14,500-Year-Old Stone Engravings: Archaeologists Uncover Earliest Known Art in Britain

Examples of the work of Britain’s earliest known artists, rock carvings at least 14,500-years-old, have been discovered on the island of Jersey. One of the pieces will be on display through 2016 in Jersey Museum’s Ice Age Island exhibition.

The engravings date to just after the island was repopulated at the end of the Ice Age, 14,500 to 15,000 years ago, say archaeologists with Jersey Heritage. The rock carvings resemble some found in continental Europe from that time but are the first found in the British Isles, says the BBC. The human Ice Age camp that archaeologists are excavating, Les Varines, is among the first that far north in Europe after the ice retreated.

The art is non-representational and consists of straight and curved lines. It does not represent any animals, people or landscape features.