Archaeologists Make Stunning Find of Prehistoric Engraved Rock
Archaeologists in Marbella, Spain have uncovered a rock which contains ancient prehistoric engravings, Ancient Origins reported.
The remarkable artifact was discovered in the Coto Correa site in Marbella's Las Chapas district. Scientists believe that the engravings could be as many as 200,000 years old, which would place their creation in the Lower Paleolithic era. Coto Correa has been the subject of much archaeological interest ever since 1950, when stone tools were found at the site. Since then, scientists have recovered a cadre of artifacts which they estimate are at least tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands, of years old.
The rock which contains the etchings is a stone block erected from the volcanic rock gabbro. On its surface are a series of 'deliberate' carvings which align with the rock's angles. The drawings differ from many of the prehistoric cave paintings discovered from the Upper Paleolithic period in that they are completely geometric and do not depict humans, animals, or any other recognizable items.Researchers are still puzzling over what the inscriptions meant to the people who carved them, but it's hypothesized that they served as a preliminary form of record keeping. They could have been used to track seasons; notable achievements within the community; the quantity of food and other items; or possibly served as a method of property identification, meaning the person who engraved the rock then owned it.
If scientists are correct about the stone's lineage, it could be one of the oldest examples of rock art known to man. To date, the earliest examples discovered are believed to belong to the Upper Paleolithic era, originating after 50,000 B.C.
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