Could DNA on Ancient Cave Walls Help Solve Art History’s Oldest Provenance Mystery?

Provenance is everything in the art world. Auction houses spend years tracing the ownership history of a painting from one collector to the next. But for some of humanity’s oldest works of art, the provenance goes cold tens of thousands of years ago.Who painted the bison on the walls of Altamira? Who pressed a hand against damp limestone before blowing red pigment around their fingers? Archaeologists have spent generations trying to answer questions like those. A new study suggests genetic