The Gondershausen Engravings may represent the oldest rock art in Germany

The engravings discovered on a slate rock face near the village of Gondershausen in the Hunsruck Mountains in 2010 represent the northernmost example of open-air Palaeolithic rock art in Europe, and the first in Germany.

Analysis of the style and technique of the Hunsruck images reveals significant parallels with Palaeolithic cave art from other parts of Europe, most notably France. The oldest of the images at Gondershausen-three horses in particular-may be attributed to the Aurignacian or Gravettian. The survival of these Palaeolithic engravings through the Last Glacial Maximum is testimony to the unusual circumstances of their preservation.

Journal: Antiquity

First Palaeolithic rock art in Germany: engravings on Hunsruck slate

Wolfgang Welker

DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2015.136

---