Following my recent archaeology blog topics and as Covid-19 lockdown is unfortunately still with us, I have continued my studies with a short course on the Mesolithic hunter gathers of Star Carr, by Future Learn / University of York.
Star Carr is a unique archaeological site of world heritage importance in North Yorkshire, dating back 11,000 years. It was continuously, or near continuously, occupied for 800 years.
 |
| Antler frontlet headdress |
The artefacts at Star Carr have redefined preconceptions of hunter gatherer life in the middle stone age. Enigmatic finds such has red deer antler headdresses (the frontlets are displayed in the Rotunda Museum, Scarborough) and an exquisitely carved pendant, indicate a society which had capacity to devote time and energy to creativity and ritual. A group, or tribe, which did so much better than living on the edge of existence.
 |
| Star Carr today |
I visited Star Carr a couple of years ago. The area nowadays is an unassuming area of arable farmland. But back in the Mesolithic there was a large lake, left as glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. It was surrounded by birch and willow forests, with reeds at the shore edge. Undemanding, pioneer species which thrived on thin, poor soil. The hunter gatherers shared their wild environment with aurochs (wild bovines), roe and red deer, elk, boar, bear and wolf. On the lake people fished for perch and pike using barbed point harpoons.
This superb atmospheric CGI reconstruction of Star Carr, by Anthony Masinton, was created for the Star Carr Archaeology Project:
At that time, with ice still locked in the receding glaciers, the sea level was much lower than today and the British land mass was connected to the continent, by a vast plain we call Doggerland. As more ice melted and sea levels rose, Doggerland became an island surrounded by salt marsh. A recent hypothesis suggests much of the remaining coastal land was flooded by a megatsunami around 6200BC, caused by a submarine landslide off the coast of Norway, known as the Storegga Slide.
Tony Robinson discusses this in the 2013 Time Team Special:
At 35 mins, features Star Carr artefacts presented by Director Of Archaeology, Dr. Nicky Milner and Time Team's Phil Harding.
Star Carr was too far inland to be affected by the tsunami. But over time, Lake Flixton became a paleolake. As plants at the lake edge lived and died, hydroseral succession took place; peat formed and detrital muds accumulated. The shore of the lake edged inward and the depth became shallower, until it was little more than a swamp.
This peat, with its high water content, low oxygen levels and slightly acidic pH, prohibited biological decomposition and preserved the wood, antler and bone artefacts which were deposited into the lake. Items which under normal conditions would have been broken down by bacteria, microbes an fungi in just a few years. It is this rare combination of circumstances which makes Star Carr so special.
 |
| Star Carr beads |
But, why did our ancestors place such importance upon deliberate deposition of their possessions into the lake? We can only guess, but it seems likely this was associated with a belief system where items such as the deer head dresses, harpoon points, bow and digging sticks, must be returned to water, by votive offerings. The surface of the lake perhaps represented a membrane to a spiritual realm. Not all of the artefacts had been used. Laboratory examination showed no signs of wear on some.
 |
| Star Carr pendant - picture credit starcarr.com |
Among the artefacts found at Star Carr was a number of beads and an incredibly rare pendant, engraved with a barbed line motif. Mesolithic art worldwide is extremely uncommon, the nearest comparison is a style found in Denmark.
 |
| Star Carr pendant - illustration Chloe Watson / starcarr.com |
This itself is remarkable and suggests some form of trade or exchange of items or ideas even before the Neolithic revolution. However, geographically, let's not forget that at that time there was the Doggerland connection across what is now the North Sea.
 |
| Lochbuie, Isle of Mull |
I was aware of the Star Carr pendant before I began the Future Learn / York University course. I had it in mind to attempt a recreation of my own (to compliment my series
Stone Age Crafts) when I visited the Isle Of Mull at Christmas.
Walking along the sea shore near Lochbuie there are a series of caves, with fresh water cascades nearby. In the Mesolithic, the shore would have been much further away. But, with a little imagination one could picture a scene of strandloping hunter gatherers using the caves as a temporary seasonal camp. Further along I came across a beach of small, flat, pebbles.
 |
| Lochbuie pebbles |
This was good, the Star Carr beads and pendant were made from pebbles of Lias shale which eroded out of nearby rivers and found along the Yorkshire coast around Robin Hood's bay and Ravenscar. I selected a handful of pebbles, of the right proportions and kept them ready for this project.
 |
| Marked up in pencil ready for working |
Even with more time on my hands due the Covid-19 lockdown. I still would not have the time available to bore the hole in each bead with a flint burin, as our Mesolithic ancestors would have done. Time would have had a much different meaning in the Mesolithic. The nearest contemporary equivalent that I have experienced is life in remote, subsistence economies in East Africa.
 |
| Bush camp in southern Tanzania |
For example, the cooking process, from preparation - over an open flame - to serving, takes a very long time. Far removed from the instant electricity and gas hobs we're used to in the UK. It seems no sooner has one meal finished it's not long until it's time to start preparing another. For women in traditional gender based roles, their day starts early, rekindling the fire. Then in between preparing meals, spending time in the fields or at the market, gathering food. Day after day, not an easy life.
 |
| Beans for wali na maharage, 24 hours preparation required |
It's not too far a leap of imagination and probability that such roles were none too different in the Mesolithic. Where many tasks undertaken by males and females took much longer than we are used to. Add to this the very real danger of broken bones, septic trauma, or a painful death while hunting dangerous animals such as wild aurochs.
 |
| Cutting using rotary tool |
For my version of the Star Carr pendant, I selected the finest tip cutter for my rotary tool. But even before I started cutting, the marking up process highlighted what exquisite, detailed work had been accomplished on the original pendant. I realised, I could not exactly reproduce the flint etched lines as even the 0.5mm finest tool cutter was too big.
While etching the pendant, even with reading glasses on and being extraordinarily careful, I struggled to see the fine lines.This made me think of a number of inferences and practicalities when the Mesolithic pendant was created...
- Was it was etched during day rather than night, as the human eye functions better in daylight?
- Was the creator very short sighted, giving them the aptitude to work the almost vanishing micro-detail with such precision?
- Was the creator a younger person, with better eyesight than an older person who's eyes with age tend toward long sightedness?
 |
| My version of the Star Carr pendant. Length 33mm |
In comparison to the original, my attempt is rather crude, however it was fun to do and it raised some interesting and worthwhile questions. What I can say is that the time to burr the hole was several hours quicker than in the Mesolithic. Hoorah for power tools (sometimes)!
So what do the patterns mean? Several possibilities have been proposed: A leaf, map, similarities to Medieval Ogram script (although way, way, too early). Here we step into the realm of speculation.
 |
| Windmill Hill etched chalk motifs |
For me, the etchings on the Star Carr shale pendant are tantalisingly reminiscent of motives on chalk, dated to the Neolithic, found at Windmill Hill, not far from Avebury, Wiltshire.
In the book 'Inside The Neolithic Mind' the authors (David Lewis-Williams & David Pearce) discuss Neolithic geometric rock cut art and how similar patterns have been produced by modern subjects under a range of psycotropic drugs. The authors go on to discuss that Neolithic imagery is connected with communicating the memory of a shamanic experience.
 |
| Credit: Inside The Neolithic Mind - Lewis Williams, Pearce |
The etchings on the Mesolithic pendant are similarly geometric, perhaps also reproduced from a shamanic experience. However, I suggest the work here is so fine that it too must have been done after ritual, rather than during it.
The repeatable patterns of consciousness from modern, Neolithic and Mesolithic examples are not 'exactly' the same. But this variation is (using Williams & Pearces's argument) due the individuals brain and influences of cultural cosmology of the time.
"Certain distinctive motifs are complexly derived from the structure and function of the human brain. This shows that human beings are not unthinking photocopiers. Cultural expectations control what people make of their hallucinations"
Similarities in archaeological petroglyphs have been noted from around the world, in civilisations and groups across continents which had no cultural connections. Thus lending further weight to the proposal that these geometric patterns are an artefact of the human brain rather than purely cultural.
 |
| Modern Star Carr bead and pendant set. |
It's unlikely that we will ever be wholly certain what the markings on the Star Carr pendant represent. However, it is a tantalising glimmer into the creative minds and beliefs of our Mesolithic ancestors.
Stu Westfield
Ranger Expeditions
Credits:
Star Carr Archaeology Project
Future Learn
Yorkshire University - Star Carr Research
No comments:
Post a Comment