VeriWcation of the Age of the Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags

Upon discovery of the Creswell cave art in April 2003, and a systematic survey and study of known images in June of the same year, it was believed on several grounds that the art was clearly of Pleistocene antiquity (Pettitt 2003). The reasoning was as follows: . The sharp line and bright colour of engraved graffiti dating to the 1940s stand in clear contrast to the eroded and dulled nature of the genuine art. Clearly, on the grounds of weathering the art is not a modern forgery. . In several places, thin flowstone crusts clearly overlay engravings, demonstrating a degree of antiquity for the art. . The location of almost all of the art at heights considerably above the reach of an adult’s arm span, given the current level of the floor in Church Hole Cave, indicates that if the engravings were made after 1876 (when the sediments were excavated down to their current levels) a ladder would have been necessary. While this cannot be ruled out, it would imply considerable effort in forging the art, certainly to avoid drawing attention to the perpetrator. . Several images bear clear resemblances to known Upper Palaeolithic art, particularly that of the Magdalenian, both in terms of style and subject matter. By contrast, none of the art can be said to have Holocene parallels, that is, if it were Mesolithic or later, it would be unique. On the grounds of parsimony it seems that the closest estimate of antiquity therefore was Pleistocene. . At least one of the images (the large bovid) represents a species known to be extinct in Europe, either since the seventeenth century (if identified as Bos primigenius) or the Late Pleistocene (if Bison priscus). The discovery team were therefore confident from the first that genuine Upper Palaeolithic cave art had been discovered. This having been said, a critical reason for the ‘Creswell Art in European Context’ conference was to expose the art to the scrutiny of international experts in Palaeolithic archaeology and rock art, and the clear consensus of the conference delegates was that the art is genuine.

Dating Magdalenian Art in North Spain: The Current Situation

The graphic activity of Magdalenian human groups forms the most spectacular part of the archaeological record in Cantabrian Spain and, at the same time, represents probably the most expressive aspect of the culture of those Upper Palaeolithic hunters. Since the early 1990s, several projects have tried to fix more precisely the chronology of the cave art through the application of radiocarbon dating by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (Valladas et al. 1992, 2001; Moure Romanillo and González Sainz 2000; Fortea Pérez 2002). The present article attempts an integrated discussion of the results of the absolute chronology for Magdalenian cave art and the present situation of the most reliable parallels between this and the mobile art of the same period. It is well known that the ordering in time of cave art is rather more complex than that of decorated objects, which are dated by their archaeological context (and therefore both this context and the artefacts themselves can be dated by radiocarbon). In Cantabrian Spain, the approaches to dating cave art, especially for the Magdalenian depictions, are the series of superimpositions known on certain walls of a few caves, the analogy with stratified mobile art, and absolute dating, essentially for this period, radiocarbon dating by accelerator. Other procedures, such as the correlation with stratigraphic sequences, offer good results in pre-Magdalenian periods (Fortea 1994), but are limited in the period that interests us here to just a few cases, such as Cueva del Mirón, in relation with some rather modest depictions (González Morales and Straus, 2000). 1. Series of superimposed figures of different kinds have often been described, on panels in a limited number of cave sites. In Cantabrian Spain, the main examples are found in the caves of La Peña del Candamo, Tito Bustillo, Llonín, Altamira, El Castillo, La Pasiega, and La Garma Lower Passage—in other words, the main cave art centres, repeatedly used over long periods in the Upper Palaeolithic. These sites tend to differ quite clearly from the other cave art sites, which are more or less synchronic internally (they have a much lower number of depictions which, above all, are more homogeneous in style and techniques).

A Topographical Approach to Parietal Figures: The Monumental Sculptures of the Roc-aux-Sorciers (Vienne, France) Produced in Daylight at the Back of a Rockshelter and on its Ceiling

The wonderful discovery of parietal figures in the entrance chamber of Church Hole by P. Bahn, P. Pettitt and S. Ripoll in 2003 invites us to study the elements that are linked to the topography of parietal figures made on ceilings in daylight. At Creswell, early excavations had revealed Magdalenian occupations. This association between habitation and parietal figures recalls other contexts, such as for example that of the Roc-aux-Sorciers at Angles-sur-l’Anglin (Vienne, France). This Magdalenian site contains a sculpted, engraved, and painted parietal assemblage which extends for more than 50 m at the foot of the cliff along the Anglin River. The upstream part of the site, called the Taillebourg cave, and which corresponds to a typical vestibule, yielded numerous decorated blocks that came from a major collapse of the cave’s ceiling; their refitting is currently under way. The downstream part, known as the abri Bourdois, which is a shallow overhang, at present contains a sculpted, engraved, and painted frieze, almost 20 m long, located on the vertical wall at the back of the rockshelter. Today the shelter’s ceiling has no traces of sculpture or engraving, but nothing confirms or rules out the presence of parietal figures here in the Magdalenian. After an analysis of the spatial organization of the figures in the abri Bourdois, we shall look at the elements at our disposal for understanding the figures on the ceiling of the Taillebourg cave in order to grasp whether the difference in location and the morphology of the supports had any impact on the spatial organization of the figures in the site as a whole. The site of the Roc-aux-Sorciers is located in Poitou-Charentes, in central-west France, in the commune of Angles-sur-l’Anglin. It was oficially classed as a historical monument on 18 January 1955. Facing directly south, it extends for about 50 m, at the foot of cliffs, near the present-day village, on the right bank of the Anglin (Fig. 12.1).

Cultural Context and Form of Some of the Creswell Images: An Interpretative Model

Since Dorothy Garrod (1926) coined the term ‘Creswellian’ to describe the British Late Upper Palaeolithic archaeology and in doing so emphasized its differences from the contemporary Late Magdalenian, the degree of connectedness of British Late Glacial hunter-gatherers with those of the continental mainland has been debated. Garrod pointed to the robust local tradition of single and double obliquely truncated backed pieces—Creswell and Cheddar Points respectively—and emphasized their dissimilarity, warranting in her opinion a separate taxonomic classification for the ‘provincial’ archaeology of Britain. Jacobi (1991) was the first to realize the problems with such a ‘splitting’ perspective, noting how the main type fossils of the Creswellian could be found among continental assemblages. While to a certain degree the problem can be seen as deriving from the specific culture-historical paradigm that Garrod was working within (Charles 1999), the degree of connection or distance between hunter-gatherer groups operating in Late Glacial Britain and those on the continent has remained a contentious issue. It is certainly difficult to find contemporary assemblages on the continent that contain all of the type fossils of British Late Glacial assemblages (Barton et al. 2003), and the few that exist are still undated (Jacobi 2004: 66). Consequently, the date and process by which the British assemblages became distinct remain to be established. The relative paucity in the UK of art mobilier and the total lack until April 2003 of parietal art of any form seemed to reinforce the distinction between Late Glacial Interstadial sites in Britain and on the continent. Engravings on bone, antler, and stone plaquettes and blocks are ubiquitous on continental sites, and the paucity of such materials on British sites could be seen in the context of Garrod’s regional emphasis to suggest a cultural difference. The discovery of the art, however, and its clear formal parallels with continental examples throw the issue of connectedness into sharp focus. Unlike sagaies, lithic armatures, and other tools, cave art is not a portable artefact. Whereas therefore design similarities between portable artefacts may result from exchange between far-flung and perhaps culturally distinct groups, formal similarities between rock art must suggest formal similarities of design and execution in the minds of artists; it is the concept that is portable.

Rock Art and the Côa Valley Archaeological Park: A Case Study in the Preservation of Portugal’s Prehistoric Rupestral Heritage

Although Nelson Rebanda—the archaeologist working for the electricity company (EDP) that was building a dam in the Côa river—probably discovered the first Côa Valley engraved surface with Palaeolithic motifs (the now well-known Rock 1 of Canada do Inferno) in November 1991, the find was only revealed to the public in November 1994 (Jorge 1995; Rebanda 1995). Subsequently, the first reports on ‘important archaeological finds in the Côa Valley’ started to appear in the newspapers. The Canada do Inferno engravings were located upstream and very near to the construction site of the Côa dam. The construction work advanced at a good pace and the completion of the dam would irremediably destroy the engravings. The public revelation of the find instantly triggered a huge controversy since the first specialists to visit the site immediately classified the engravings as being of Palaeolithic style. As a result of the media attention on the Côa and right after the broadcast of the first TV reports, a pilgrimage to the Côa Valley rock-art surfaces began. Reacting to the first news on an affair that was starting to be known as ‘the Côa scandal’, IPPAR (the state body that, at the time, was in charge of managing archaeology in Portugal) created, at the end of November 1994, a committee to follow the archaeological rescue work being done in the Côa. Nevertheless, and considering the serious problem created by the construction of the dam (and the construction work continued), it rapidly became evident that IPPAR was gradually losing control over the situation as it shifted to the public domain. In December 1994, IPPAR asked UNESCO for an expert opinion to challenge the efforts of EDP (the Portuguese Power Company responsible for the construction of the dam and at the time totally state owned) to demonstrate that the Côa findings were not of Palaeolithic chronology. Throughout 1995, this would be a crucial issue since some defended the position that, if the engravings were not Palaeolithic, their patrimonial value would not be very important and, therefore, the dam could be built!

The Horse in the Palaeolithic Parietal Art of the Quercy: Outline of a Stylistic Study

The discovery of the engravings at Church Hole brings numerous and precious newelements that renew our knowledge of Palaeolithic parietal art. In particular, it poses the problem of styles in the closing phase of the Palaeolithic. As a comparison, I will present here an outline of the evolution of styles in the Palaeolithic parietal art of the Quercy between about 27,000–28,000 and 12,000–13,000 years ago. In order to clearly highlight the value of such an evolution, I shall begin by comparing various horse figures, since these are the dominant subjects in all phases of this long period. I shall start by comparing the equids of the cave of Roucadour with those (likewise unpublished) of the cave of Combe Nègre 1 (Lot), and then those of the caves of Sainte-Eulalie and Pergouset (Lot), and I shall end by recalling the characteristics of the horses of Pestillac and Lagrave which illustrate the end of the parietal Magdalenian in our region. I will make one last comparison with the portable art of the abri Murat (Lot) which yielded horse depictions in an azilian level. The cave of Roucadour, vast and of easy access, is in the northern part of the Causse de Gramat (Lot). Its total length is about 300 m, and it constituted a very attractive site for man during a large part of prehistory. During the neolithic and protohistory, a habitation (excavated by A. Niederlender and then by J. Gasco) was installed in front of the cave entrance. The deep galleries were also used in the same period, since quantities of pottery, burials, and bronze objects were discovered there. In 1962, two speleologists, Pierre Taurisson and Jean Paul Coussy, discovered parietal paintings and engravings in a lateral gallery. The cave was classed as a historical monument in 1964. The study and recording of the engravings were entrusted to the abbé André Glory, assisted by his collaborator, the abbé Jean-Louis Villeveygoux; the discoverers themselves also seem to have lent their help at the start. André Glory, who was then an engineer in the CNRS, had just finished tracing the decoration of Lascaux. He carried out four campaigns of recording at Roucadour from 1964 to 1965 (Glory 1964, 1966). A tragic road accident in 1966 cost him and his assistant their lives.

Cave Archaeology and Palaeontology in the Creswell Region

The aim of this chapter is to situate the unique discoveries of cave art at the Creswell Crags caves in the context of what is known of the cave archaeology and palaeontology of the caves of the southern Magnesian Limestone outcrop. The long history of archaeological research at Creswell Crags and the spectacular discoveries that continue to be made in the Creswell caves have tended to overshadow the widespread though less prominent distribution of cave archaeological sites along the limestone outcrop to the north and south of Creswell, a region known as the Creswell Crags Limestone Heritage Area (Mills 2001). Recent audits of the archaeology of the region have drawn attention to the large number of cave sites within the Limestone Heritage Area as well as the considerable potential that these sites have for further research into the history of Ice Age people and their environments (Mills 2001; Davies et al. 2004).While the focus of this chapter is on the Pleistocene deposits and Palaeolithic artefacts that have been preserved in the region’s caves, fissures, and rock shelters, these sites were used throughout prehistory by humans and animals and they contain much important cultural and environmental evidence for these later time periods after the end of the last Ice Age. Creswell Crags is located in the southern part of the Magnesian Limestone, a geological term for deposits of Upper Permian age that includes a series of formations of well-bedded oolitic to dolomitic limestones. The Magnesian Limestone forms a narrow north–south oriented outcrop that runs from near Nottingham in the south to the North Sea coast near Tynemouth in the north (Fig. 6.1). About 30 km to the west of the southern part of the Magnesian Limestone is the older Carboniferous Limestone outcrop of the White Peak, which, like the Magnesian Limestone, contains many archaeological caves. The southern part of the Magnesian Limestone outcrop, between Doncaster and Mansfield, is cut through by a series of vales and gorges which expose caves, fissures, and rockshelters along the cliff lines.

3D Laser Scanning at Church Hole, Creswell Crags

The process of recording in situ archaeological art can be a time-consuming and complex task, especially on inaccessible and non-planar surfaces such as those found in Church Hole, Creswell Crags. There are considerable challenges to the recorder, including the accurate positioning and fixing of survey frames, the physical discomfort of sitting, crouching, or even lying down for long periods of time in cramped surroundings, and, ultimately, the difficulty in interpreting the panels to enable accurate recording. Furthermore, the more accurate forms of traditional recording include the taking of rubbings of the carvings, a process known to increase the potential of damage to already fragile artworks. 3D laser scanning offers solutions to most of these problems by quickly producing a highly dense fully three-dimensional surface map of the art which can be studied in more conducive circumstances by researchers at a later date. Furthermore, powerful visualization techniques can be applied to the 3D surface map to extract and enhance detail that might be virtually invisible to the naked eye. Over-arching the visualization and interpretational aspects of 3D laser scanning is the potential to use the acquired 3D surface map to monitor any change in the surface through repeated scanning over a period of time. This technique is suitable for detecting minute differences in the surface over time, including both erosion due to natural processes or vandalism and accretion through build-up of deposits on the surface of the art. The most complex aspect of three-dimensional recording, no matter what the subject matter, is that of the third dimension. People have an almost schizophrenic way of looking at the world. For example, if you were to place two identical objects a distance apart, it is simple to state that one object is further away than the other due to our perception of depth and the ability to walk around the two objects. However, if you were to take a photograph or make a drawing of the scene from one point of view, it becomes difficult to tell whether two identical objects are placed some distance apart, or if two differently sized objects sit beside one another. The three-dimensionality of the scene is now lost and is available by inference only.

The Historical Background to the Discovery of Cave Art at Creswell Crags

On 14 April 2003, we made the first discovery of Palaeolithic cave art in Britain. Since portable art of the period had long been known in this country (Sieveking 1972; Campbell 1977: vol. 2, figs. 102, 105, 143), it had always seemed probable that parietal art must also have existed. It was fairly obvious that paintings were unlikely to be discovered—barring the finding of a totally unknown cave or a new chamber within a known cave—since paintings tend to be quite visible, and somebody (whether owner, speleologist, or tourist) would probably have reported them by now. Engravings, in contrast, can be extraordinarily difficult to see without a practised eye, oblique lighting, and, often, a great deal of luck. Such was the purpose of our initial survey and, sure enough, we rapidly encountered engraved marks in a number of caves, which we will be investigating more fully and systematically in the near future. At the well-known sites of Creswell Crags, on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, we found both figurative and non-figurative engravings of the period. This was third time lucky for British cave art, following two false alarms. In the first, in 1912 the abbé Henri Breuil and W. J. Sollas claimed that ten wide red parallel horizontal painted stripes under calcite in the Welsh coastal cave of Bacon Hole (east of Paviland) were ‘the first example in Great Britain of prehistoric cave painting’ (see The Times, 14 Oct. 1912, p. 10; Sollas 1924: 530–1; Garrod 1926: 70; Grigson 1957: 43–4); but Breuil later stated (1952: 25) that their age could not be fixed. Subsequently, these marks rapidly faded, and are now thought to have been natural or to have been left by a nineteenthcentury sailor cleaning his paint brush (Morgan 1913; Garrod 1926; Houlder 1974: 159; Daniel 1981: 81) In 1981, the Illustrated London News rashly published—without verification of any kind—an ‘exclusive’ claiming the discovery of Palaeolithic animal engravings in the small cave of Symonds Yat in the Wye Valley (Rogers et al. 1981; Rogers 1981). Subsequent investigation showed that the marks were entirely natural, and that the claim was utterly groundless (Daniel 1981: 81–2; Sieveking 1982; Sieveking and Sieveking 1981; and, for a grudging retraction, Illustrated London News, May 1981, p. 24).

Rewriting the History Books: The Magdalenian Art of Creswell Crags

The text books say that there is no cave art in Britain. These will now have to be rewritten. . . . There had been a psychological barrier to the existence of cave art in Britain . . . butnever a satisfactory explanationas to why there was none. (Jon Humble, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, English Heritage, in an interview with John Pickrell for National Geographic News) In April 2003 Britain’s first unequivocal Palaeolithic parietal art was discovered in Creswell Crags, a narrow limestone gorge located on the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire border in the English North Midlands. The announcement of its discovery was accompanied by a furore of media attention. Archaeological dogma had long maintained that no such art would be discovered in Britain, although, as Bahn (2003) has suggested, there was no good reason for such art not to exist. As Bahn highlighted, Britain has plenty of caves with evidence of Upper Palaeolithic occupation, plus examples of portable art from the period, including two figurative engravings attributed to Creswell Crags. The Magdalenian era was the last time that Europe was unified ‘in a real sense and on a grand scale’ (Paul Pettitt, quoted in The Guardian, 15 April 2004) and the conference organizers realized that to fully appreciate and understand the Creswell art, it must be considered in its wider continental context. The conference in Creswell was conceived to bring together specialists from across Europe and to place the art of Creswell in its European setting. The conference was held at the Social Centre in Creswell from 15 to 17 April 2004, and was organized by the team who had discovered the art, along with Andrew Chamberlain of the University of Sheffield and Ian Wall of the Creswell Heritage Trust. The Creswell Crags project is at the heart of regeneration in this former rural coalfield area. Indeed, Jon Humble (English Heritage 2003) has described the project in glowing terms as, ‘quite possibly the best and most successful example of an archaeology-led project for social and economic regeneration anywhere in the UK’.