Direct radiocarbon dating of megalithic paints from north-west Iberia

Using plasma chemistry, carbon was extracted from charcoal paint samples collected from megalithic monuments in north-west Iberia. Nine accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon dates on these paints establish their age to be within 1000 (14) C years of each other, centred at approximately 5000 BP. These radiocarbon ages for megalithic paintings fall within the proposed time period for north-west Iberian megalithic culture. Multiple layers of paint on some stones show that more than one painting episode occurred. Keywords: megalithic monuments, dolmens, rock paintings, radiocarbon dating, AMS, plasma-chemical extraction, north-west Iberia
On the Iberian Peninsula, post-Palaeolithic paintings--in contrast with Palaeolithic images-have received scant attention from the AMS radiometric technique. In fact, only one radiocarbon date consistent with generally expected values has [...]