France. Until now, experts had estimated the age of Font-de-Gaume’s images mostly by style. The new work offers direct radiocarbon dates from tiny samples taken from black figures inside the cave.

Lead author Ina Reiche, a CNRS scientist and director of the Lab-BC in France, and her team focused on two figures in the UNESCO World Heritage cave in the Dordogne region. One was a bison in a public part of the cave. The other was a mask-like face in a more remote gallery.

New scientific breakthrough in dating ancient cave art

Before sampling, researchers used noninvasive imaging to identify which black drawings were made with carbon-based material rather than manganese. That distinction mattered because carbon-based pigment can be dated with radiocarbon methods, while mineral-based black pigments usually cannot.

The imaging revealed that some figures in Font-de-Gaume were made with carbon black, likely charcoal. That was an important discovery on its own. Caves in the Dordogne region had long been thought to contain only engravings and figures made with mineral pigments such as iron and manganese oxides. That belief had blocked direct dating of the art.

Researchers then removed microscopic samples from the two selected figures. The traces were so small that they were invisible to the naked eye. The samples were tested with accelerator mass spectrometry, a method designed to date extremely small amounts of carbon.

The strongest results came from parts of the mask figure. Samples from the upper and lower lip produced calibrated dates of 15,981 to 15,121 years before present and 15,297 to 14,246 years before present. Those findings confirm that the figure belongs to the Paleolithic period.

Direct dating confirms ancient cave paintings in France

The bison sample produced a calibrated date of 13,461 to 13,162 years before present. That result is younger than expected. Researchers said it may still reflect ancient art, but they cautioned that later carbon contamination could have shifted the date. The bison sits in a heavily visited part of the cave, where contact or past restoration may have affected the sample.

One sample from the mask’s left eye gave a much later date, between 8,993 and 8,590 years before present. Researchers said that result likely reflects later retouching or contamination rather than the original age of the figure.

Even with those complications, the study gives the first direct scientific confirmation that Font-de-Gaume contains Paleolithic carbon-based cave art. The finding also opens the door to wider dating work in the Dordogne, one of Europe’s richest regions for prehistoric caves.

Researchers said the results may also reshape how experts think about the order in which the cave’s art was made. The carbon-black figures appear more schematic than some of the cave’s more naturalistic animal paintings. That could suggest different phases of artistic activity, though the team said more work is needed before drawing firm conclusions.

For now, the study gives one of France’s best-known decorated caves something it lacked for decades: direct dating evidence tied to the art itself.