Hidden charcoal in pigment dates Font-de-Gaume cave paintings to 13,000 years ago

Scientists have for the first time precisely dated paintings in France's Font-de-Gaume cave after discovering charcoal hidden within black pigments previously thought to be purely mineral. Radiocarbon dating showed that a bison was painted approximately 13,000 years ago. Sections of a mask-like figure were found to have been added during several widely separated periods.