The Distribution of Franco-Cantabrian Rock Art

Abstract

In reviewing the geographical distribution of European rock art attributed to the Pleistocene, the “heartland” of the Franco-Cantabrian cave art can be contrasted with rock arts of numerous other regions of Europe. Most of the “external” sites are of percussion petroglyphs, and the attribution of many of them to the Pleistocene is controversial. This paper reviews all of the purported Pleistocene rock art sites listed by one specialist, and reviews each candidate. It emerges that nearly all the sites outside the traditional distribution of Franco-Cantabrian palaeoart have either been dated to the Holocene, or they remain controversial and the likelihood that they are of the Pleistocene is not very great. Therefore it is necessary to review all European attributions of rock art to the Ice Age.