GESTURE · MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC

Engraved stone

The cross-hatched engraving at Gorham's Cave

A few lines engraved on a cave floor show that someone wanted to leave a mark.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

User-supplied photograph of the Gorham reticulate: deep intersecting lines on a rock surface. — **USER-SUPPLIED PHOTOGRAPH · NATIVE RESOLUTION 800 × 420 PX**
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
User-supplied photograph of the Gorham engraving. The received JPEG is preserved intact, without cropping, retouching or upscaling, at its native resolution of 800 × 420 pixels. Authorship and source licence unidentified; no open licence is attributed. The archaeological sources in the entry document the engraving, not the provenance of this photograph.
Unidentified authorship · user-supplied photograph · Source licence unidentified; no open licence attributed.
Source and provenance ↗

History and context

On a rock platform in Gorham’s Cave, someone traced a network of deep lines. The grooves were gone over patiently until they formed a visible design in the inhabited space; afterwards, sediments hid it for tens of millennia.

Experimental replication calculated between 188 and 317 strokes of a stone point. We do not know what it meant, but its planning turns a minimal mark into powerful evidence of sustained attention.

Evidence and interpretation

The stratigraphy and experimental replica support that it was a deliberate engraving. Its attribution to Neanderthals is contextual and very solid; its meaning remains unknown.

Catalogue facts

Date: Before ≈39,000 cal BP
Location: Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar
Material: Calcareous-dolomitic rock · stone tool
Find context: Mousterian level IV

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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Before ≈39,000 cal BP

Engraved stone

Prehistory

Terminus ante quem 39,000 cal BP; no closed initial terminus.

Current record

Stone19 dated objects

1 / 19In the centre: Swanscombe handaxe

Also connected, without a comparable date (9)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A White Wall on the DanubeCeltic worlds · 6th century BCE
CemeteryIndus civilisation · ca. 2600–1900 BCE
Four gardens and waterAchaemenid Persia · 6th century BCE
Kumbi SalehMande Worlds · medieval occupation; prominent phases between the 11th and 13th centuries
Soma stonesVedic and later Indian worlds · Rigvedic strata; later ritual tradition
The quarry remained visibleGojoseon and early Korea · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE
The Thracian HorsemanThracians · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE
Tichitt wallsMande Worlds · II–I millennia BCE
Writing with gapsGaramantes · Diverse chronologies

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Engraving

Current object, without a comparable date: Engraved stone.

Engraved ochre from Blombos · ≈77,000–75,000 years · Prehistory
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or · Early Neolithic · VI–V millennia BCE · Prehistory
Before Nubia · V–IV millennium BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Before Gojoseon · Middle Neolithic, c. 4000 BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer
Guadancil idol-plaque · 3750–2500 cal BCE · Iberians
Staff of Anta 4 · Late 4th–first half of the 3rd millennium BCE. · Prehistory
Linear A · c. 1700–1500 BCE · Greek worlds
The Cascajal Block · Proposed c. 1000–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Motagua jade · c. 900–600 BCE · Maya worlds
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Twenty-six voiceless signs · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Urewe vessel · regional range c. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Lukasa · 19th–20th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A tradition that invents · collected in 1993 or 1995 · Batwa / Twa histories
Ishango, without genealogical shortcut · More than 20,000 years; context ca. 25,000–20,000 BP · Batwa / Twa histories
Vessels without a language · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes

Geometric motifs

Current object, without a comparable date: Engraved stone.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Ishango, without genealogical shortcut · More than 20,000 years; context ca. 25,000–20,000 BP · Batwa / Twa histories

Rock art

Current object, without a comparable date: Engraved stone.

Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Quinkan Country · Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A mark is also investigated through its accidents

The study compared the grooves with natural cracks and marks produced by cutting hide on stone. It is not enough for several lines to cross: their profile, depth and microscopic traces must explain how they were made. The mineral crust covering parts of the design provides another clue, as it formed after the incisions. Thus a sequence of actions is reconstructed without knowing its message. The attribution does not come from recognising a ‘Neanderthal style’, but from combining technology, stratigraphy and surface analysis.

Research · Rodríguez-Vidal et al. · PNAS supplementary material, 2014Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Gorham’s Cave · GibraltarArchaeological site marker.

Where it is held

Gibraltar National Museum

Replica or reconstruction · Permanent exhibition

The museum displays a cast of the engraving; the original remains in situ in Gorham’s Cave.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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Engraved stone

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Engraved stone

Swanscombe handaxe

Engraved ochre from Blombos

Before the San

Before the name San

Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe

Grinding stone from Çakmaktepe

Warka Mask

Cylinder seal

Uruk Vase

Narmer Palette

Worshiper of Tell Asmar

Statue of Ebih-Il

Weights

Lamassu of Khorsabad

Ashurbanipal Hunt

Heads on the wall

Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar

The statue was the urn

The inscription of Pistiros

A closer look

A mark is also investigated through its accidents

Location and territory

Where it is held

Gibraltar National Museum

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?