While the research has been hailed as a significant “rediscovery”, mystery remains around the meaning behind the art.
Nash, associate professor of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and a research fellow at Liverpool University, said: “We, in our 21st Century mindset, call it art, but at 17,100 years ago BP (before present), it probably was a communication system, for example…
“It’s something which is way beyond our comprehension, and that’s the big problem. We can’t work that one out. I mean, if we were to find a lot more panels like it, then we could start making quite important about it, but as yet, we’ve found nothing.”
Speaking on Radio Wales, Nash added the horizontal bands could be “tally marks”, perhaps from people telling others they had been at that cave for a number of years.