A reindeer engraved on the wall of a cave
in South Wales has been found to date from at least 14,505 years ago – making
it the oldest known rock art in the British Isles.
This photo shows the main part of an engraving of a cervid found in Cathole Cave on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales. |
The engraving was discovered in September
2010 by Dr George Nash from the University of Bristol's Department of Archaeology
and Anthropology while he was exploring the rear section of Cathole Cave, a
limestone cave on the eastern side of an inland valley on the Gower Peninsula,
South Wales.
Found to the rear of the cave on a small
vertical limestone niche, the engraved cervid – probably a stylised reindeer –
is shown side-on and measures approximately 15 x 11cm. It was carved using a
sharp-pointed tool, probably made of flint, by an artist using his or her right
hand.
The animal's elongated torso has been infilled with irregular-spaced
vertical and diagonal lines, whilst the legs and stylised antlers comprise
simple lines.
The reindeer was engraved over a mineral
deposit known as a 'speleothem' (cave formation), which itself developed over a
large piece of limestone. Extending over the left side of the figure is a
flowstone deposit (speleothem cover) which extends across part of the animal's
muzzle and antler set.
In April 2011, Dr Peter van Calsteren and
Dr Louise Thomas of the NERC-Open University Uranium-series Facility extracted
three samples from the surface of the speleothem covering the engraving. One of
these samples produced a minimum date of 12,572 years BP (before present), with
a margin of plus or minus 600 years. A further sample, taken in June 2011 from
the same flowstone deposit, revealed a minimum date of 14,505 years BP, plus or
minus 560 years.
Dr Nash said: "The earlier date is
comparable with Uranium-series dating of flowstone that covers engraved figures
within Church Hole Cave at Creswell along the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire
border. However, the new minimum date of 14,505 + 560 years BP makes the
engraved reindeer in South Wales the oldest rock art in the British Isles, if
not North-western Europe."
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