Ancient-DNA in Stone Age Cave Art: First Direct DNA from Iberian Paintings

In this episode, Alison George reports on a landmark collaboration, the First Art Project, which has extracted ancient human DNA from cave wall art dating back tens of thousands of years. DNA was found trapped in calcite layers that form over Paleolithic drawings in Iberian caves, offering a potential time capsule of the artists themselves. The program explains how uranium dating of calcite works to date the art, why wall DNA is more informative than sediment DNA, and what the early results suggest about the people connected to these artworks, including possible links to Western Hunter Gatherers and future prospects for identifying individual artists. It also discusses the role of contamination controls, the potential to study Neanderthals and Denisovans, and what this means for understanding ancient meaning in art.

Overview

The World, The Universe And Us covers the discovery that ancient human DNA has been found preserved in cave wall paintings made during the Stone Age. The First Art Project brought together archaeologists, geneticists, and art historians to probe whether DNA can be extracted from calcite layers that cloak cave art and serve as a dating method for the images themselves.

Dating cave art with calcite

Calcite forms on cave walls and over artwork much like mineral buildup. Dating this calcite layer using uranium-thorium or related dating techniques provides a way to bracket when the art was created. Researchers also considered whether DNA might be trapped in this protective layer or could be sampled from the very top of the artwork itself.

DNA sampling on cave walls

Researchers sampled 11 caves in Portugal and Spain, examining 24 panels. The team recruited geneticists from the Max Planck Institute, known for sequencing Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes, to analyze the samples for human DNA and to distinguish art related DNA from environmental DNA.

Findings and interpretation

Early results showed that most panels lacked human DNA, but one panel in Escoral cave in Portugal yielded ancient human DNA on the wall. A control sample taken from a bare wall section also contained human DNA, suggesting that the cave walls may hold a rich record of ancient DNA even without visible artifacts. Three of the wall samples were dominated by female DNA, with one sample from a male. The genetic profile most closely matched Western Hunter Gatherers, indicating the time frame may be tens of thousands of years old.

• DNA on the wall is more informative than sediment DNA for direct contact evidence
• Calcite layers can act as time capsules that preserve material from ancient artists
• Initial data point to potential connections with hunter gatherer groups
• Future work may help determine who painted what, and why, across multiple caves

Implications for archaeology and human history

By potentially identifying individuals who created cave art and by revealing more about who visited caves, DNA on walls could illuminate social structures, gender roles, and symbolic meanings in Paleolithic societies. The project also opens the possibility of assigning art to Neanderthals or Denisovans in Asia and Oceania through calcite DNA sampling, though this remains a future goal.

Contamination control and ethics

Given the fragility of ancient DNA and the risk of modern contamination, researchers work as if in a forensic setting, using protective gear and strict protocols. The interviewees stress that this is an early, exploratory phase and that results must be interpreted cautiously until more data accumulate.

Future directions

The researchers plan to broaden sampling in other cave systems, revisit controversial Neanderthal art claims, and apply the technique to warm, humid environments where DNA preservation may differ. If successful, this approach could ultimately reveal hair, eye color, and interbreeding histories of ancient cave painters, moving archaeology toward a new era of combining genetics with art history.