34,000 Year Old Paintings Discovered in Croatia

This led to the identification of several figurative paintings, including a bison, an ibex and two possible anthropomorphic figures, confirming the Palaeolithic age of the artworks. Furthermore, an excavation made in the ground below these paintings led to the discovery of a number of Palaeolithic age remains; a flint tool, an ochre crayon and several fragments of charcoal.

Radiocarbon dating of these objects show an estimated age of around 17,000 years and other indirect data suggest the paintings date to an even earlier period – at around 34,000-31,000 years ago. Further research will be conducted in order to establish the precise age of the rock art.

Findings are published in the journal Antiquity.

This discovery expands the so far sparse register of Palaeolithic art in south east Europe. It makes Romualdova Pe?ina the first site where figurative Palaeolithic rock art has been discovered in this area. Together with Badanj in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the two are the only examples of rock art from the Palaeolithic period in the Balkans.

Credit: Aitor Ruiz-Redondo

Dr Aitor Ruiz-Redondo, a British Academy-funded Newton International Fellow at the University of Southampton and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bordeaux, said: “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.”

A new project started by Dr Ruiz-Redondo and his team, funded by the British Academy, will develop further research at these two sites during the next few years.

Contacts and sources:
Peter Franklin
The University of Southampton

Citation: Expanding the horizons of Palaeolithic rock art: the site of Romualdova Pe?inahas is published in number 368 of the journal Antiquity and can be found here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/expanding-the-horizons-of-palaeolithic-rock-art-the-site-of-romualdova pecina/738597492507013D73EA8FDFB521A59F (DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.36)

2) Besides Ruiz-Redondo (PACEA, Université de Bordeaux; CAHO, University of Southampton) and Komšo (Archaeological Museum of Istria), the specialists Dr D. Garate (IIIPC, University of Cantabria), Dr O. Moro-Abadía (University of Newfoundland), Prof M.R. González-Morales (IIIPC, University of Cantabria), Prof J. Jaubert (PACEA, Université de Bordeaux) and Prof I. Karavani? (University of Zagreb; University of Wyoming) have participated in the study.