UK-Led Boffins Find 34,000yo Stone Age Cave Paintings

These are the 34,000-year-old stone age cave paintings unearthed in Croatia by a British-led team of archaeologists in one of the oldest finds ever recorded.

The 44 paintings, depicting bison, chamois and human figures, were found in Romuald’s Cave, near the town of Rovinj in north-western Croatia’s Istrian peninsula.

Credit: CEN
Photograph and tracing of the ibex, vertical traits and triangular signs

The stone age paintings are the first of their kind ever found in Croatia, and the first in the Balkan region except for those found in Romania’s Coliboaia Cave in 2009.

Coliboaia Cave, in Apuseni Natural Park in north-western Romania’s Bihor County, contains paintings of animals including bison, bears, and rhinoceros which have been radiocarbon dated at up to 35,000 years old making them the oldest-known cave paintings in Central Europe.

The Romuald’s Cave paintings were first found by Darko Komso of the Istria Archaeological Museum who spotted red marks in the depths of the 105 metre (345 ft) long cave back in 2010.

His discovery led to the establishment of an international team – led by Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo of the University of Southampton – which has now established the paintings were from the Palaeolithic era.

Mr Komso told Central European News (CEN): “In 2010, I noticed traces of red colours in the cave and in 2017, we formed an international team with the Spanish scientist Aitor Ruiz-Redondo.”

Credit: CEN
Cave paintings 30 000 years old

Dr Ruiz-Redondo is a British Academy-funded Newton International Fellow at the University of Southampton who is also a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bordeaux.

He and his team will now start work on a new project, funded by the British Academy, to develop further research on the paintings over the next few years.

Dr Ruiz-Redondo told Science Daily: “The importance of this finding is remarkable and sheds a new light on the understanding of Palaeolithic art in the territory of Croatia and the Balkan Peninsula, as well as its relationship with simultaneous phenomena throughout Europe.”

Further digs in Romuald’s Cave led to the discovery of a flint tool, an ochre crayon and several fragments of charcoal dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic period around 17,000 years old.

Credit: CEN
Inside the Romuald’s cave

Several artefacts of early man had previously been found in the cave as well as the remains of extinct animals such as the cave bear, cave lion and cave hyena.

The cave, which is protected for its geology and also for its large bat colony, is named after St Romuald who is said to have lived there as a hermit for several years.


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Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

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