When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.An elaborate red and black painting of a human-like figure holding a black spear thrower with dart in one hand and red darts and staff in the other hand. . | Credit: Courtesy of Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center.Archaeologists often seek to understand ancient cultures by studying images left behind on rock faces. While these images vary widely, they’re a global phenomenon. In fact, petroglyphs and painted murals created by past societies have so far been found on every continent, except Antarctica.And, in a new study, researchers say they’ve found evidence of consistent imagery on cliff faces, caverns and natural recesses in 12 sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands — an archeological region in southwestern Texas and Northern Mexico — providing evidence of consistent themes in the murals across 175 generations. They say this continuity suggests that, in both regions, hunter-gatherers’ conception of the universe — which the team calls their “cosmovision” — stayed largely the same across roughly 4,000 years.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThey also suggest that, due to the style and iconographic similarities, the paintings were used to transmit important information across thousands of years.In modern times, the style of the paintings is called ‘Pecos River style’ (PRS). “We propose that Pecos River style paintings […] faithfully transmitted a sophisticated metaphysics that later informed the beliefs and symbolic expression of Mesoamerican agriculturalists,” the authors write in the research paper.Measuring timeTo find out when the murals were created, the researchers used a pair of dating methods — radiocarbon dating and oxalate dating. They used the dating to create a “chronological model” for the paintings, relying on 57 direct radiocarbon dates and 25 oxalate dates across the 12 sites.”Establishing the temporal context of PRS is a prerequisite for leveraging the full interpretive potential of this sophisticated iconographic system,” the authors write in their paper.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe team used radiocarbon dating of organic carbon in the paintings, as carbon isotopes in organic matter break down over time. By measuring this decay, archaeologists can get fairly precise dates for the age of the paint used in the murals.”North American Indigenous groups used fat in deer bone marrow as a binder to adhere mineral pigment particles together and saponin-rich plants, such as the C3 Yucca constricta, as a vehicle or emulsifying agent,” the authors write.With oxalate dating, the team measured the age of oxalate mineral accretions above and below the paint. The difference in the ages of the accretions supported the radiocarbon dating of the layers of paint.With these dating methods, the researchers figured out that the paintings — and their similarities — stretched over thousands of years.One of the paintings found. | Credit: Steelman et al., Sci. Adv. 11, eadx7205Knowledge transmissionArcheologists study ancient rock art, which includes paintings …
