Cave paintings and artifacts like painted seashells have long been
regarded as the work of early modern humans, who were thought to have
more advanced cognitive abilities than Neanderthals. Dating cave
paintings can be a difficult process, and unreliable techniques never
allowed for the possibility that these could be the work of
Neanderthals. Until now, that is. A new technique called Uranium-Thorium
dating is less destructive, is more accurate and can go back further in
time than other methods. U-Th dating looks at the deposits of carbonate
on top of the paint, which contain traces of uranium and thorium that
indicate when those deposits formed. That allows the researchers to
determine an age.
Source: Yahoo News
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