CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The first direct AMS radiocarbon dating of two rock art motifs in separate rock shelters (VQ1 and VQ2) at Viuda Quenzana (VQ) in Patagonia, has provided median probability ages of 3190 cal BP for two reddish dots, and 520 cal BP (AD 1490) for a pink negative hand. The age of the older paint corresponds closely with collagen ages for two guanaco bones from the VQ8 rockshelter (5470 and 5400 cal BP, Franco et al. 2013), and at a broader scale with ages for human occupation of La Martita Cueva 4 (Rubinos Perez 2003). The younger age of the pink hand motif corresponds with evidence of occupation at the VQ7 rockshelter dating to 1085 cal BP (AD 865), and occupation of La Gruta 1 and 3, about 25 km from VQ (Brook el al. 2015). The pink, stenciled hand is relatively recent, which is consistent with the notion that such artwork continued through the Late Holocene despite changes in other artistic motifs. Additional characterization by Raman spectroscopy, powder x-ray diffraction, and high resolution SEM/EDS studies shows that: 1) hematite is the main pigment in both the dot and hand motifs, 2) the reddish dot paint includes a specific type of hematite, microplaty hematite, and 3) animal fat appears to have been added as a binder to the reddish dot paint. Thus, rock art paint production at VQ involved two different processes. One, used to paint dots, entailed mixing a mineral coloring substance (hematite) with an organic binder (most probably animal fat), which was then applied to the rock substrate with a painting tool and/or with the fingers. The second, used to produce the hand motif, entailed using a mineral coloring substance (hematite) with no binder (or with a binder that left no chemical trace), which was then applied to the rock substrate by spraying it, probably with the mouth.

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