LONDON — Dismissed as a natural phenomenon for more than a century, red stripes on a rock in Wales have been found to be the oldest known prehistoric art in Britain and northwestern Europe — created by human fingers 17,100 years ago, according to new research.An international team of scientists revisited Bacon Hole, a cave near Mumbles in South Wales, to re-examine the series of red-pigmented horizontal stripes on a panel first discovered there in 1912.The markings were initially identified as prehistoric art in 1912 by Professor William Sollas and Henri Breuil but were later dismissed as a natural phenomenon caused by mineral deposits seeping through the rock, the study said.AdvertisementAdvertisement“Overlooked and unrecognized, the panel existed as little more than a historical footnote, forgotten by the archaeological community,” George Harold Nash, an archeologist and specialist in prehistoric art who led the research team, told NBC News via email.The entrance of Bacon Hole in Wales. (Courtesy George Harold Nash)(Courtesy George Harold Nash)More than a century later, the original interpretation has been proven correct.In a study published Monday in the journal Quaternary, Nash and other multidisciplinary scientists from the First-Art team concluded that “it is evident that the pigmented lines were intentionally created by human agency, rather than resulting from natural processes.”This makes the once-overlooked red stripes the oldest known example of cave art in Britain and northwestern Europe, according to the study.AdvertisementAdvertisement“I was both ecstatic and overjoyed,” Nash wrote of the moment his team made the discovery, calling it “exhilarating and deeply moving.”“To stand before a painted panel that had been discovered over a hundred and ten years earlier, then dismissed, lost from scholarly attention, and suddenly rediscovered on site, was an extraordinary experience,” he wrote.Using modern dating techniques, a joint team of scientists and academics from China, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Wales analyzed pigment samples in a laboratory and compared the findings with observations made at the cave.The horizontal lines of red pigment are evenly spaced and arranged in a way that suggests “a deliberate and structured pattern,” the study said.Members of the First-Art Team take samples for laboratory analysis at Bacon Hole. (Courtesy George Harold Nash)(Courtesy George Harold Nash)Evidence also showed that the pigment had been applied by a finger, concurring with the original fi …
