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Amateur Archaeologist Reckons He's Discovered Britain's Oldest Selfie Carved Into A Rock

Amateur Archaeologist Reckons He's Discovered Britain's Oldest Selfie Carved Into A Rock

It's 4,000 years old.

Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan

An amateur archaeologist believes that he has stumbled across the first ever selfie, which is 4,000 years old.

Gordon Holmes, from Shipley, discovered the ancient 'picture' carved into a rock on Baildon Moor in Yorkshire.

64-year-old Gordon, who has dedicated his life to studying the weathered ancient carvings, said: "I realised that I was looking at a Stone Age selfie.

"It also shows a stick figure, which I presume is the artist, sitting or standing in the local landscape or round a fire with almost like a speech bubble above their head showing Cassiopeia above him. It is as if he has carved a selfie of himself."

Personally I can't see it, unless it's been made to look like a selfie taken with one of Snapchat's many funny filters - which would mean the fella who carved it was well ahead of his time.

Credit: SWNS

The 'drawn' selfie appears to sit beneath a drawing of Cassiopeia, a constellation named after the vain queen in Greek mythology.

The retired engineer and IT technician admits that stuff like hieroglyphics drawn by ancient Egyptians are much older, but believes that this 'selfie' is the first of its kind in Britain, and that it's a marker in history.

"I know there could be earlier interpretations of selfies, such as those drawn in hieroglyphics by the Ancient Egyptians, but this stone carving selfie on Baildon Moor may well be the earliest example in Britain," he said. "My father said to me all those years ago that no-one knew what the markings were, so I made it a mission to find out."

I wouldn't want to sit here and tell him it's not a selfie, because he's far more qualified in this type of thing, but whichever way you look at it, it just looks like a weathered rock.

I prefer this rock selfie...

One thing is for sure, there's no sign of a 'duck face' in the Stone Age pic, meaning it's far less annoying than a lot of selfies that end up on social media nowadays.

According to Gordon there are many more 'cup and ring stones around the moors' that have been carved into, so he may yet find another, and unearth a sort of Stone Age social media in the heart of Yorkshire.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS