10,000-year-old crayon discovered in UK

LONDON: Archaeologists have unearthed thousand-year-old crayons in Britain and speculations are that these were the crayons used by our ancestors 10,000 years ago for application of colour to animal skins and artwork.

The set of crayons were discovered near an ancient lake at Scarborough in North Yorkshire. It is being said that the area where the crayons were unearthed from, is already rich in art and the archaeologists have possible reasons to believe that there could be an artistic use of the crayons and a pebble discovered near it.

The pebble which was discovered on the opposite side of the lake, had a streaked surface, likely to have been scraped off to produce red pigment powder. The crayon is 22mm long and 7mm wide.

The Journal of Archaeological Science reports that people collected ochre and used it for different purposes in the Mesolithic period.

“Colour is a very significant part of the hunters’ life and ochre gives off a very vibrant red colour,” said lead author Andy Needham from University of York.