Symbolic Use of Clay Before Pottery: Insights from the Palaeolithic Rock Art Site of Cova Dones (Eastern Iberia)

Abstract The use of clay for symbolic or ritual activities can be confidently traced back to the Palaeolithic. One of the earliest documented examples is the presence of clay-based paintings at European Upper Palaeolithic cave sites. However, references to such artworks are scarce, and almost no attention has been given to the study of their technical and graphic characteristics. The recent discovery of Cova Dones (Spain), which contains nearly a hundred clay-painted motifs, has enabled us to analyse previously unexplored aspects of this rock art. In this article, we reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of these motifs and establish a typology of their various states based on taphonomic alterations. Our aim is to compile, define, and present a series of evidence that can be identified as Palaeolithic clay paintings or associated with different phases of their chaîne opératoire based on the rich graphic record of Cova Dones. This catalogue is intended to assist archaeologists in identifying this type of evidence in other cave sites.