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Uffington White Horse, Oxfordshire, UK

The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 110 m long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure has been shown to date back some 3, 000 years, to the Bronze Age, by means of optically stimulated luminescence dating carried out following archaeological investigations in 1994. These studies produced three dates ranging between 1400 and 600 BC. Iron Age coins that bear a representation comparable to the Uffington White Horse have been found, supporting the early dating of this artifact; counter suggestions that the figure was fashioned in the Anglo-Saxon period now seem untenable. Numerous other prominent prehistoric sites are located nearby, notably Wayland's Smithy long barrow. The Uffington is by far the oldest of the white horse figures in Britain, and is of an entirely different design from the others

© DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1689 Sir Isaac Newton portrait young

Sir Isaac Newton ( 4 January 1643 -31 March 1727). English physicist and mathematician. 18th Century Mezzotint portrait after the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller 1689, with later colouring. It shows Newton in his prime and is the earliest of the portraits. Newton is famous for his laws of motion and gravitation and remains one of the greatest scientists of all time. His opus magnus was his "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica". Other pursuits included optical physics, alchemy, religious and occult investigation, and preventing forgery while superintendant of the Royal Mint. He was widely viewed as an eccentric genius, but his human remains indicated mercury poisoning from his alchemy may have contributed to his instability. This version retains yellow age toning of original and is in the possession of the photographer.

© PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Al-Idrisi's world map, 1154

Al-Idrisi's world map. This world map, known as the 'Tabula Rogeriana', dates from 1154, and is orientated with North at bottom. It was drawn by Muhammad Al-Idrisi (1100-1165), an Islamic and Andalusian scholar working for King Roger II of Sicily. It is considered to have been the most accurate world map for the next three centuries. Regions shown include Europe (lower right), the Mediterranean Sea (centre right), North Africa (upper right), the Arabian Peninsula (upper centre), the Black Sea and Caspian Sea (lower centre), and parts of Asia (left). This is a restoration and transliteration carried out in 1927 by the German scholar Konrad Miller (1844-1933).

© LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, GEOGRAPHY AND MAP DIVISION/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY