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Archaeologists have discovered 12,000 - year - honest-to-goodness engraving of ahorseand four other animals engrave by Stone Age artist into sandstone in what is now southwest France .
geometrical ornamentation fence in the animals on the sandstone engraving , a telltale sign that whoever made them was part of theAzilian diligence , a prick custom in Europe that expand during the late Paleolithic and other Mesolithic , during which small stone tools were set into handles made of bone or antler . ( The Paleolithic is also known as the Old Stone Age , while the Mesolithic is the Middle Stone Age . )
Illustrations highlighting the 12,00-year-old engravings of the horses and other herbivores.
The sandstone slab is now broken , so the knight — which deal about half of the stone block — is headless . The buck ’s four legs and three hoof " are very realistic , " the National Archaeological Research Institute ( Inrap)said in a translated financial statement . [ Photos : Ancient Rock Art of Southern Africa ]
Alongside the brainless gymnastic horse are two , slightly smaller etching of animals — likely a metal money of deer and another horse . Theoutline of an aurochs , an extinct species of uncivilised cattle , is also visible . On the other side of the stone slab are all right lines delineating a horse rump .
archeologist set up the hefty slab — which is 10 inches tall and 7 column inch wide ( 25 by 18 centimeters ) — during excavations near the Angoulême caravan post , north of Bordeaux . This internet site was once used by prehistorical Azilian hunter , according to previous discoveries of ancient equipment , such as stone scraper , found there that would have help Paleolithic people prepare and eat meat .
A sandstone that was engraved with images of horses and other animals about 12,000 years ago.
Earlier dig have alsorevealed fireplaces , piles of pebbles that could have been heated for cooking purposes and brute bones . Moreover , archaeologists have unearth arrowheads and geld flints from this site , Inrap state .
The newly discovered animal engraving will be give to the public at a local showing on June 15 .
Originally publish onLive Science .
