An 11,000-year-old stone age pendant, discovered by an archaeology student at the University of Chester, has gone on display in a museum.
Tom Bell was a final year undergraduate volunteering on the excavation of an Early Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire when he discovered what looked like a smooth stone.
The dig, which was run by a research team from the Universities of York, Chester and Manchester, was co-directed by Tom’s lecturer Dr Barry Taylor.
Tom, 21, of Widnes, explains how he came to make the discovery: “I discovered the pendant on the last few days of the excavation. I was just working on taking back the last of the lake sediments when I noticed a smooth stone. It looked pretty normal at first if I’m honest, the mud covered the perforation and the decoration so I didn’t know what it was until I picked it up and had a look. I noticed the perforation first and then turned it over to see the lines scratched into the surface.
“Like I say, at first I thought it was a stone so it was hard to be excited initially. I think once I realised it had decoration on, then it was more exciting. And it’s much more exciting when you start to see how excited everyone else is!”
Dr Taylor added: “As co-director of the project, sometimes I would take students from the University of Chester along to volunteer. The site was originally on the edge of a lake, and Tom was excavating the deposits that formed in what would have been an area of swamp about 11,000 years ago. Up to this point we’d found hunting equipment and the bones of animals that people had caught, so the pendant was an exciting new find. When he made his discovery, Tom called me over to say what he’d found and then it had to be carefully recorded and then taken for scientific analysis.”
The artwork on the tiny fragile pendant proved to be the earliest known Mesolithic art in Britain.
Crafted from a single piece of shale, the subtriangular three-millimetre thick artefact measuring 31mm by 35mm contains a series of lines which archaeologists believe may represent a tree, a map, a leaf or even tally marks.
Engraved motifs on Mesolithic pendants are extremely rare and no other engraved pendants made of shale are known in Europe.
The pendant is being showcased to the public in a display at the Yorkshire Museum in York which runs until May 5.
Tom, who recently graduated, is continuing with his archaeological studies and is now studying for an MSc, with a view to working in the field of osteoarchaeology (the study of human and animal bones from archaeological sites).
Dr Taylor added: “It’s very pleasing that it was one of our students who found this pendant – and particularly as Tom has been volunteering on our excavations for a number of years. This is a joint project and it’s always great to see students finding things. Because this is something that a person wore, that had significance to them and to the people around them, it allows us to have a direct and tangible engagement with people from the past – and this helps to bring the subject of archaeology alive for our students. These sorts of artefacts tell us about people and, after all, that’s what archaeology is all about.”
Full details about the pendant and its discovery can be found here: www.starcarr.com/pendant.html
