13 July 2004
`Sistine Chapel of the Ice Age´ found at Creswell Crags
A team of researchers led by the University of Sheffield and supported by English Heritage have found eighty 13,000-year-old carvings in limestone rock of Church Hole Cave, at Creswell Crags in Nottinghamshire. The carvings are a unique find and form the most elaborate cave art ceiling in the world.
The carvings, which appear on the ceiling of the cave, represent animal figures, including deer, bears, birds and possibly dancing women.
Dr Paul Pettitt, of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, led the research. He explains, "This find represents the most richly carved ceiling in the whole of cave art and shows a number of new themes and techniques. It also demonstrates that cave art is spread across a much wider geographical area than we originally thought."
Dr Paul Bahn, a member of the research team and one of the world´s leading experts on Ice Age art explains, "We saw the figures during sunny mornings, when the cave was illuminated by a brilliant reflected light, which is how I presume they were supposed to be viewed. This type of carving is extremely rare on cave ceilings and is a significant find."
Jon Humble, Inspector of Ancient Monuments for English Heritage said, "The people who lived in Creswell Crags some 13,000 years ago have quite literally carved out its place in prehistory, the present and indeed the future." Notes for Editors: 1. The discovery of cave art is the most important find from the British Palaeolithic since the discovery of 500,000 year old hominid remains from Boxgrove, West Sussex in the mid 1990s.
2. Most rock art in Britain is thought to be c.8,000 later than the Creswell discoveries, and typically occurs as a variety of engraved or pecked motifs on rock faces and boulders in open, non-cave situations. Recently English Heritage has provided funding to Bournemouth University to carry out a review of English rock art sites, to enable improved conservation measures.
3. The research and dissemination of information about the rock art at Creswell Crags is being undertaken as a partnership between the research team (Dr Paul Pettitt, Dr Sergio Ripoll, Dr Francisco Muñoz and Dr Paul Bahn), The University of Sheffield, English Heritage and Creswell Heritage Trust. This has included an international conference hosted at the community centre in Creswell village at Easter 2004.
4. The Creswell Heritage Trust is an independent charitable Trust supported by Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire County Councils, Lafarge Lime, Severn Trent Water, English Heritage and English Nature. The Trust´s patrons are Professor David Bellamy and Sir Martin Doughty. The Trust works closely with a number of professional and scientific bodies including Sheffield University and the British Museum.
For further information: please contact Lorna Branton, communications executive, University of Sheffield, on 0114 222 1046.
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