Rare 11,000 year old pendant is the oldest Mesolithic art ever found in the UK

[Confounding]

Cool.

Rare 11,000 year old pendant is the oldest Mesolithic art ever found in the UK - Redorbit

An 11,000-year-old pendant discovered in North Yorkshire was nearly mistaken for a regular piece of rock, but it turned out to be the rarest item of its kind ever found—because there’s nothing else quite like it. The triangular pendant, which was crafted from a single piece of shale, was found by archaeologists at an Early Mesolithic site in England known as Star Carr. Measuring roughly 1.22 by 1.38 inches (31 by 35 mm), it features the earliest known Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) art in all of Britain—a series of lines that have been variously interpreted as a tree, a map, a leaf, or simple tally marks.

Not only does the pendant contain the earliest Mesolithic art ever found in the UK, but engraved pendants from the same time period are extremely rare globally—and no other pendants found have been made of shale. "It was incredibly exciting to discover such a rare object,” said lead researcher Nicky Milner, of the Department of Archaeology at York, in a statement. “It is unlike anything we have found in Britain from this period. We can only imagine who owned it, how they wore it and what the engravings actually meant to them.”

 

[Syriusly]

Cool.

Rare 11,000 year old pendant is the oldest Mesolithic art ever found in the UK - Redorbit

An 11,000-year-old pendant discovered in North Yorkshire was nearly mistaken for a regular piece of rock, but it turned out to be the rarest item of its kind ever found—because there’s nothing else quite like it. The triangular pendant, which was crafted from a single piece of shale, was found by archaeologists at an Early Mesolithic site in England known as Star Carr. Measuring roughly 1.22 by 1.38 inches (31 by 35 mm), it features the earliest known Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) art in all of Britain—a series of lines that have been variously interpreted as a tree, a map, a leaf, or simple tally marks.

Not only does the pendant contain the earliest Mesolithic art ever found in the UK, but engraved pendants from the same time period are extremely rare globally—and no other pendants found have been made of shale. "It was incredibly exciting to discover such a rare object,” said lead researcher Nicky Milner, of the Department of Archaeology at York, in a statement. “It is unlike anything we have found in Britain from this period. We can only imagine who owned it, how they wore it and what the engravings actually meant to them.”

Fascinating- thanks for sharing.