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.

Shamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global archaeological record. Here we report on the earliest known evidence of shamanic costume: modified red deer crania headdresses from the Early Holocene site of Star Carr (c. 11 kya). More than 90% of the...

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Main Authors: 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
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4830440?pdf=render
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author 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
author_facet 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
author_sort Aimée Little
collection DOAJ
description Shamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global archaeological record. Here we report on the earliest known evidence of shamanic costume: modified red deer crania headdresses from the Early Holocene site of Star Carr (c. 11 kya). More than 90% of the examples from prehistoric Europe come from this one site, establishing it as a place of outstanding shamanistic/cosmological significance. Our work, involving a programme of experimental replication, analysis of macroscopic traces, organic residue analysis and 3D image acquisition, metrology and visualisation, represents the first attempt to understand the manufacturing processes used to create these artefacts. The results produced were unexpected--rather than being carefully crafted objects, elements of their production can only be described as expedient.
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spelling doaj.art-0fd306138050467db5f506fb35ff91bb2022-12-21T23:51:52ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01114e015213610.1371/journal.pone.0152136Technological 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.Aimée LittleBenjamin ElliottChantal ConnellerDiederik PomstraAdrian A EvansLaura C FittonAndrew HollandRobert DavisRachel KershawSonia O'ConnorTerry O'ConnorThomas SparrowAndrew S WilsonPeter JordanMatthew J CollinsAndré Carlo ColoneseOliver E CraigRebecca KnightAlexandre J A LucquinBarry TaylorNicky MilnerShamanic belief systems represent the first form of religious practice visible within the global archaeological record. Here we report on the earliest known evidence of shamanic costume: modified red deer crania headdresses from the Early Holocene site of Star Carr (c. 11 kya). More than 90% of the examples from prehistoric Europe come from this one site, establishing it as a place of outstanding shamanistic/cosmological significance. Our work, involving a programme of experimental replication, analysis of macroscopic traces, organic residue analysis and 3D image acquisition, metrology and visualisation, represents the first attempt to understand the manufacturing processes used to create these artefacts. The results produced were unexpected--rather than being carefully crafted objects, elements of their production can only be described as expedient.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4830440?pdf=render
spellingShingle 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
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
title 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.
title_full 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.
title_fullStr 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.
title_full_unstemmed 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.
title_short 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.
title_sort 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
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4830440?pdf=render
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