A huge set of 8,200-year-old cave paintings discovered in South America, Patagonia is now confirmed to be the earliest of its kind, according to a carbon dating study recently published in the Science Advances journal.
The Oldest Confirmed Cave Painting Ever Found
The ancient artwork was found painted across the walls of Cueva Huenul 1 (CH1), a natural rock cavern spanning 630 square meters that is found in the Neuquen province in the region, located southwest of Buenos Aires.
In a statement to CNN, research author Dr. Guadalupe Romero Villanueva said that after he and his colleagues carbon-dated four charcoal paintings shaped like feathers, they discovered these to be "the earliest direct dating of cave paintings in South America."
As per Villanueva, the finding indicates CH1 to be where production of cave paintings first began around 8,000 years ago and that the particular "penniform" patterns they examined were used in other sites for at least 3,000 more years since.
The recent discovery also gives insights into the artistic capabilities of ancient hunter-gatherer communities that lived across the region in the Holocene period from about 7,000 to 5,000 years ago.
Villanueva said that it also reveals their socioecological resistance against natural elements and was used as a communication tool across various ancient societies.
He also added that there is still a possibility that other South American cave paintings are older than the CH1 charcoal drawings after their age is confirmed through carbon dating, particularly the one in Argentina's Cueva de las Manos which has a relative dating of 9,500 years old.
