Yorkshires 11,000-year-old secret

Our county is home to an ancient site as important as Stonehenge, yet few Yorkshire residents know its there. Christina Surdhar investigates the settlement at Star Carr

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etween Seamer and Filey, in a field off the A64, lie the remains of the settlement known as Star Carr. The people who once lived there, around the edge of an ancient lake, were some of the first humans to inhabit Britain after the last Ice Age the site dates back to 9000 BC. It is a staggering date, and this is not just a small area with a few finds. It is big; bigger than anyone previously imagined, and each time a new area is excavated, something of national, or even international significance, is unearthed. It is little wonder that in archaeological circles Star Carr is world famous. Its one of the best-known sites, Dr Nicky Milner, senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of York, says. In fact,

in British Archaeology magazine, it was featured recently as one of the big outstanding questions in archaeology. Its the same as Stonehenge; its that kind of level. Its taught about in universities around the world: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and America. Nicky is a co-director of the Star Carr site, along with Barry Taylor and Chantal Conneller from the University of Manchester, but the first excavations took place there under Grahame Clarke in the 1950s, which wowed the archaeological world with its findings. There were sections of trees with intact bark, looking as though they were felled yesterday rather than 11,000 years ago, barbed points used in hunting, beads, tools, plant and animal remains, a timber platform built out on to the lake providing the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe, and, most famous of all, the stag head-dresses.
Above: Hornsea Mere is a similar landscape to Mesolithic Star Carr (Photograph: Christina Surdhar) Right: Dr Nicky Milner (Photograph: Star Carr Project)

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Above: Grahame Clarks excavation in 1950 (Photograph: courtesy of Scarborough Archaeology and History Society) Above right: Matching shot of excavation in 2010 in the same trench (Photograph: Star Carr project) Right: Howick House, a reconstruction of a Mesolithic dwelling, like the one found at Star Carr (Photograph: Clive Waddington)

These were sections of red-deer skull with antler attached, which were smoothed out inside and pierced to be worn on the head. It was first thought that they could have been used during hunting, but theories of ritual purposes are now more favoured. As well as the quality, range and amazing preservation of the artefacts, the quantity is also significant. Twenty-one stag head-dresses have been found at Star Carr, the only ones save for a few in Europe. There have been 193 barbed points, making up 97 per cent of all those found in the UK. In more recent excavations, the discoveries have continued, most notably the remains of a dwelling, dated to 8500 BC, making it Britains oldest house. With such amazing finds, it is difficult to believe that Star Carr isnt on our local map of attractions, but as Nicky Milner points out, there is little to see on the site itself other than a field; it is what is underneath that field that is important. Theres nothing in museums around here, she adds, commenting on why Star Carr is relatively unknown. And even in the British Museum there are only a couple of artefacts in a very small case. The Mesolithic isnt a period that people have really heard about either, so for most people theres no way of getting a handle on it. At least now weve got the internet so theres at least some way of getting information out there. Star Carr is throwing significant light on the period known as the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age. It was the time just after the last ice age, when the climate was changing fast after the thaw, and when Britain was still joined to Europe by a land bridge. The first people back in to repopulate the country have been thought of as very mobile nomadic groups, and very few in number, but Star Carr is showing a different picture. Continuously inhabited over several hundred years, a substantial community was clearly resident there a community of people not very different from us, but living in very different conditions. Recent discoveries at the site, however, have been bittersweet. Although it has been found that the settlement is bigger than anyone previously imagined, it was also found that environmental conditions have changed and the archaeology is deteriorating fast. Weve only scratched the surface, Nicky 000

says. I think weve only covered about five per cent, so goodness knows whats in the rest. Finding exactly what is in the rest may prove to be a real race against time. Last year, the site was awarded an urgency grant from the Natural Environment Research Council to assess the state of the preservation of the timber platform and artefacts. A trench was dug to replicate the one dug by Grahame Clark in 1950, and the peat preserving the artefacts was shown to have shrunk, due to acidic conditions. The site is now in the process of being scheduled by English Heritage, which the Star Carr team hope will raise its profile and be a stamp of approval in applications to fund further excavations. Currently, there is no work taking place there. We cant really progress at all till weve got money, Nicky says. Funding is a big issue. But weve applied for some European funding and if we get that well be working there again next summer and probably for the next five years; so fingers crossed. Star Carr, if you go to see it, looks very different from how it would have done at its time of inhabitation, but Hornsea Mere, the ancient lake a little further down the Yorkshire coast, gives an impression of what it would have been like with its waterweed swamp and areas of woodland around it. The amazing discoveries at Starr Carr itself, however, are continuing to build a picture of what life was like in the Middle Stone Age. And perhaps one day, Yorkshire will be as well known for its Mesolithic past as it is for other aspects of its history. For further information on the Star Carr project, visit: www.starcarr.com