Method Direct radiocarbon dating of megalithic paints from north-west Iberia K.L. Steelman 1 , F. Carrera Ram´ ırez 2 , R. F´ abregas Valcarce 3 , T. Guilderson 4 & M.W. Rowe 5 Using plasma chemistry, carbon was extracted from charcoal paint samples collected from megalithic monuments in north-west Iberia. Nine accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon dates on these paints establish their age to be within 1000 14 C years of each other, centred at approximately 5000 BP. These radiocarbon ages for megalithic paintings fall within the proposed time period for north-west Iberian megalithic culture. Multiple layers of paint on some stones show that more than one painting episode occurred. Keywords: megalithic monuments, dolmens, rock paintings, radiocarbon dating, AMS, plasma-chemical extraction, north-west Iberia On the Iberian Peninsula, post-Palaeolithic paintings – in contrast with Palaeolithic images – have received scant attention from the AMS radiometric technique. In fact, only one ra- diocarbon date consistent with generally expected values has been previously determined on a painted megalith; charcoal from a black-painted tomb panel in a corridor at Antelas, Viseu, Portugal, was dated to 4655 + − 65 BP (Cruz 1995a,b). Here we present nine accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates for megalithic paintings in north-west Iberia (Figure 1), placing these paintings as the oldest known examples of prehistoric art in Galicia (northwest Spain). Two of us (FCR & RFV) have actively investigated north-west Iberian megalithic art since 1998, systematically locating and recording pictorial remains (doubling the number of known sites in the Galician area) (Carrera Ram´ ırez & F´ abregas Valcarce 2003). The progressively widespread use of radiocarbon dating using AMS since the late 1980s has overcome an important barrier to dating rock paintings – the ability to analyse small amounts of material available in a paint sample. AMS has opened new possibilities for dating those paintings that contain an organic component (charcoal, blood, fats/oils). The first AMS radiocarbon date for a rock painting was obtained for a charcoal painting located in 1 Department of Chemistry, 205 Laney Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Avenue, Conway, AR 72035, USA (Email: ksteel@uca.edu) 2 Escola Superior de Conservaci´ on e Restauraci´ on de Bens Culturais de Galicia, Rua Xeneral Martitegui s/n 36002 Pontevedra, Spain (Email: fernandocarrera@wanadoo.es) 3 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Departamento de Historia 1, Facultade de Xeograf´ ıa e Historia, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain (Email: phfabreg@usc.es) 4 Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551-9900, USA (Email: guilderson1@popeye.llnl.gov) 5 Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University, P.O. Box 30012, College Station, TX 77842-3012, USA (Email: rowe@mail.chem.tamu.edu) Received: 24 November 2003; Accepted: 18 May 2004; Revised: 1 June 2004 antiquity 79 (2005): 379–389 379