09 Mar. 2026 · USA - United States of America

External expert commentary in Chemical & Engineering News magazine on radiocarbon dating of Paleolithic cave art in the Dordogne

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Domingo Sanz, Inés (UB)

External expert commentary providing independent scientific evaluation for the journal Chemical & Engineering News, the news magazine of the American Chemical Society, regarding the study “Radiocarbon dating and chemical imaging of carbon black–based Paleolithic cave art in the Dordogne region (France)”, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The commentary addressed the novelty and significance of the work, particularly in relation to the analytical challenges associated with the identification and radiocarbon dating of carbon-based pigments in Paleolithic cave art.

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First radiocarbon dating of ancient art in France’s Dordogne caverns.

The news story discusses a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reporting the identification of carbon-black–based figures in the Font-de-Gaume cave (Dordogne) and the possibility of direct radiocarbon dating of Paleolithic cave paintings, something previously thought impossible in that region because the art was assumed to use only mineral pigments such as iron or manganese oxides.

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