The hand and footprints at Qiusang in Tibet: Recommendations for dating rock art by U–Th

The claims that children's hand and footprints on formerly soft travertine at Qiusang, Tibet, are about 200 ka old and are the earliest rock art on the planet are reviewed. The uranium-thorium results are inconsistent with a previous age estimate of another set of such prints nearby, which is itself at odds with finger-drawn Tibetan letters at that site. The claims also ignore the high susceptibility of open-site calcite travertine to surface retreat by weathering and the likely removal of uranium by rainwater. Similarly, deposition of detrital thorium can occur in such porous and weathered carbonates. Both processes are known to increase age estimates of reprecipitated carbonate deposits significantly. There is no evidence that hominins of the Middle Pleistocene occupied the central Tibetan Plateau during the penultimate glacial period. Several issues are considered, and recommendations are made for resolving the controversy.