We know who left behind prehistoric cave paintings. We have enough evidence from the various materials left behind, along with plenty of skeletal remains, to piece together a reasonably accurate image. But who were they, really, down in their DNA? That’s something we could never glean from cave paintings until now, according to new research published in Nature Communications.
New Scientist reports that an international team of researchers has discovered that traces of ancient human DNA can survive on cave walls for thousands of years, thus opening the door to identifying the people who created (or at the very least interacted with) some of the oldest art in human history.
Scientists sampled 24 rock art panels across 11 caves in Spain and Portugal, collecting tiny amounts of pigment, calcite crusts, and material from nearby cave walls. Out of 120 samples, only five contained ancient human DNA. Not a huge number, but a relative jackpot by comparison, considering no one had ever before recovered ancient human DNA from rock art.
It’s a massive breakthrough that could add a whole new dimension to the cave paintings left behind by our ancient ancestors.
Prehistoric Cave Paintings May Still Contain DNA From the People Who Made Them
The strongest samples came from Portugal’s Escoural Cave, where the researchers found human DNA preserved and a calcite layer that had covered a cave painting. The sample seems to be at least 2,000 years old, possibly much older, since the cave was sealed off around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
They think the genetic material came from saliva, sweat, or skin cells left behind either by the person who painted the wall or by someone who touched it shortly thereafter. Either way, one thing they can tell is that the DNA samples appear to be from a woman and a man, while two matched populations of Western hunter-gatherers lived somewhere between 5,200 and 16,700 years ago.
One day, we may learn more, as the technique is still in its infancy and the degree of DNA preservation varies dramatically from one cave to the next. These ancient works of art didn’t come with a little artist signature in the bottom corner, which would’ve made identification so much easier, but luckily, genetic analysis has reached a point where we can learn the tiniest, most bare-bones bits of biographical info about our ancient artistically inclined relatives.
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