The archaeological site at Star Carr near Scarborough has been described as the most important Mesolithic site in Britain. The Mesolithic is the middle Stone Age, from around 10,000 to 4,000 years ago. Britain at the time was inhabited by hunter-gatherers who had moved northwards as the last Ice Age came to an end, while Britain was still attached to the continent.
Star Carr site was situated on the edge of an ancient lake - Lake Flixton – and the peaty conditions have given us unusually well preserved organic material such as animal bones and wood. These have provided us with a new picture of how Mesolithic people lived.
The site was first uncovered by John Moore in 1947, who found a piece of worked flint in the carr lands between Flixton and Scarborough. Over successive digs, archaeologists found nearly 200 barbed points (used for hunting), which represent 95% of those found in Britain. They also found horse bones, flint tools and a boat paddle.
The most iconic finds from Star Carr are the headdresses made from deer skulls, with three holes drilled in them so that they can be worn. These are the only examples ever found in Britain, and archaeologists have imagined they were used in shamanistic ceremonies, or they may have been used as camouflage in hunting. Some of the headdresses can be seen at the Rotunda Museum.
In 2010, archaeologists discovered the remains of a house which was dated to roughly 8,500 BCE (BC), making it the oldest known house in Britain. It consists of a circular hollow, 3.5 metres (11½ ft) across, surrounded by post holes, with suggestions of a hearth inside and a site for making tools like arrows and axes. The house was occupied over a long period, suggesting that ‘hunter-gatherers’ were more settled than we had previously thought. Star Carr also includes a long (over ten metre) wooden platform, once on the lake’s edge, containing evidence of the oldest carpentry in Europe. The purpose of the platform – launching boats or performing rituals – is unclear.
An engraved shale pendant, discovered in 2015 at Star Carr and covered in mysterious criss-crossing lines, is the only one of its kind found in Britain, and is the country’s oldest Mesolithic art.
