A painted panel was first found in 1912 on the walls of Bacon Hole, a cave near the Mumbles in south Wales. The red stripes on the rock were at first thought to be prehistoric art. However, by 1928, experts had dismissed the marks as natural geological formations. They believed the red color came from iron oxide minerals seeping through the stone, not from human paint.
Now, over a century later, Dr George Nash and an international team have proven the original discovery was correct. Using modern scientific techniques, including uranium-thorium dating, they dated the artwork to approximately 17,100 years ago. This makes it the oldest known rock art in Britain and north-western Europe. The analysis also revealed the pigment recipe contained calcite and clay residues.
Sources: theguardian.com
The words in bold are from the article.
| 1. panel | a. section |
| 2. dismissed | b. rejected |
| 3. mineral | c. methods |
| 4. analysis | d. aged |
| 5. artwork | e. remnants |
| 6. techniques | f. about |
| 7. dated | g. showed |
| 8. approximately | h. creation |
| 9. revealed | i. examination |
| 10. residues | j. natural substance |
1.a 2.b 3.j 4.i 5.h 6.c 7.d 8.f 9.g 10.e