Striped rock dismissed as natural in 1928 reclassified as UK’s oldest cave art | Palaeontology

In 1912 the Guardian reported the discovery of Palaeolithic rock art on the walls of Bacon Hole, a cave near Mumbles in South Wales; however, the painted panel’s authenticity was rejected in 1928.

It was later deemed that a series of horizontal bands in the red pigment were nothing more than a natural phenomenon, and the paper added an updated statement: “It was later revealed that the red streaks were not prehistoric art but red oxide mineral oozing from the rock.”

However, the original report has now been proven accurate by new analysis.

Archaeologists used the latest scientific tools to date the rock art and discovered that the rock art was actually created 17,100 years ago; making it the oldest example of the rock art in Britain as well as northwestern Europe.

British expert on prehistoric art, Dr. George Nash said: “This is the oldest piece of prehistoric art we have in Britain.

“It was never considered rock art after 1928 and its date was never determined because in those days they did not have the scientific facilities we have today.

“We used uranium-thorium dating for the pigments. We have data dating back 17,100 years before present, making it the oldest rock art in the British Isles. I was amazed that we were able to date it and analyze the pigments. This is an exciting rediscovery and important for understanding what was going on in Wales in the deep past.”

The first discovery was made in 1912 by professors William Sollas and Henri Breuil and was hailed as “the first example of prehistoric cave painting ever discovered in England”. The full extent of the images was not understood, partly because in 1894 a local fisherman painted graffiti on the other side of the room.

Archaeometric analysis has now revealed a “pigment recipe” mix of calcite and clay inclusions consistent with the limestone geology of the area.

The scholars concluded: “Based on both field observations and laboratory examination of pigment samples, it is clear that the pigmented streaks are deliberately created by human action rather than by natural processes.”

They added: “Based on the evidence…we agree with the original interpretation proposed by Breuil and Sollas in 1912…The painted lines, arranged horizontally and equidistant from each other, indicate a deliberate and structured pattern.” The research showed that the paint was also applied with fingers.

Bacon Hole is located in the limestone cliffs of south Gower, overlooking the Bristol Channel. It is not protected as a “scheduled monument” despite being in an area of ​​outstanding natural beauty, but archaeologists argue it should now be a monument.

The cave is under the care of the National Trust of Wales, which will officially announce the survey this week.

Welsh-born Nash is an associate professor at the Center for Earth Sciences at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and an honorary research fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool.

He and international scholars recently published a scientific article about their research in the journal. quaternary.

They write that around 17,100 years ago, Wales emerged from the severe cold phase of the Devensian glaciation: “During this period the climate was gradually changing from an almost uninhabitable frozen landscape to a treeless periglacial environment with sparse vegetation.”

“The area where Bacon Hole lies along the northern coastline, now occupied by the Bristol Channel, may have served as a suitable catchment for migratory megafauna grazing during the summer months. At the same time, Bacon Hole and other caves along what is now the southern coastline of the Gower peninsula may have provided suitable habitats for hunter-fisher-gatherer groups.”

The research was carried out by a group of scientists called First Art, as well as academics from the universities of Southampton and Swansea. The project was made possible with support from the National Trust and the Bradshaw Foundation.

Rare examples of rock art from the Upper Palaeolithic in Britain include one that Nash discovered in 2010 in Cathole Cave at Parkmill, about two and a half miles from Bacon Hole, with a minimum date range of between 14,500 and 12,500 years.