According to new research, prehistoric people created art by using firelight

Examining 50 engraved stones discovered in France revealed that our forefathers most likely created intricate artwork by firelight.

According to the new study, the stones were incised with artistic designs around 15,000 years ago and have patterns of heat damage that suggest they were carved close to the flickering light of a fire.

Researchers from the Universities of York also Durham examined a collection of engraved stones known as plaquettes, now housed in the British Museum. They were most likely made with stone tools by Magdalenian people, an early hunter-gatherer culture that existed between 23,000 also 14,000 years ago.

The researchers discovered patterns of pink heat damage around the edges of some of the stones, indicating that they had been placed near a fire.

Following their discovery, the researchers experimented with replicating the stones themselves, using 3D models also virtual reality software to recreate the plaquettes like prehistoric artists would have seen them. Under fireside light conditions and with the new white lines, engravers would have made thousands of years ago when they first cut into the rock.

Dr. Andy Needham of the University of York's Department of Archaeology and Co-Director of the York Experimental Archaeology Research Centre, the study's lead author, stated, "It had previously been assumed that the heat damage see on some plaquettes was likely to have been generated by accident, but experiments with replica plaquettes showed the damage was some consistent with being purposefully positioned close to a fire."

"We might guess of art as being created on a empty canvas in daylight or with a fixed light source in the modern-day, but we now know that people 15,000 years ago were new art around a fire at night, with flickering shapes and shadows."