Expert: John J. Shea - 8/19/2008

Question
When Altamira was discovered in the latter part of the 19th century it was assumed to be a hoax. That would seem to make common sense, given the knowledge at the time.  By the early 20th century this was disproven, and the archaeological community trusted that this, as well as the newly discovered Font de Gaume and others, were truly prehistoric.

As carbon dating was not available, what convinced archaeologists a hundred years ago that these paintings were genuine and truly prehistoric?  What techniques did they have at that time to validate the age of the paintings, and what made the scientific community believe them?

Thanks,

Michael

Answer
Michael,
The simple answer is that they found pieces of the walls with paint on them as well as other art objects together with stone tools and the remains of extinct Ice Age mammals in sealed cave deposits.  19th Century prehistorians did not fix exact ages to these contexts, but rather arranged them into a series of relative ages based on the dominant mammals (reindeer, aurochs, etc.)
For the details of this, consult Paul Bahn's Journey Through the Ice Age or Don Grayson's The Establishment of Human Antiquity.
Cheers,
John Shea