Recent work at Star Carr: A POSTGLACIAL landscape study

Muge 150th

Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens—Volume 2 Edited by

Nuno Bicho, Cleia Detry, T. Douglas Price and Eugénia Cunha

Muge 150th: The 150th Anniversary of the Discovery of Mesolithic Shellmiddens— Volume 2 Edited by Nuno Bicho, Cleia Detry, T. Douglas Price and Eugénia Cunha This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Nuno Bicho, Cleia Detry, T. Douglas Price, Eugénia Cunha and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-8216-X ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-8216-3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword .................................................................................................... ix List of Contributors .................................................................................... xi Chapter One ................................................................................................ 1 A Few Steps Backwards … In Search of the Origins of the Late Mesolithic Ana Cristina Araújo Chapter Two ............................................................................................. 17 The Prehistoric Site of Prazo (Northern Portugal): Preliminary Data on the 8th Millennium Cal BC Occupation Sérgio Monteiro-Rodrigues Chapter Three ........................................................................................... 29 Beyond the Mesolithic Shell Middens: A Chrono-Cartographic Overview of the Ancient Peasant Communities in Muge Marco António Andrade, César Neves and Gonçalo Lopes Chapter Four ............................................................................................. 43 Approach to the Macrolithic Industry from El Conejar Cave (Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain) Upper Breccia Mª Dolores Mejías del Cosso, Fº Javier García Vadillo, Antoni Canals i Salomó and Eudald Carbonell i Roura Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 61 Evolution of Procurement and Management Strategies of Lithic Raw Materials in the Mesolithic of Atxoste (Alava, Spain) Adriana Soto, Antonio Tarriño and Alfonso Alday Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 75 Open-air Mesolithic Sites in the Central Mediterranean Region of Spain: New Evidence and Research Directions Javier Fernández-López de Pablo, Carlos Ferrer García, Magdalena Gómez-Puche, Carmen Tormo Cuñat and Alfred Sanchís Serra

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Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 93 Last Hunter-gatherers: Socioecological Dynamics in Mediterranean Iberia Oreto García Puchol, Salvador Pardo Gordó, J. Emili Aura Tortosa and Jesús F. Jordá Pardo Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 109 AMS Radiocarbon Chronology of Late Mesolithic Sites in the Upper Vinalopó Valley (Eastern Iberia) Magdalena Gómez-Puche and Javier Fernández-López de Pablo Chapter Nine............................................................................................ 125 Recent Work at Star Carr: A POSTGLACIAL Landscape Study Nicky Milner, Chantal Conneller and Barry Taylor Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 139 Pits in the Irish Mesolithic Elizabeth Lawton-Matthews and Graeme Warren Chapter Eleven ........................................................................................ 153 Salty or Sweet? Isotopic Evidence for the Use of Aquatic Resources in Mesolithic Europe Rick Shulting Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 173 ‘Fishing’ Mesolithic Settlement-Subsistence Systems using Notions of Economy of Debitage and Raw Material toward Production of Bone Points Éva David, Sinead Mc Cartan, Frederik Molin and Peter Woodman Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 189 Bone Fragmentation as a Tool for Quantification and Identification of Taphonomic Processes and their Effects: The Case Study from Havnø, a Stratified Danish “Køkkenmødding.” Kurt Gron, Søren H. Andersen, and Harry K. Robson Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 207 Between 1820s and 1900: Discovering the Køkkenmøddings and the Older Stone Age (Mesolithic) of Denmark Erik Brinch Petersen

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Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 219 Material Culture and Mesolithic Actions in Space: Results of the Spatial Analysis of the Verkstadsvägen Site in Motala Linus Hagberg and Ann Westermark Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 235 Territorial Infrastructure, Markers and Tension in Late Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherer Societies: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach Ole GrØn Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 253 Red Colour in Mesolithic Burial Rites Judith M. Grünberg Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 267 An Osteobiography from Lepenski Vir: Paramasticatory Use of Teeth and Musculoskeletal Stress of a Woman dated to the Early Neolithic Marija Radovi and Sofija Stefanovi Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 279 Where is the Household Boundary? Substantial Spatial Considerations in “Little” Shell Middens A. Maximiano Castillejo Chapter Twenty ....................................................................................... 291 A Significant Component into Pre-Historical Canoeists Passages: Heuristic Implications of Shell-Middens in Fuego-Patagonia Landscape A. Maximiano Castillejo and A. Prieto Iglesias Chapter Twenty One................................................................................ 301 Results of Recent Excavations on the Farasan Islands and Studies of Large-scale Prehistoric Shellfish gathering in the Red Sea Niklas Hausmann, Matthew Meredith-Williams and Geoff Bailey Chapter Twenty Two ............................................................................... 315 Comparative Studies of Technological Practices between Coastal and Mediterranean Patagonian Hunter-Gatherer Groups Manuel Cueto, Alicia Castro and Pablo Ambrústulo

FOREWORD

During the month of March, 2013 a team from the University of Algarve, organized an international conference, MUGE150th - The 150th Anniversary of the discovery of the Mesolithic Shell Middens, held in Salvaterra de Magos, celebrating the discovery of the shell middens century and half before by the geologist Carlos Ribeiro and his team from the Portuguese National Geologic Services. During those four days, close to 100 papers and posters were presented, resulting in a two volume proceedings published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. While the first volume focused on the Mesolithic from both Muge and Sado valleys, the present Volume with a total of twenty two chapters, combines a series of papers on Mesolithic and the transition to the Neolithic from all over Europe, including Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Servia, Sweden and UK, as well as a series of general papers presenting methodological or theoretical aspects on the Mesolithic. In addition to those, the last few chapters of this Volume 2 are outside of the realm of the European Mesolithic-Neolithic world, presenting case studies on shell middens from Patagonia and the Red Sea. The organization of the conference and the publication of the Proceedings were only possible due to the interest and help of Casa Cadaval, estate where many of the Muge Shell Middens are located, the funding by Câmara Municipal de Salvaterra de Magos and the CIAS Research Centre for Anthropology and Health, from the University of Coimbra. Finally, it should be said that the work that started in 2008 by the University of Algarve team was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (the Portuguese Science Foundation) for two sequential research projects, The Last Hunter-gatherers in the Tagus Valley - The Muge Shellmiddens (PTDC/HAH/64185/2006) and The last huntergatherers of Muge (Portugal): the origins of social complexity (PTDC/HIS-ARQ/112156/2009). All new data from Cabeço da Amoreira that provided the basis for the new interpretations and revisions of earlier data were obtained during the course of those two projects and largely presented in the meetings in 2013.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Alday, Alfonso University of Basque Country [email protected] Ambrústolo, Pablo Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo-UNLP, CONICET Argentina. [email protected] Andersen, Søren H. Moesgård Museum, Moesgård Allé 20, DK-8270 Højbjerg, Denmark [email protected] Andrade, Marco António UNIARQ–Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa; [email protected] Araújo, Ana Cristina Direcção Geral do Património Cultural/LARC; EnvArch/CIBIO/InBIO [email protected] Aura Tortosa, J. Emili Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez 28, 46010, Valencia Spain [email protected] Bailey, Geoff University of York, Department of Archaeology, the King’s Manor, YO1 7EP, UK [email protected]

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Canals I Salomó, Antoni IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social. C/ Marcelli Domingo s/n e Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3). 43007 Tarragona, España Carbonell I Roura, Eudald IPHES, Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social. C/ Marcelli Domingo s/n e Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3). 43007 Tarragona, España Castillejo, A. Maximiano Universidad de Cantabria; IIIPC. Spain [email protected] Castro, Alicia Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo-UNLP, CONICET Argentina. [email protected] Conneller, Chantal Archaeology (SALC) University of Manchester, Manchester [email protected] Cueto¸ Manuel Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo-UNLP, CONICET Argentina. [email protected] David, Éva UMR Préhistoire et technologie 7055 CNRS, Nanterre, France [email protected] Fernández-López de Pablo, Javier IPHES; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, C/ Marcel·lí Domingo s/n. Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain [email protected]

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Ferrer García, Carlos Museu de Prehistòria de València, SIP (Servei d'Investigació Prehistòrica) Spain García Puchol, Oreto Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez 28, 46010, Valencia, Spain, [email protected] García Vadillo, Fº Javier Equipo de Investigación Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura, Casa de la Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Avd. Cervantes s/n. 10005 Cáceres, España Gómez-Puche, Magdalena IPHES; Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, C/ Marcel·lí Domingo s/n. Campus Sescelades URV (Edifici W3), 43007 Tarragona, Spain [email protected] Gron, Kurt J. Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, 53705 Madison, WI, USA [email protected] Grøn, Ole Norwegian Maritime Museum, Oslo, Norway [email protected] Grünberg, Judith M. Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Richard-Wagner-Str. 9, D–06114 Halle (Saale), Germany, [email protected]

Sachsen-Anhalt–

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List of Contributors

Hagberg, Linus Swedish National Historical Museums, Roxengatan 7, SE-582 73 Linköping, Sweden [email protected] Hausmann, Niklas University of York, Department of Archaeology, the King’s Manor, YO1 7EP, UK [email protected] Jordá Pardo¸ Jesús F. Laboratorio de Estudios Paleolíticos. Depto. de Prehistoria y Arqueología. Facultad de Geografía e Historia Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. Ciudad Universitaria. Calle Senda del Rey, 7. E-28040 Madrid, Spain. [email protected] Lawton-Matthews, Elizabeth Arctic Centre (Groningen Institute of Archaeology) [email protected] Lopes, Gonçalo UNIARQ–Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa; [email protected] Mc Cartan, Sinead National Museums Northern Ireland, Ulster, Northern Ireland [email protected] Mejías Del Cosso, Dolores Equipo de Investigación Primeros Pobladores de Extremadura, Casa de la Cultura Rodríguez Moñino, Avd. Cervantes s/n. 10005 Cáceres, España, [email protected]

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Meredith-Williams, Matthew University of York, Department of Archaeology, the King’s Manor, YO1 7EP, UK [email protected] Milner, Nicky The Department of Archaeology University of York, York [email protected] Molin, Fredrik Swedish National Historical Museums, Linköping, Sweden [email protected] Monteiro-Rodrigues, Sérgio Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Letras – Departamento de Ciências e Técnicas do Património Via Panorâmica, s/n 4150-564 Porto Portugal [email protected] Neves, César UNIARQ–Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa; [email protected] Pardo Gordó, Salvador Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia, Universitat de València, Av. Blasco Ibáñez 28, 46010, Valencia Spain, [email protected] Petersen, Erik Brinch Saxo Institute Faculty of Humanities University of Copenhagen [email protected]

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Prieto Iglesias, A. 2UMAG; IHA. Chile Radovi , Marija Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia [email protected] Robson, Harry K. BioArch, University of York, S-Block, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK [email protected] Sanchis Serra, Alfred Museu de Prehistòria de València, SIP (Servei d'Investigació Prehistòrica) Spain Schulting, Rick J. School of Archaeology University of Oxford 36 Beaumont St Oxford UK OX1 2PG [email protected] Soto, Adriana University of Basque Country [email protected] Stefanovi , Sofija Laboratory for Bioarchaeology, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia [email protected] Tarriño, Antonio University of Basque Country and CENIEH. [email protected]

Muge 150th Volume 2

Taylor, Barry Department of History and Archaeology University of Chester, Chester [email protected] Tormo Cuñat, Carmen Museu de Prehistòria de València, SIP (Servei d'Investigació Prehistòrica) Spain Warren¸ Graeme UCD School of Archaeology Dublin 4, Ireland [email protected] Westermark, Ann Swedish National Historical Museums, Roxengatan 7, SE-582 73 Linköping, Sweden [email protected] Woodman, Peter National Museums of Northern Ireland, Cultra/University College, Cork, Republic of Ireland [email protected]

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CHAPTER NINE RECENT WORK AT STAR CARR: A POSTGLACIAL LANDSCAPE STUDY NICKY MILNER,1 CHANTAL CONNELLER2 & BARRY TAYLOR3 1

The Department of Archaeology University of York, York [email protected] 2 Archaeology (SALC) University of Manchester, Manchester [email protected] 3 Department of History and Archaeology University of Chester, Chester [email protected]

Abstract The site of Star Carr, dating to about 11,000 cal BP, was first discovered and excavated in the late 1940s/early 1950s but research has continued over the last 60 years or so, and new discoveries continue to be made, not only at this site but around palaeo-Lake Flixton. The extent of the lake is now known and a number of other sites around its edges have been located, some of which are contemporary with Star Carr, some of which are late Palaeolithic and some which are younger. Putting this data together enables us to consider occupation through time and within a landscape context. Further work at Star Carr itself has revealed important new insights into the way in which the site was occupied, including evidence of a “house” structure. This paper will present this recent research, explain how this work has changed interpretations of life in the Preboreal and set out the aims for the ongoing POSTGLACIAL project.

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Introduction The history of excavation for Star Carr extends back 65 years, but just as with the history of the Muge region, interpretations and methods have changed significantly over this time period. Star Carr was first discovered by a local amateur archaeologist, John Moore, from the nearby town of Scarborough. He was one of the founders of the Scarborough Archaeological and Historical Society, and all the founders chose an area of Yorkshire to investigate. From 1947, Moore worked in the “carr lands” of the Vale of Pickering; an area of peat which had been drained from the 1800s. Moore walked up and down the ditches looking for archaeology within the peat and overall he found 10 sites. Star Carr was first termed Site 4 and Moore excavated a small trench near to the ditch in 1948. Moore also recognised that these sites had been situated on the edge of a large lake, since infilled with peat (Moore 1951). Moore’s work in the area came to the attention of Harry Godwin, Director of the Sub-Department of Quaternary Research at the University of Cambridge, and following advice from Godwin and the then curator of Scarborough Museum, Mr T. C. Gwatkin, Moore sent a sample of flints to Grahame Clark at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge (Clark 1954, xviii). Clark later wrote of his excitement on receiving Moore’s “parcel of flints” which he initially assigned to the Maglemosian: It took only a glance to see that here was a clue to something I had been seeking for many years: that is, a flint industry, analogous to that first recognised by Danish archaeologists at Maglemose, Mullerup, on the island of Zealand, from a British locality offering the promise of recovering a settlement site with organic as well as merely lithic data … my first question on establishing contact with Mr. Moore was whether he had found antler or bone on any of his sites. On hearing that he had, I lost no time in meeting him. (Clark 1972: 10-3)

Clark excavated at Star Carr between 1949 and 1951. His excavations became famous due to the rapid publication of a monograph in 1954 which highlighted exceptional findings which, to this day, make this site unique. These include a “brushwood” platform on the edge of the lake that he interpreted as a living platform, perhaps influenced by the Swiss lake-pile dwellings; large quantities of faunal remains; and rare artefacts such as antler frontlets, barbed points and beads. He was also able to integrate specialist analyses including lake stratigraphy, pollen and vegetational history (Walker and Godwin 1954) and the faunal assemblage (Fraser and

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King 1954) to create a complete picture of life at the site. It was at this point that Clark rechristened Site 4 “Star Carr”, after the name of the local farm: the name Star Carr is thought to derive from Viking times meaning sedge fen (Rowley-Conwy 2010). It is important to note that at the time Clark believed he had excavated the full extent of the site: around 16.5 x 14.5 metres, as the probable area of settlement (Clark 1954: 7-8). His rationale for this was sound in that he mapped the numbers of worked flint per square yard and saw that the quantities dropped off significantly towards the edges of the excavation. He also compared the site size to other sites in Europe and found a close agreement with other Mesolithic sites. It was not until the 1970s that there was a reassessment of Star Carr by Clark himself (1972) and following this came a series of new interpretations (e.g. Caulfield 1978, Jacobi 1978, Pitts 1979, Andresen et al. 1981, Price 1982, Legge and Rowly-Conwy 1988, Carter 1997, 1998, Mellars and Dark 1998, Pollard 2000, Conneller and Schadla-Hall 2003, Chatterton 2003, Conneller 2003, 2004). In the 1980s the Vale of Pickering Research Trust (VPRT) was set up (Milner et al. 2012) and their efforts first concentrated on Star Carr, 34 years after Clark’s excavations had closed. This new phase of research was aimed at obtaining palaeoenvironmental data, and a trench (VP85A) was located about 30 metres away from Clark’s trenches in order to avoid disturbing any archaeology (Mellars and Dark 1998). However, more flint, bone and antler (including a barbed point) were found in this trench, alongside a new discovery of worked wood that had been split and hewn: the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe (Taylor 1998). However, the VPRT also aimed to take a landscape approach which involved the mapping of the buried shoreline of the lake that Moore first identified. Auger and peat corer surveys have been used to measure the depth of the peat with the base of the peat taken to indicate the Early Mesolithic topography. In 2010, after 25 years of hard work by many students and volunteers, the survey was completed and a full picture of the Early Mesolithic palaeo-lake has been constructed in GIS. In addition, the VPRT initiated a sampling programme to locate other buried Early Mesolithic sites along the edge of the lake (Lane and Schadla-Hall, forthcoming). This involved the excavation by hand of over 300 2x2m test pits, located at 15m intervals on the 25.0-24.5m AOD sub-surface contour, the rationale being that Clark’s excavations at Star Carr were 30m across and a 15m test pitting strategy should hit upon similar sized sites. This has not only helped delineate some of Moore’s sites, but also new sites have been found, taking the total to over 20 (Fig. 9.1).

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Fig. 9.1. The extent of Lake Flixton and the location of known areas of Mesolithic activity. 1: Star Carr; 2: Seamer Carr Site F; 3: Seamer Carr Sites L & N; 4: Seamer Carr Site K; 5: Seamer Carr Site D; 6: Seamer Carr Site B; 7: Seamer Carr Site C; 8: Manham Hill (Moore’s site 6); 9: Cayton Carr (Moore’s site 7); 10 Cayton Carr (Moore’s Site 8); 11: Lingholme Farm Site B; 12: Lingholme Farm Site C; 13: Lingholme Farm Site A; 14: Barry’s Island; 15: Flixton School Field; 16: Flixton School House Farm; 17: Woodhouse Farm; 18: VP Site E; 19: VP Site D; 20: Flixton 9; 21: Flixton Island South; 22: Flixton Island North; 23: No Name Hill (Moore’s Site 3).

There was a further 15 year period of cessation of research at the site of Star Carr until 2004, when the authors returned to the site, first to fieldwalk and testpit. In 2006, trenches were located on the lake margin areas with the primary objective of determining the extent of organic artefacts; however, the antler that was recovered had severely deteriorated and had been flattened. Further work in 2007 with a trench located next to Clark’s trenches, revealed the same situation with flattened antler and only two pieces of bone found, one of which had become completely demineralised and turned to “jellybone” (Boreham et al 2011; Milner 2007; Milner et al. 2011). Despite the serious condition of the archaeology, the excavations revealed that more worked timbers survived

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and that there was a strong argument for further excavation before the organic materials disintegrated completely. Further excavations were carried out in 2008 and 2010 and since 2012 a major European Research Council project, entitled “POSTGLACIAL”, has been underway. This paper highlights three major discoveries at Star Carr since 2004, which have led to new and important interpretations concerning Mesolithic settlement and lifeways during the Preboreal period. It will then set out the aims and objectives of the POSTGLACIAL project, an overview of findings so far, and planned research within the next three years.

Major Discoveries at Star Carr The first major discovery was that the site was much larger than Clark had thought. This had first been demonstrated in 1985 when archaeology was found in the palaeoenvironmental trench, 30 metres away from Clark’s trenches, and from some fieldwalking and testpitting in the field (Mellars and Dark 1998; Milner et al. 2012). However, further augering, fieldwalking and testpitting across the whole of the peninsular and into the field to the north revealed an extensive spread of worked flint suggesting that the site covers an area of roughly 19,500 m² and consequently demonstrating that less than 5% of this area has been excavated (Fig. 9.2) (Conneller et al. 2012). Secondly, investigations in 2007 and 2008 on what would have been the dry-land during the Early Mesolithic period revealed the remnants of a structure. This was composed of a shallow pit measuring about 3m across and about 20cm in depth which was filled with dark sediment. Around this hollow were 18 postholes extending the diameter to about 4m across (Fig. 9.3). The sediment in the central depression had very high concentrations of flint debris within it with burins and burin spalls being particularly common as well as large numbers of microliths, microburins and scrapers. In addition, two of the three axes found within this area of the site were found within the structure, the other being located immediately outside it. There was no evidence of charcoal or burnt plant macrofossils within the structure but burnt flint was scattered across the area with a small concentration in the south-central area. Micromorphological thin sections by Charles French (University of Cambridge) demonstrated that the dark colour of the fill was a result of high organic content which had become oxidised, humified and bioturbated. Research is currently underway to examine this sediment for phytoliths which may demonstrate that certain types of plant material had been laid inside the structure; for instance reeds as some sort of flooring.

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Fig. 9.2. Map of Star Carr, showing excavation campaigns and the extent of Mesolithic evidence. The site was bisected by the canalisation of the River Hertford in the early nineteenth century.

Recent Work at Star Carr

Fig. 9.3. Plan of the structure on the dry land.

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The third discovery was that the worked wood, first noted in the 1980s’ excavations (Mellars and Dark 1998), appeared in various locations across an area of about 30 metres. Split timbers, similar to those found in VP85A, were found again in 2007 in trench SC24: these were found to be lying beneath the brushwood platform that Clark had noted in his excavations and demonstrated that there were a number of phases of wood deposition on the edge of the lake, starting with the split timbers. These timbers represent the definite products of human labour in that they have been artificially split and in some cases there is evidence of tool marks on the surfaces. In contrast, the overlying “brushwood” appears to be mainly composed of natural pieces of wood that had probably been washed up onto the edge of the lake, thrown down to stabilise the muds, and/or fallen from overhanging trees. Further evidence for the split timbers was revealed in 2010. Clark’s “Cutting II” was re-excavated and split timbers were exposed in section, beneath the “brushwood”. Although Clark does not mention these timbers in the monograph, there is a brief reference to worked timber in an interim report (Clark 1949: 56). In addition, further split timbers were found in trench SC33 and next to VP85A (Fig. 9.4). In all cases, these split timbers had been laid down within an environment of reed swamp forming in shallow, standing water. It is still unclear why these timbers were laid down but their location, on the edge of the lake within detrital muds, suggests that they may have been used to stabilise the deposits. They have been interpreted as part of a trackway, platform and slipway for boats, but until a larger area is excavated it is impossible to be confident about how they were used. Putting this evidence together, it is possible to build up a very different picture of life to the one that Clark proposed, where small family groups may have come to the site seasonally over a period of a few years. Instead, we see a large area of occupation, evidence of carpentry and the building of a structure, no doubt constructed using similar carpentry techniques. Given that only 5% of the site has been excavated, it is anticipated that further structures will be discovered in the future. Cutting down and splitting timbers with flint axes would have been a long and laborious process and likely to have involved communal labour which is more usually associated with later periods. It is extremely difficult to demonstrate sedentism or degrees of mobility, but both the structure on the dry land and the wooden timbers on the lake edge would have required some degree of maintenance. Overall, the archaeological residues are not typical of mobility evidenced, for instance, amongst the Final Palaeolithic groups who visited this area (Conneller 2007); by the

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Early Mesolithic, particular places, such as Star Carr seem to have gained special significance.

Fig. 9.4. Dryland and wetland at Star Carr, showing timber platforms and dryland structure.

POSTGLACIAL The European Research Council funded project POSTGLACIAL aims to take forward the recent research at Star Carr and situate the site within the broader context of climate and environmental change during the latest younger Dryas and the early part of the Holocene (c. 12,000-10,000 calBP).

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In addition to the rapid changes at the end of the Younger Dryas, with temperatures rising by as much as 5-10oC within a matter of decades, or perhaps even faster, the impact of early Holocene climatic events and resulting vegetational changes are important areas for investigation. Star Carr is currently being redated, but it broadly belongs to the period 11,000-10,500 calBP, roughly 500-600 years after the end of the Younger Dryas. Other sites around the palaeo-lake are both earlier and later in date, compared to Star Carr, and by taking a temporal and spatial approach, the key questions we wish to address are: How did hunter-gatherers react and adapt to rapid fluctuations in the climate and associated environmental change? Can we see different adaptations in response to environmental change through time? Archaeologists have long been interested in relating their data to that of climate scientists; however in general the resolution of radiocarbon dates has been insufficient to correlate prehistoric social change or continuity with changes in the climatic and vegetational records. The problem is exacerbated through the presence of radiocarbon plateaux at c. 11,50011,000 BP (10,000-9600 uncalBP). There is however enormous potential to link archaeological, palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental data with past human activity for the post-glacial period through high-resolution sampling from the same location. Investigation into the palaeo-lake sediments around Star Carr is currently being undertaken by a team of specialists based at Royal Holloway and the University of Southampton. Parts of the palaeo-lake have been cored and the sediments analysed for oxygen and carbon isotopes, pollen, plant macrofossils, geolithology, and chironomids. Chronology will be derived from microtephra analysis which can be used to directly correlate the Star Carr climate data with Greenland Ice core records, as well as high-resolution radiocarbon dating of the environmental sequence and formal Bayesian age modelling. The investigation into hunter-gatherer lifeways during the Younger Dryas/early Preboreal, i.e. before Star Carr was occupied, is being examined through the excavation of the nearby site of Flixton Island. This was also found by Moore in 1948 and called Flixton 2 (Clark 1954). At Flixton 2, horse bones were found in association with a piece of worked flint in detrital mud beneath a layer of gravel and sand. Horses tend not to inhabit woodland and so it is likely that this occupation event dates to a period when the vegetation was open: tundra or grassland. From the pollen records, the site was previously assigned to just before the Younger Dryas (Clark 1954). However, two radiocarbon dates suggest a post-Younger Dryas date, although one of these dates appears anomalous (Conneller

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2007), probably due to humic acid contamination. It is possible that the site either dates to the Younger Dryas or the beginning of the Preboreal. Further excavations in 2012 and 2013 have uncovered more horse bone and dating is currently underway in order to resolve this question. This will throw new light on the issue of whether the Long Blade/epiAhrensburgian occupation of northern Europe took place before or after the early Holocene warming. In addition, we aim to uncover the extent of the site in order to interpret the activities taking place there and how these compare to Star Carr. The excavations at Flixton Island have also revealed Mesolithic occupation both stratigraphically later than the horse bones, and on what would have been dry land in the Mesolithic, on top of the island. Currently the worked flint does not appear to be of Star Carr type and is likely to post-date Star Carr, thus providing potential for a further understanding of changing lifeways through time. In addition, further excavations will continue at Star Carr over the next 2-3 years in order to investigate the extent of the worked timbers on the lake edge and look for further structures on the dry land. All three of these sites will be examined using an integrated “forensic” approach to the analysis of the artefactual and molecular debris left by human activity, through the application of usewear and residue analysis of stone tools, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) on unidentified bone, inorganic and organic analyses of the sediments in conjunction with micromorphology and the integration of the results using GIS to plot the distribution of activities both spatially and temporally. In conclusion, it is clear that further ground-breaking data can be excavated from these sites which will significantly increase our understanding of human lifeways through the Preboreal period. It is anticipated that this will enable the further development of theories in relation to colonisation, adaptation to the environment and resources and settlement patterns.

Acknowledgements We are extremely grateful to the following funding bodies for supporting this research: the Vale of Pickering Research Trust (and their donors), English Heritage (grant numbers 5536, 6064, 6793, 6796), the British Academy (SG-44333, SG-47081, SG-50217), NERC (NE/I015191/1), and the European Research Council (POSTGLACIAL). The University of Manchester and the University of York have also provided funding towards excavation and analysis. We would also like to

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thank all the landowners for access to the land and their continued support. We are very grateful to all the volunteers, supervisors, specialists, cooks and other helpers who have worked for the Vale of Pickering Research Trust and Star Carr projects over the years, as without their contributions this record of this Early Mesolithic landscape would not exist.

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—. 2007. Inhabiting new landscapes: settlement and mobility after the last glacial maximum. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26, 215–37. Conneller, C. & Schadla-Hall, R.T., 2003. Beyond Star Carr: the Vale of Pickering in the tenth millennium BP. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 69, 85-105. Conneller, C., Milner, N., Taylor, B. & Taylor, M., 2012. Substantial settlement in the European Early Mesolithic: new research at Star Carr, Antiquity 86 (334), 1004-1020. Fraser, F.C. & King, J.E. 1954. Faunal remains. In Clark, J.G.D. (ed.) Excavations at Star Carr, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 7095. Jacobi, R.M., 1978. Northern England in the Eighth millennium b.c. In P.A. Mellars (ed.) The Early Post-glacial Settlement of Northern Europe. London: Duckworth, 295-332. Lane, P. & Schadla-Hall, R.T., (forthcoming) Hunter-Gatherers in the Landscape: Investigations of the Early Mesolithic in the Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire 1976-2000. Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monographs. Legge, A.J. & Rowley-Conwy, P.A., 1988. Star Carr Revisited: A reanalysis of the large mammals. London, Centre for Extra Mural Studies, Birkbeck College. Mellars, P. & Dark, P., (eds) 1998. Star Carr in Context. Cambridge: MacDonald Institute. Milner, N., 2007. Fading Star. British Archaeology 96, 10-14. Milner, N., Conneller, C., Taylor, B., Koon, H., Penkman, K., Elliott, B., Panter, I. & Taylor, M., 2011. From Riches to Rags: Organic Deterioration at Star Carr. Journal of Archaeological Science 38 (10), 2818-2832. Milner, N., Lane, P., Taylor, B., Conneller, C. & Schadla-Hall, R.T., (2012) Star Carr in a Postglacial Lakescape: 60 years of research. Journal of Wetland Archaeology 11, 1-19. Moore, J.W., 1951. Lake Flixton: A Late-Glacial Structure. Scarborough and Distric Archaeological Society Publication No. 1, Scarborough. Pitts, M.W., 1979. Hide and Antlers: a new look at the gatherer-hunter site at Star Carr, N. Yorks, England. World Archaeology 11, 32-42. Pollard, J., 2000. Ancestral Places in the Mesolithic landscape. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 17, 123-138. Price, T.D., 1982. Willow tales and dog smoke. Quarterly Review of Archaeology, 3, 4-8. Rowley-Conwy, P., 2010. From Great Bog to Sedge Fen: a note on Grahame Clark's interpretation of Star Carr in its landscape context. In

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