Painting Neolithic rock art was a social activity for both sexes and the young as well as the old, analysis of fingerprints on the wall of a Spanish rockshelter has hinted.
The Los Machos shelter in the province of Granada sports 32 ochre-coloured daubs of circular, geometric and human-like designs that date to around 5,500–2,500 BC.
Analysis by experts from Spain and the UK has concluded that the finger-painted art was likely made by a young woman working together with an older man.
Painting Neolithic rock art was a social activity for both sexes and the young as well as the old, analysis of fingerprints on the wall of a Spanish rockshelter, pictured, has hinted
The Los Machos shelter in the province of Granada sports 32 ochre-coloured daubs of circular, geometric and human-like designs, pictured, that date to around 5,500–2,500 BC.
‘We looked at the number of fingerprint ridges and the distance between them and compared them with fingerprints from the present,’ paper author and prehistorian Francisco Martínez-Sevilla of the University of Granada told the Guardian.
‘Those ridges vary according to age and sex but settle by adulthood —and you can distinguish between those of men and women,’ he added.
‘You can also tell the age of the person from the ridges.’
According to the team, some of the prints left behind on the wall of the rockshelter belong to a man who was aged at 36, while the others belong to a younger artist — likely a woman under the age of 20, or possibly a male juvenile.
‘We don’t know if they were members of the same community,’ Dr Martínez-Sevilla told the Guardian.
‘From our point of view, if there are two people taking part in the creation of this pictorial panel, it means it must have been a social, rather than an individual, act, as we’d thought until now.’
‘It shows us that these manifestations of art were a social thing and not just done by one individual in the community, such as the shaman or whoever.’
Analysis by experts from Spain and the UK has concluded that the finger-painted art was likely made by a young woman working together with an older man. Pictured, the Los Machos rockshelter on the slopes of Cerro de Jabalcón. The highlighted area is shown below
‘We looked at the number of fingerprint ridges and the distance between them and compared them with fingerprints from the present,’ paper author and prehistorian Francisco Martínez-Sevilla of the University of Granada told the Guardian. Pictured, the rock art
The ridges, Dr Martínez-Sevilla added, ‘vary according to age and sex but settle by adulthood —and you can distinguish between those of men and women. You can also tell the age of the person from the ridges.’ Pictured, a single fingerprint highlighted among the art
‘The area where they are and the fact that they haven’t been changed or painted over gives you the feeling that this was a very important place and must have had a really important symbolic value for this community,’ Dr Martínez-Sevilla continued.
“When I look at these pictures, there’s a bit of an emotional response,’ he added.
‘I see a person, many thousands of years ago, painting symbols or designs that would have meant something to them, or which would have been a way for them to express themselves, or identify the territory, or communicate socially.’
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Antiquity.
The Los Machos shelter in the province of Granada sports 32 ochre-coloured daubs of circular, geometric and human-like designs that date to around 5,500–2,500 BC