University of Cordoba

Most evolutionists believe modern humans arrived in Europe about 45 thousand years ago. They believe that an ‘artistic explosion’ in European cave art occurred after this.

But in 2018, a few uranium-thorium (U/Th) results for cave art contradicted this scenario. The art was from three sites in Spain (the Ardales, Maltravieso, and La Pasiega caves). The ‘ages’ obtained were far greater—at least 65 thousand years old. In standard secular thinking, this suggests that Neanderthal people created the art.

Then in 2020, other researchers published data they claimed refuted that conclusion. Pons-Branchu et al. tested the reliability of U/Th dating on rock art in the Nerja Cave, Spain. They presented “evidence of open system behavior resulting in erroneous U/Th ages”. This supposedly gave rise to “apparent ages being too old”.

(The method, like all radiometric dating methods, measures amounts of different isotopes. The ‘age’ is an assumption that the amounts are caused by decay over time. But in this case, it seems isotopes could enter or leave the system. This would change the apparent ‘age’.)

It seems as if some researchers are keen to refute the notion that Neanderthals created the art. White et al. even called the ‘older’ dates “especially troubling”. This was because “they contradict more than one hundred years of research observations on the Neanderthal and modern human archaeological record.”

Hence, discrediting those ‘inconvenient’ results may be the archaeology establishment protecting their consensus scenario. This is not difficult, since all U/Th ages can legitimately be questioned. And ‘redating’ often gives contradictory results.

Regardless, it is another example of how one can have little confidence in evolutionary ‘dates’. Or indeed in the associated scenarios. It also highlights the bias against Neanderthal intelligence, despite much evidence for their humanness.

• Pons-Branchu, E. et al., U-series dating at Nerja cave reveal open system. Questioning the Neanderthal origin of Spanish rock art, J. Archaeological Science, 117:105120, May 2020.
• White, R. et al., Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art, J. Human Evolution 144:102640, Jul 2020.