Discovery of Palaeolithic cave art in Britain. (Research).

Discovery of Palaeolithic cave art in Britain. (Research). Antiquity is pleased to present here a preliminary account of thefirst discovery of Palaeolithic cave art in Britain. On 14 April 2003 we made the first discovery of Palaeolithic caveart in Britain. Since portable art of the period has long been known inthis country (Sieveking 1972; Campbell 1977: vol. 2, figs 102, 105,143), it has always seemed probable that parietal art must also haveexisted. We knew that we were most unlikely to discover paintings, sincethese are generally quite visible; but as far as we knew, nobody with atrained eye and advantageous lighting had combed the British caves insearch of engravings, which are often extremely difficult to see. Suchwas the purpose of our initial survey and, sure enough, we rapidlyencountered engraved marks in a number of caves, which we will beinvestigating more fully and systematically in the near future. At thewell-known sites of Creswell Crags, in Derbyshire, we found bothfigurative and non-figurative engravings of the period. What follows isa brief, preliminary announcement of a discovery soon to be furtheramplified in print following systematic investigation. This is third time lucky for British cave art, following two falsealarms. In 1912 the abbe Henri Breuil and W. J. Sollas claimed that tenwide, red, parallel horizontal painted stripes under calcite calcite(kăl`sīt), very widely distributed mineral, commonly white or colorless, but appearing in a great variety of colors owing to impurities. in theWelsh coastal cave of Bacon Hole (east of Paviland) were 'the firstexample in Great Britain of prehistoric cave painting' (see TheTimes 14 October 1912: 10; Sollas 1924: 530-31; Garrod 1926: 70); butBreuil later stated (1952: 25) that their age could not be fixed.Subsequently, these marks rapidly faded, and are now thought to havebeen natural or to have been left by a nineteenth-century sailorcleaning his paint brush (Garrod, ibid.; Houlder 1974: 159; Daniel 1981:81, Morgan, W.L. 1913). In 1981 the Illustrated London News Illustrated London NewsHistoric magazine of news and the arts, published in London. Founded in 1842 as a weekly, it became a monthly in 1971. A pioneer in the use of various graphic arts, it was London's first illustrated periodical, the first periodical to make extensive rashly published--withoutverification of any kind--an 'exclusive' claiming thediscovery of Palaeolithic animal engravings in the small cave of SymondsYat in the Wye Valley (Rogers et al. 1981; Rogers 1981). Subsequentinvestigation showed that the marks were entirely natural, and that theclaim was groundless (Daniel 1981: 81-82; Sieveking 1981, 1982; and fora grudging retraction, The Illustrated London News, May 1981: 24). In the case of our own discoveries, there should be no doubt eitherof their existence or of their great age. The most notable figures havebeen encountered in Church Hole cave, Creswell Crags. It containedPleistocene and Holocene deposits reaching almost up to its roof, albeitirregularly, which were excavated in the 1870s by the Reverend J. MagensMello and Sir William Boyd Dawkins Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins (1837 – 1929) was an English geologist and archaeologist. He was a member of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Curator of the Manchester Museum and Professor of Geology at Owens College, Manchester. . These contained Late Glacialarchaeology that was termed 'Creswellian' by Garrod in 1926,and for which several radiocarbon dates place the Creswellian occupationbetween c. 12000 and 12500 BP (e.g. Mello 1877; Campbell 1977; Jacobi1991). We included Church Hole in our preliminary survey because of thisknown presence of Late Glacial archaeology. For the moment we have identified two areas of incised figures inthis cave. The first is about 3.5 metres above the present floor. Hereis a figure which in our very preliminary interpretation is that of amale caprid, possibly an ibex, facing left, and slightly inclineddownwards at the front (Figure 1). It measures 57.2 cm in length fromthe muzzle to the rump, and 40.4 cm in height from the extremity of thehorn to the end of the front leg. It is represented in semi-twistedperspective, that is, both horns are depicted, but only one of the restof the paired elements--i.e. legs, ears and eyes--is drawn. There may besome interior markings, but until we carry out a more detailed analysisthese may correspond to another figure underneath. The groove of theincision is totally patinated, and relatively narrow (about 3-5 mm) andshallow (less than 5 mm), and U-shaped in section. In a second area, located farther inside, we found two otherincised figures which are harder to read. These may possibly be twobirds--one has only its head depicted, together with a very elongatedneck which leads us to think it might be a crane or a swan. The outlineof the one on the left, with a very elongated subtriangular tail, and ahead with a curved beak, points to some kind of bird of prey bird of preyAny member of the order Falconiformes (eagles, falcons, hawks, and vultures) or Strigiformes (owls). Falconiforms are also called raptors. They are active during the day, whereas owls are nocturnal. . Thedimensions of these images are about 30 cm in height and 32 cm inlength, with a groove of about 3-4 mm in depth, with a U-section andtotally patinated. It is somewhat premature to seek parallels, but stylistically allthese figures could be placed in Leroi-Gourhan's Style IV. Ourpreliminary interpretation of the caprid figure is that of an ibex, eventhough no unequivocal ibex remains have been found among the very richfaunal remains known for Late Glacial Britain. Several factors such asits style and technique make us certain of its age, but there areadditional corroborative cor��rob��o��rate?tr.v. cor��rob��o��rat��ed, cor��rob��o��rat��ing, cor��rob��o��ratesTo strengthen or support with other evidence; make more certain. See Synonyms at confirm. points which should be emphasised: The figurelies beneath graffiti, some of which date to 1948; and the very markeddifference in patination and sharpness between the dark figure and thebright graffiti makes it obvious that the image is far older than thewriting. The figure also has calcite on top of part of it. Forgeries ofPalaeolithic cave art, as opposed to portable art, are extremely rare(Bahn & Vertut 1997: 80-83); all have occurred in regions (such asN. Spain) where one might expect cave art to turn up, and most of thefew examples known postdate To designate a written instrument, such as a check, with a time or date later than that at which it is really made. 1948. Besides, what would be the point ofmaking such a fake if it was not to be discovered for many decades? Ifit were an ibex, this would be an odd choice for a modern forger. In theBritish Palaeolithic, the only known animal figure (on a bone from RobinHood's Cave, also at Creswell Crags) is a horsehead, so one mightexpect a forger to engrave en��grave?tr.v. en��graved, en��grav��ing, en��graves1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy.2. a horse. Since no clear examples of ibex areknown from the UK either in the Pleistocene or Holocene it would beequally unlikely to feature in late prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to , or the Medieval period. Our initial estimate based on style would place this figure ataround 12500-12000 BP, i.e. in the Creswellian (which is wellrepresented at Creswell). Our discovery therefore places Britain at laston the distribution map of Palaeolithic parietal parietal/pa��ri��e��tal/ (pah-ri��e-t'l)1. of or pertaining to the walls of a cavity.2. pertaining to or located near the parietal bone.pa��ri��e��taladj.1. art--hitherto, thenorthernmost example was the cave of Gouy near Rouen, but Church Hole isabout 280 miles (448 km) farther north--and it also confirms the greatimportance of the Creswell Crags sites to the British Palaeolithic.Indeed, all of the known figurative art of this period in Britain--theabove-mentioned horse-head from Robin Hood's Cave, theanthropomorph from Pin Hole Cave, and now our discoveries--have beenfound at Creswell. If our preliminary interpretation proves valid, the identificationof an ibex is of great potential interest. Given the environmentalpreference of modern ibex, e.g. steep crags in high mountain regions,perhaps the species was, at least on occasion, established in theCreswell area in the Late Pleistocene. It must be said, however, that noclearly identified remains of ibex have been recovered from the Creswellcaves (e.g. Jenkinson 1984). Although Campbell (1977) lists one possibleibex identification among the fauna from Robin Hood's Cave, this isan upper left M1 that is indistinguishable from goat/sheep according toCharles & Jacobi (1994) who suggest that the latter is the morelikely identification. Small numbers of ibex remains were recovered fromthe Belgian late Magdalenian of the Trou de Chaleux (Cordy 1974;Pathou-Mathis 1994; Charles 1998) and Bois Laiterie (Gautier 1997), andfrom Late Glacial Interstadial Federmessergruppen site of Niederbeiber,and the Younger Dryas Ahrensburgian site of Kartstein III, both in theNeuwied Basin, Germany (Turner 1990; Street 1998; Street & Baales1999). It seems therefore that while ibex were common in southwestEurope and known in small numbers in northwest Europe, no clear examplesare known from the UK (Charles 1998). While the depiction of an ibex inthe Church Hole cave may therefore reflect a 'sighting' of thespecies in the UK, perhaps it is more probable that it was seen on thecontinent, e.g. Belgium. Given the general archaeological links betweenthe UK and northern European continent in the Late Glacial Interstadial(e.g. Charles 1999), perhaps this is not surprising. Received: 25 April 2003; accepted: 25 April 2003 Acknowlegements The authors would like to thank Dr Gesine Reinert for invaluablehelp with the survey. The project in its final form was organised at theKeble College founders and benefactors feast, Oxford, November 2002. Paul Bahn (1), Paul Pettitt (2) & Sergio Ripoll (3) (1) 428 Anlaby Road, Hull HU3 6QP(Email:pgbahn@anlabyrd.karoo ka��rooalso kar��roo ?n. pl. ka��roosAn arid plateau of southern Africa.[Afrikaans, from Nama !garo-b, desert. .co.uk) (2) Keble College, Oxford OX1 3PG (Email:paul.pettitt@keble.oxford.ac.uk) (3) Depto. de Prehistoria e Historia Antigua, UNED UNED Universidad Nacional de Educaci��n a Distancia , Apdo Correos60.147, 28080 Madrid, Spain. (Email: sripoll@geo.uned.es) Bibliography BAHN, P.G. & J. VERTUT. 1997. Journey Through the Ice Age.Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London/University of California Press:Berkeley. BREUIL, H. 1952. Four Hundred Centuries of Cave Art. Centred'Etudes et de Documentation Prehistoriques: Montignac. CAMPBELL, J.B. 1977. The Upper Palaeolithic of Britain 2 vols.Clarendon Press: Oxford. CHARLES, R. 1998. Late Magdalenian Chronology and Faunalexploitation in the North Western Ardennes. Oxford: BAR InternationalSeries 737. CHARLES, R. 1999. Garrod and the Belgian Cresswellian. In Davies,W. & R. Charles. (eds.) Dorothy Garrod and the Progress of thePalaeolithic. Oxford: Oxbow, pp. 57-75. CHARLES, R. & R.M. JACOBI. 1994. The Lateglacial fauna from theRobin Hood Cave, Creswell Crags: a reassessment. Oxford Journal ofArchaeology 13(1): 1-32. CORDY, J.M. 1974. Etude e��tude?n. Music1. A piece composed for the development of a specific point of technique.2. A composition featuring a point of technique but performed because of its artistic merit. preliminaire de deux faunes de rongeurs dutardiglaciaire beige. Annales de la Societe Geologique de Belgique 97:5-9. DANIEL, G. 1981. Editorial. Antiquity 55: 81-89. GARROD, D.A.E. 1926. The Upper Palaeolithic Age in Britain.Clarendon Press: Oxford. GAUTIER, A. 1997. The macromammal remains of La Grotte du BoisLaiterie. In Otte, M. & Straus, L. G. (eds) La Grotte du BoisLaiterie Liege liegeIn European feudal society, an unconditional bond between a man and his overlord. Thus, if a tenant held estates from various overlords, his obligations to his liege lord, to whom he had paid “liege homage,” were greater than his obligations to the other : ERAUL 80, pp. 177-96. HOULDER, C. 1974. Wales: an Archaeological Guide. Faber and Faber Faber and Faber, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. :London. JACOBI, R.M. 1991. The Creswellian, Creswell and Cheddar. InBarton, N., A. Roberts. & D. Roe. (eds) The Late Glacial inNorth-West Europe: Human Adaptation and Environmental Change at the Endof the Pleistocene. London: CBA See Capital Builder Account. research report 77: 128-40. JENKINSON, R.D.S. 1984. Vertebrate species turnover rates atCreswell Crags, 70,000 to 9,000 BP. In Gilbertson, D.D. & R.D.S.Jenkinson. (eds) In the Shadow of Extinction: A Quaternary quaternary/qua��ter��nary/ (kwah��ter-nar?e)1. fourth in order.2. containing four elements or groups.qua��ter��nar��yadj.1. Consisting of four; in fours. Archaeologyand Palaeoecology paleoecology, palaeoecologythe branch of ecology that studies the relationship of ancient plants and animals to their environments. — paleoecologic, palaeoecologic, paleoecological, palaeoecological, adj. of the Lake, Fissures and Smaller Caves at CreswellCrags SSSI SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest (British Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest (under Antarctic Treaty)SSSI Skin and Skin Structure Infection . Sheffield: Department of Prehistory and Archaeologypublications: 117-24. MORGAN, W.L. 1913. Bacon Hole, Gower. Archaeologia Cambrensis 6thseries, Vol. XIII: 173-8. MELLO, J. MAGENS 1877. The bone caves of Creswell Crags. QuarterlyJournal of the Geological Society 33: 579-88. PATHOU MATHIS, M. 1994. La Grande Faune. In Otte, M. (ed.) LeMagdalenien du Trou de Chaleux. Liege: ERAUL 60: 172-8. ROGERS, T. 1981. Palaeolithic cave art in the Wye Valley. CurrentAnthropology 22 (5): 601-2. ROGERS, T., A. PINDER. & R.C. RUSSELL. 1981. Cave art discoveryin Britain. The Illustrated London News No. 6990, Vol. 269, January,31-34. SIEVEKING, G. 1972. Art mobilier in Britain, in SantanderSymposium: 385-88. SIEVEKING, G. 1982. Palaeolithic art and natural rock formations.Current Anthropology 23 (5): 567-69. SIEVEKING, G. & A. SIEVEKING. 1981. A visit to Symond'sYat 1981. Antiquity 55: 123-25. SOLLAS, W.J. 1924. Ancient Hunters and their ModernRepresentatives. 3rd ed. Macmillan: New York. STREET, M. 1998. The archaeology of the Pleistocene Holocenetransition in the northern Rhineland, Germany. Quaternary International49/50: 45-67. STREET, M. & M. BAALES. 1999. Pleistocene Holocene changes inthe Rhineland fauna in a northwest European context. In Benecke, N.(ed.) The Holocene History of the European Vertebrate Fauna Rahden:Verlag Marie Leidorf, pp. 9-38. TURNER, E. 1990. Middle and Late Pleistocene Macrofaunas of theNeuwied Basin Region (Rhineland Palatinate Palatinate(pəlăt`ĭnāt'), Ger. Pfalz, two regions of Germany. They are related historically, but not geographically. TheRhenish or Lower Palatinate (Ger. ) of West Germany. Mainz:Jahrbuch des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 37.