14,000yo art thought to be oldest discovered

  • 03/11/2015
14,000yo art thought to be oldest discovered

A piece of rock found in Jersey is being described as the earliest work of art ever discovered on British soil.

The rock has criss-cross lines scratched into it thought to be 14,000 years old – a simple design but it could be the foundation stone of every creative image around us.

"We recognise similar motifs and similar activity from sites in France and Germany," says archaeologist Dr Ed Blinkhorn. "They are humanly worked, and they are for no functional purpose."

But does that make it art? Some may argue against its artistic merit, but the same could be said for many artistic pieces filling galleries worldwide.

Before now the UK's first art was thought to be created in Darbyshire – a more sophisticated series of scratches on a piece of bone and 13,000 years old.

Watch the video for the full ITV report.