Rock Art Research

Dating mud-dauber wasp nests associated with paintings in rockshelters is examined. The nature and sources of materials of wasp-nests and the radiocarbon and luminescence methods and assumptions used in the dating processes are reviewed. The relationship between the ages of individual micro-charcoal particles in the muddy sediments and the nest-building period is considered. Also stressed is the absence of direct links between micro-charcoal in a wasp-nest, the period of building nests and the application of paint to a rock panel. Dating micro-charcoal from a nest generates an average value for the age of all carbon particles in the sample, and the range in age is unknown. The lapses in time between nest construction, degradation, cementation, and paint application are unknown and cannot be determined.