AMS radiocarbon dates for charcoal from three Missouri pictographs and their associated iconography

The report presents four radiocarbon dates of charcoal pigments from Pictur e Cave, a site located in a remote wooded area in east-central Missouri. Ca rbon from charcoal pigments was extracted from three rock drawings on the w all of this cave. The four pigment samples contained sufficient carbon for accelerator mass spectrometric radiocarbon analysis. These black pigments s amples (red and white paints are also present in the cave) yielded dates th at place their affiliated motifs in a time-frame associated with Cahokia ca . 950 years ago. The dates are somewhat earlier than expected. We discuss t he dates in connection with the iconography of three motif panels tested.