To an untrained eye, it might just look like the remains of some ferocious predator’s feast. But this particular antler is thousands of years old, and could be a remnant of interactions between the last of Europe’s hunter-gatherers and the continent’s early farmers.
Neolithic farmers belonging to what archaeologists refer to as the “Linear Pottery culture” began to expand across Europe around 5500 BCE. During this migration, they pushed Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in central Germany, among other places, further north.
“There is a long period in which farmers and hunter-gatherers coexist,” Oliver Dietrich, co-author of a recent study published in Praehistorische Zeitschrift and press officer at the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory, tells Popular Science. “Neolithic and Mesolithic thus are not mutually exclusive time periods, but describe two life styles, which are partly contemporary.”
Archaeologists know very little about the contact between these two peoples. Cue Germany’s Eilsleben-Vosswelle settlement, a prehistoric farming community that existed on the frontier, with hunter-gatherers in the north and farmers in the south. It was likely fortified, and may have seen significant interactions with proximal hunter-gatherer groups.
“The material culture discovered at Eilsleben reflects this frontier situation, as it shows many influences from the world of hunter-gatherers,” Dietrich continues. “[Among] them is the antler industry, i.e. tools and other implements made from antler in a Mesolithic/hunter-gatherer style. The roe deer antler is a prime example,” he adds, referencing a previously discovered 7,000-year old antler from Eilsleben.
Dietrich and his colleagues investigated the artifact for signs of human modification. They found that the rectangle-shaped skull fragment, cut marks (suggesting skinning), and notches at the base fit the bill. The artifact was probably worn as part of a mask or headdress, and the notches would have secured it in place. The headdress also dates back to 5291–5034 BCE.
“Similar headgear is not known from early farmer contexts, but there are good analogies from hunter-gatherer contexts. The best comparison for the Eilsleben antler is from the shaman´s grave of Bad Dürrenberg,” says Dietrich.
The Bad Dürrenberg shaman was a 30 to 40-year-old woman who died around 9,000 years ago. She was laid to rest alongside an approximately 6-month-old child in an intricate tomb in present-day central Germany. Researchers identified her as a shaman, or spiritual leader, thanks in part to animal teeth pendants and a deer antler that researchers believe to be a headdress.
Despite the fact that the shaman´s grave of Bad Dürrenberg is older than the Eilsleben antler, the shaman’s antler “provides a frame of interpretation for the find,” Dietrich explains. The Eilsleben antler could represent contact between hunter-gatherer ritual specialists and farmers, according to the researchers.
Some transitions associated with the Neolithic lifestyle weren’t healthy, per a statement by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory. Within this context, it’s possible that early farmers would have requested help from a healer connected to the spirit world who was certainly an expert on local flora’s healing properties.
