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Red stripes in Welsh cave declared Britain’s oldest art after being dismissed as a natural phenomenon

Dismissed as a natural phenomenon for more than a century, red stripes on a rock in Wales have been found to be the oldest known prehistoric art in Britain. Grouped from 2 articles across 2 sources.

2 reports2 sourcesJun 1, 2026, 12:53 PM
FilterNBC News
Clustered coverageNBC News, The Guardian
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NBC NewsJun 1, 2026, 12:53 PM

Red stripes in Welsh cave declared Britain’s oldest art after being dismissed as a natural phenomenon

Dismissed as a natural phenomenon for more than a century, red stripes on a rock in Wales have been found to be the oldest known prehistoric art in Britain.

The GuardianJun 1, 2026, 6:00 AM

Striped rock dismissed as natural in 1928 reclassified as UK’s oldest cave art

Scientific dating proves streaks on walls of Bacon Hole, near the Mumbles in south Wales, is Palaeolithic rock art In 1912, the Guardian reported on the discovery of Palaeolithic rock art on the walls of Bacon Hole, a cave near the Mumbles in south Wales – only for the painted panel’s authenticity to be dismissed by 1928. A series of horizontal bands in red pigment were subsequently deemed no more than a natural phenomenon and the newspaper added an updated statement : “It was later established that the red streaks … turned out to be red oxide mineral seeping through the rock and not prehistoric art.” Continue reading...

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