Amy Ann Chase

AMY CHASE, then a graduate student at Memorial University, St. Johns, Newfoundland, received a grant in October 2021 to aid research on “A Colorful History: Iron and manganese oxide pigment utilization and procurement at El Castillo Cave, Spain,” supervised by Dr. Oscar Moro Abadía. This research seeks to better understand the ways that Neandertals and Modern Humans used and interacted with pigment at the site of El Castillo cave (Spain), and what this information can tell us about Neandertal art, symbolism, and cognition. Fieldwork was carried out to undertake the technological, functional, mineralogical, and elemental analysis of black and red mineral pigments from Neandertal-associated layers (160,000-40,000 BP), and Modern Human-associated layers (43,000-28,000 BP) at the site. Raman spectroscopy, a scientific method used to determine the contents of substances, was used to analyze materials from the archaeological layers and cave paintings at El Castillo. Preliminary results suggest that Neandertals used pigments in a similar way to Modern Humans, having shown complex processes involved in the procurement, mixture, and utilization of pigments at the site. This implies that complex cognitive and social processes were in place within Neandertals at El Castillo, consistent with findings at other Neandertal-associated sites containing pigment. Further analyses of the data collected during this research will provide a more specific picture of the processes involved in pigment use among both Neandertals and Modern Humans at the site, demonstrating the utility of Raman spectroscopy in Paleolithic art contexts.