Prehistoric rock carvings found in Jersey

Researchers say fragments of stone engraved with abstract designs are the earliest known art in the British Isles, Report says, citing BBC.

They were made by hunter-gatherers who lived between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago on what is now Jersey.
The designs were scratched into small ornamental tablets known as plaquettes; similar examples have been found in France, Spain, and Portugal.

The researchers, who have published their findings in the journal Plos One, believe they represent the earliest evidence of artistic expression in the British Isles.

The designs consist of straight lines more or less in parallel and longer, curved incisions. The two types of marks were probably produced by the same tools, perhaps by the same engraver in short succession.

Co-author Dr. Silvia Bello, from the Natural History Museum, said: "Many of the lines, including the curved, concentric designs, appear to have been made through layered or repeated incisions, suggesting that it is unlikely that they resulted from the stones used for a functional purpose.

She told BBC News that most were "of abstract nature (simple intersecting lines). However, some fragments seem to depict zoomorphic representations (horses, mammoths, a bovid and possibly a human face)".