Oz scientists find 10,000-year-old stone carvings

Malaysia Sun (ANI) Saturday 12th February, 2011

Australian scientists have stumbled upon ancient stone carvings in an East Timorese cave dating back at least 10,000 years.

Though they had been looking for the fossilised remains of extinct giant rats, CSIRO's Dr Ken Aplin accidentally saw the stylised face carvings in the limestone roof.

"One of our East Timorese colleagues was sitting up on top of a big block of limestone and I looked up to see what he was up to and as I did, my head-torch shone across the face of the limestone and I saw these incredible faces engraved on the surface," ABC News quoted him as saying.

"I called out to Sue, the archaeologist, 'Sue - you didn't tell me there were faces engraved here' and she said 'there aren't any' and I went 'come and have a look at this' and her mouth fell open when she saw them."

The carvings, or petroglyphs, are frontal, stylised faces each with eyes, a nose and a mouth. One has a circular headdress with rays that frame the face.

The findings were published in the journal Antiquity. (ANI)