The Star Carr Frontlets (also known as the Star Carr Headdresses) are a series of modified deer skulls, probably worn by people, from the Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire.
Discovery edit
The site at Star Carr was first excavated in 1949 by Grahame Clark. He found the first headdresses at this time and their discovery was published in the 1954 monograph Excavations At Star Carr: An Early Mesolithic Site at Seamer Near Scarborough, Yorkshire. A total of 21 headdresses made from red deer skulls were found in this excavation and these were donated to the British Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and the Rotunda Museum. A later series of excavations by the led by Nicky Milner, Chantal Conneller, and Barry Taylor from 2004 to 2010 and then 2013–2015 discovered a further twelve red deer frontlets as well as some roe deer examples.
Since the first discoveries at Star Carr, antler frontlets have been found at ten prehistoric sites in northern Europe.[1]
Creation edit
A 2016 scientific paper published in PLOS ONE, and led by Aimée Little, discussed a technological analysis of creating a red deer headdress. In it, the authors summarised a manufacturing sequence of a headdress: "a mature red deer male was killed in autumn or winter before the antlers were shed. The head was removed, probably superficially cleaned, before work commenced on producing the headdress. The first stage of the process may have been focused on the beams to remove a large amount of antler, some of which may have formed ‘blanks’ for the production of barbed projectile tips which were then used to hunt and fish... at this point there are two diverging hypotheses: a tool was used to chop through the skin, initiating the de-skinning process; or the skin was left on, the upper half of the cranium covered with damp clay, before being placed into the embers of a fire. The skull was subsequently retrieved, and the charred bone removed using a small hammerstone. After removing the clay, the skin (if remaining) was peeled away from the frontal and parietal bones...Perforations on each side of the cranium were made using a hand-held flint core tool."[2]
Function edit
The frontlets have been interpreted as functioning as headdresses based on the reduction of the antlers to make them lighter, the inclusion of perforations for a strap or cord to be attached, and the smoothing of the interior of the braincase for a more comfortable fit on a human head.[3] In his original 1954 work Clark also suggested that they could have functioned as disguises for hunting deer or as costumes for ritualised dancing.[4] Conneller argued that the headdresses could have "facilitated a bodily transformation". She argues that this was not a literal transformation into deer, but something that affected change in a human by taking on the effects of an animal.[5]
Public dissemination edit
Museums edit
Frontlets have been on public display in museums where they are held. Perhaps the most famous frontlet, in the British Museum, has frequently been on display in that museum and elsewhere. In 2006–2007 it was in the Westfalisches Museum für Archäologie (Bonn, Germany). In 2012 it featured in the Shakespeare: Staging the World exhibition at the British Museum, and then was again exhibited there in 2022 during The World of Stonehenge exhibition.[6]
A frontlet is in the collection of the Rotunda Museum, where it is in public display.[7]
The frontlet in the collection of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was recently on display in an exhibition titled A Survival Story: prehistoric life at Star Carr (21 June 2018 – 19 April 2020) along with a headdress from the recent excavations.[8][9]
The frontlets discovered in the 2004–2015 excavations are in the collection of the Yorkshire Museum. Four frontlets went on display as part of the After the Ice: Yorkshire's Prehistoric People exhibition in 2012.[10] A large group of frontlets will be displayed from March 2024 in the Star Carr: Life after the Ice exhibition at the museum.[11]
Stamp edit
In 2017 Royal Mail issued a £1.05 stamp featuring a person wearing one of the Star Carr Frontlets.[12][13]
References edit
- ^ Wild, Markus; Gehlen, Birgit; Street, Martin (2020). "Antler Headdresses. Implications from a many-faceted study of an earliest Mesolithic phenomenon". Quartär–Internationales Jahrbuch zur Erforschung des Eiszeitalters und der Steinzeit. 67.
- ^ Aimée Little; Benjamin Elliott; Chantal Conneller; Diederik Pomstra; Adrian A. Evans; Laura C. Fitton; Andrew Holland; Robert Davis; Rachel Kershaw; Sonia O’Connor; Terry O’Connor; Thomas Sparrow; Andrew S. Wilson; Peter Jordan; Matthew J. Collins; André Carlo Colonese; Oliver E. Craig; Rebecca Knight; Alexandre J. A. Lucquin; Barry Taylor; Nicky Milner (13 April 2016). "Technological Analysis of the World's Earliest Shamanic Costume: A Multi-Scalar, Experimental Study of a Red Deer Headdress from the Early Holocene Site of Star Carr, North Yorkshire, UK". PLOS ONE. 11 (4): e0152136. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1152136L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152136. PMC 4830440. PMID 27073850.
- ^ Barry Taylor; Chantal Conneller; Nicky Milner; Ben Elliott; Aimée Little; Becky Knight; Michael Bamforth. "Human Lifeways". Star Carr Volume 1: A Persistent Place in a Changing World. White Rose University Press. pp. 247–270.
- ^ Clark, J.G.D. (1954). Excavations At Star Carr: An Early Mesolithic Site at Seamer Near Scarborough, Yorkshire. Cambridge University Press. p. 170.
- ^ Chantal Conneller (2004). "Becoming deer: Corporeal transformations at Star Carr". Archaeological Dialogues. 11 (1): 37–56. doi:10.1017/S1380203804001357. S2CID 145399112.
- ^ "head-dress". British Museum. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ "Antler Headdress". Scarborough Museums and Galleries. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Lucia Marchini (23 May 2019). "Review – A Survival Story: prehistoric life at Star Carr". Current Archaeology. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ "A Survival Story – Prehistoric Life at Star Carr (21 June 2018 – 19 April 2020)". MAA. 29 March 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ "AFTER THE ICE: YORKSHIRE'S PREHISTORIC PEOPLE". Yorkshire Museum. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ "Star Carr Stone Age treasures to go on display". BBC News. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- ^ "STAR CARR HEADDRESS CELEBRATED AS PART OF ROYAL MAIL 'ANCIENT BRITAIN' SPECIAL STAMPS". Yorkshire Museum. January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ "Ancient Britain". Collect GB Stamps. Retrieved 31 January 2024.