Radiocarbon Intercomparison Program for Chauvet Cave
Open accessAbstract
We present the first results of an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon intercomparison program on 3 different charcoal samples collected in one of the hearths of the Megaceros gallery of Chauvet Cave (Ardèche, France). This cave, rich in parietal decoration, is important for the study of the appearance and evolution of prehistoric art because certain drawings have been 14 C dated to the Aurignacian period at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. The new dates indicate an age of about 32,000 BP, which is consistent with this attribution and in agreement with the results from the same sector of the cave measured previously at the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE). Six laboratories were involved in the intercomparison. Samples were measured in 4 AMS facilities: Center for Isotope Research, Groningen University, the Netherlands; the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, UK; the Centre de datation par le carbone 14, Univ. Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France (measured by AMS facilities of Poznań University, Poland); and the LSCE, UMR CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, France (measured by the Leibniz-Labor of Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany).
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Combining multiple samples to obtain one sample age density substantially reduces the uncertainty of the sample determination.
“Such modeling substantially reduces the uncertainty of the sample determination.”
From A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France (2016) · cites this paper as [14]
In Materials, Methods, and Results (page not available), the paper combines measurements from three charcoal samples into a composite date; the mean activity has an uncertainty of ±0.03 pMC, compared with ±0.03–0.05 pMC for the individual sample means. This supports a narrower claim about averaging measurements, but the paper does not describe modeling a sample age density or establish a substantial reduction in the total uncertainty of an age determination. It cautions that statistical errors may not capture all dating errors. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeventy-one charcoal samples from the cave floor were selected, and 8 were integrated into three intercomparison programs.
“Seventy-one charcoal samples from the cave floor were selected, and 8 were integrated into three intercomparison programs (14 -16) ( SI Appendix , Table S1).”
From A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche, France (2016) · cites this paper as [14]
The Materials, Methods, and Results section describes three charcoal fragments collected from the cave floor and dated in an interlaboratory program. It does not report that 71 samples were selected or that eight were included across three programs; this paper describes one program involving three fragments. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Improvements to the Pretreatment of Bone at Oxford
Ramsey, C. B., Higham, T., Bowles, A., & Hedges, R. E. M. (2004) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200039473 · Cited by 511 · see citing works
Self-citationRadiocarbon Dating of “Old” Charcoal Using a Wet Oxidation, Stepped-Combustion Procedure
Bird, M. I., Ayliffe, L. K., Fifield, L. K., Turney, C. S. M., Cresswell, R. G., Barrows, T. T., & David, B. (1999) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200019482 · Cited by 320 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Whereas the ABA pretreatment was used by all laboratories, the Oxford team also performed the ABOX treatment (Bird et al. 1999) using 14C Intercomparison Program for Chauvet Cave 341 precombustion at 330 °C, or 630 °C in the case of sample GC40.”
MethodModern and fossil charcoal: aspects of structure and diagenesis
Cohen‐Ofri, I., Weiner, L. M., Boaretto, E., Mintz, G., & Weiner, S. (2005) · Journal of Archaeological Science · doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.08.008 · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Evolution of prehistoric cave art
Valladas, H., Clottes, J., Geneste, J.-M., Garcia, M. A., Arnold, M., Cachier, H., & Tisnérat-Laborde, N. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35097160 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Self-citationBilan des datations carbone 14 effectuées sur des charbons de bois de la grotte Chauvet
Valladas, H., Tisnérat-Laborde, N., Cacher, H., Kaltnecker, É., Arnold, M., Oberlin, C., & Evin, J. (2005) · Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française · doi:10.3406/bspf.2005.13342 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Self-citationLa grotte Chauvet - l'art des origines
Clottes, J., Aujoulat, N., Baffier, D., Debard, É., Delannoy, J., Ferrier, C., Feruglio, V., Fritz, C., Fossé, P., Garcia, M.-A., et al. (2001) · HAL · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Self-citationBocherens, H., Drucker, D. G., Billiou, D., Geneste, J., & van der Plicht, J. (2006) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.002 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Self-citationCurrent problems in dating Palaeolithic cave art: Candamo and Chauvet
Pettitt, P., & Bahn, P. G. (2003) · Antiquity · doi:10.1017/s0003598x00061421 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Clottes, J., Chauvet, J.-M., Deschamps, E. B., Hillaire, C., Daugas, J.-P., Arnold, M., Cachier, H., Évin, J., Fortin, P., Oberlin, C., et al. (1995) · HAL · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Self-citationThe AMS Dating of Separate Fractions in Archaeology
Batten, R. J., Gillespie, R., Gowlett, J. A. J., et al. (1986) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200007918 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ecker, C. (2012) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.1251 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
Quiles, A., Valladas, H., Bocherens, H., Delqué-Količ, E., Kaltnecker, E., van der Plicht, J., Delannoy, J.-J., Feruglio, V., Fritz, C., Monney, J., et al. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1523158113 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Self-citationFurther constraints on the Chauvet cave artwork elaboration
Sadier, B., Delannoy, J.-J., Benedetti, L., Bourlès, D. L., Jaillet, S., Geneste, J.-M., Lebatard, A.-E., & Arnold, M. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1118593109 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Self-citationGuibert, P., Brodard, A., Quiles, A., Geneste, J.-M., Baffier, D., Debard, E., & Ferrier, C. (2015) · Quaternary Geochronology · doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2015.04.007 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Self-citationSecond Radiocarbon Intercomparison Program for the Chauvetpont d'Arc Cave, Ardèche, France
Quiles, A., Valladas, H., Geneste, J.-M., Clottes, J., Baffler, D., Berthier, B., Brock, F., Ramsey, C. B., Delqué-Količ, E., Dumoulin, J.-P., et al. (2014) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.2458/56.16940 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Cuzange, M.-T., Delqué-Količ, E., Goslar, T., Grootes, P. M., Higham, T., Kaltnecker, E., Nadeau, M.-J., Oberlin, C., Paterne, M., van der Plicht, J., Ramsey, C. B., Valladas, H., Clottes, J., & Geneste, J.-M.
- Affiliations
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Valladas, Hélène
- ORCID
- Venue
- Radiocarbon
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2007
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 339-347
- ISSN
- 0033-8222 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5755
- OpenAlex
- W2123138833
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 1.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Radiocarbon (publishedVersion)
- UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (acceptedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- University of Cambridge
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Social Sciences › Archeology › Archaeology and Rock Art Studies
- Keywords
- Chauvet Cave, charcoal, hearths, Aurignacian, Upper Palaeolithic, prehistoric art, radiocarbon dating, accelerator mass spectrometry, interlaboratory comparison
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
