29 June 2012 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. 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 dev