This is a claim being made by some over the recent discovery in Jersey, as reported online by Jonathan Webb for the BBC - 'Ice Age engravings found at Jersey archaeological site.'

The engraved stone fragments appear to be from larger tablets. Image: Sarah Duffy/Ice Age Island

A dig in Jersey has yielded a stash of hunter-gatherer artefacts from the end of the last Ice Age, including stone pieces criss-crossed by carved lines. They are similar to engravings found from the same period in continental Europe, but are the first of their kind in the British Isles. Archaeologists estimate them to be at least 14,000 years old. If this can be confirmed, the markings pre-date the earliest known art in the UK, which was found carved into stone walls and bones at Creswell Crags in Derbyshire in 2003.

Dr Chantal Conneller, senior lecturer at the University of Manchester and co-director of the Ice Age Island project which for five years has been working on the Les Varines site in the south east area of Jersey, is reasonably confident that the art can be defined as non-representational Magdalenian art. The Magdalenians were one of several hunter-gatherer cultures which gradually re-colonised Europe as the ice retreated, 16,000 to 13,000 years ago. The stone fragments, probably from larger tablets, with engraved lines are known from Magdalenian camps in France and Germany.

Her colleague Dr Silvia Bello, from London's Natural History Museum, is currently analysing the fragments using different microscopic techniques. Already it is clear that the stones are not natural to the site, they show clear incised lines - with an organisation to the design - consistent with being made by stone tools, and they do not have any obvious functional role such as a cutting board. Moreover, the imprint of several different stone tools in the Jersey fragments suggests they have been re-engraved over time.

The timing of the camp is currently based on the cultural similarity with other, well-studied Magdalenian sites in Europe; sometime between 15,000 and 14,500 years ago. This might well represent some of the first hunter-gather communities to re-colonise the north of Europe after the coldest period of the last Ice Age.

Visit the British Isles Prehistory Archive:

http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/british_isles_prehistory_archive/index.php