Rock Art Research

The current paper focuses on the analysis of the dating of the rock art from the Sierra de San Francisco, a World Heritage site, based on the comparison of existing radiocarbon dating results and on the results from an ongoing research at one site, the Cueva del Ratón. The research includes the use of detailed documentation for the site, which comprised a thorough recording using different complementary techniques, combined with the results from analyses from samples, using polarised light microscopy, SEM-EDS, XRD and IRTF. The use of Harris diagrams to establish the stratigraphy of paintings in specific superimposed areas and the use of analyses to define the paint composition permit to offer an initial sequence for the paintings, with possibly three distinct ‘moments’, although the results are still too scarce to define the time-span and duration of this painting tradition.