Experts hail Sex Pistols' graffiti

Obscene graffiti and cartoons drawn on the wall of the London flat where punk rockers The Sex Pistols were based in the 1970s should be treated with the same archaeological respect given to prehistoric cave art, scientists have claimed.

The drawings, which have recently come to light after the house in Denmark Street became offices, are so important for this period of Britain's cultural history that they should be preserved for future generations, even marked with a blue plaque on the outside of the building, said archaeologists Paul Graves-Brown and John Schofield of York University.

"This is an important site, historically and archaeologically, for the material and evidence it contains. But should we retain it for the benefit of this and future generations?" they ask in a study of the drawings for Antiquity magazine.

Most of the drawings appear to be the work of the band's lead singer, John Lydon. One shows the band's manager, Malcolm McLaren, clutching a wad of banknotes, another shows a spiky-haired Lydon sporting his notoriously rotten teeth.