Abstract
We present a new multi-analytical approach to the characterization of black pigments in Spanish Levantine rock art. This new protocol seeks to identify the raw materials that were used, as well as reconstruct the different technical gestures and decision-making processes involved in the obtaining of these black pigments. For the first of these goals, the pictorial matter of the black figurative motifs documented at the Les Dogues rock art shelter (Ares del Maestre, Castellón, Spain) was characterized through the combination of physicochemical and archeobotanical analyses. During the first stage of our research protocol, in situ and non-destructive analyses were carried out by means of portable Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF); during the second stage, samples were analyzed by Optical Microscopy (OM), Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Two major conclusions have been drawn from these analyses: first, charred plant matter has been identified as a main component of these prehistoric black pigments; and second, angiosperm and conifer charcoal was a primary raw material for pigment production, identified by means of the archaeobotanical study of plant cells. For the second goal, black charcoal pigments were replicated in the laboratory by using different raw materials and binders and by reproducing two main chaînes opératoires. The comparative study of the structure and preservation of plant tissues of both prehistoric and experimental pigments by means of SEM-EDX underlines both a complex preparation process and the use of likely pigment recipes, mixing raw material with fatty or oily binders. Finally, the formal and stylistic analysis of the motifs portrayed at Les Dogues allowed us to explore the relationship between identified stylistic phases and black charcoal pigment use, raising new archaeological questions concerning the acquisition of know-how and the transfer of traditionally learned chaînes opératoires in Spanish Levantine rock art.
Highlights
Spanish Levantine rock art is a unique form of pictorial expression in European prehistory
During the first stage of our research protocol, in situ and nondestructive analyses were carried out by means of portable Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF); during the second stage, samples were analyzed by Optical Microscopy (OM), Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX)
Four samples were analyzed by Optical Microscopy (OM), Raman Spectroscopy (RS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX); all of these methods are well-established analytical tools for the study of parietal and portable rock art [6, 18,19,20,21,22]
Summary
Spanish Levantine rock art is a unique form of pictorial expression in European prehistory. The remarkable variations in form, technique, themes, and composition over time and throughout the territory that exist within this graphic horizon underline the interaction between complex social dynamics and a highly structured territory, as manifested through interaction and exchange networks that likely experienced several phases of expansion and contraction through time This implies that the analysis of Levantine rock art is useful for gaining insight into the prehistoric societies responsible for their elaboration. The latest chronocultural hypotheses support an affiliation between Neolithic societies and these graphic representations [1,2] Using both archaeological and graphic lines of evidence [3], some scholars have called into question the association between this horizon of pictorial expression and the initial Neolithisation process of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin
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