Tag: Dear antler

Star Carr Stone Age remains are Britain’s Oldest Home

Archaeologist working on Stone Age remains at a site in North Yorkshire say it contains Britain’s earliest surviving house. It dates to at least 8,500BC when Britain was part of continental Europe.

The team from the Universities of Manchester and York unearthed the 3.5 metres circular structure next to an ancient lake at Star Carr, near Scarborough.

The 10,500-year-old house, which was first excavated by the team two years ago, was comparable to an Iron Age roundhouse. It had post holes around a central hollow which would have been filled with organic matter such as reeds, and possibly a fireplace.It predates what was previously Britain’s oldest known dwelling at Howick, Northumberland, by at least 500 years.

“This is a sensational discovery and tells us so much about the people who lived at this time, said Dr Nicky Milner from the University of York. “From this excavation, we gain a vivid picture of how these people lived. For example, it looks like the house may have been rebuilt at various stages.

We used to think they moved around a lot and left little evidence. Now we know they built large structures and were very attached to particular places in the landscape

Dr Chantal Conneller and Barry Taylor from The University of Manchester with Dr Nicky Milner from the University of York have been working at Star Carr since 2004.

To an inexperienced eye, the areamight lookunremarkable – just a series of little rises in the landscape, but the archaeologists say the ancient lake is a hugely important archaeological landscape many miles across, comparable even to Stonehenge.

The peaty nature of the landscape has enabled the preservation of many treasures including the paddle of a boat, the tips of arrows and red deer skull tops which were worn as masks, explain Taylor.

Remains of abirchtreehave also been excavated.Despite being 11,000 years old, the large trunk is well preserved with its bark still intact.

It is likely there was more than one house at Star Carr.

The researchers are currently excavating a large wooden platform next to Lake Pickering, which is possibly the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe.

The platform is made of hewn and split timbers; the earliest evidence of this type of carpentry in Europe. And the artefacts of antler, particularly the antler head-dresses, are intriguing as they suggest ritual activities, said Dr Milner.

The team hopes the new excavation will tell them more about the state of preservation the Star Carr remains are in. The peat is drying out, so it’s a race against time to continue the work before the archaeological finds decay, says Taylor.

The site was inhabited by hunter-gatherers from just after the last ice age, for a period of between 200 and 500 years. According to the team, they migrated from an area now under the North Sea, hunting animals such asdeer, wild boar, elk and enormous wild cattle known as auroch. Though they did not cultivate the land, the inhabitants did burn part of the landscape to encourage animals to eat shoots and kept domesticated dogs.

“This changes our ideas of the lives of the first settlers to move back into Britain after the end of the last Ice Age,
Dr Conneller said.

“We used to think they moved around a lot and left little evidence. Now we know they built large structures and were very attached to particular places in the landscape.”

Honey for my Honey: Ancient Aphrodisiacs

Although Viagra was launched onto the market in 1998 as the new wonder drug for virility, what the makers didnt realise is that its actually been around naturally and has been used since the time of the pyramids. In ancient Egypt, the blue lily was linked to fertility and sexuality and now, thanks to the recent chemical analysis by the Egyptian section of Manchester Museum, it appears there is a scientific reason for this link – the chemical make-up of this plant contains phosphodiesters, the active ingredients of Viagra.

The blue lily wasnt the only libido-booster used by the ancient Egyptians. Lettuce rated highly and was said to be the favourite food of the fertility god Min. Fennel dates back to Egyptian times as a stimulant as does ginger, together with pomegranates and radishes mixed with honey. Honey has long been an ancient love drug and with good reason it contains boron, which stimulates the sex hormones in both males and females.

The Egyptians were also fond of coriander or pearls dissolved in wine and apparently – one Im not so sure of – baboon faeces, which were used to enhance aphrodisiac ointments. Perhaps this is because not only was the baboon admired in Egypt for its intelligence but also for its sexual lustfulness.

Those ancients were a saucy lot and the ancient Egyptians were not alone in their quest for virility-enhancing substances. Indeed, the father of medicine, Hippocrates, and the Greek philosopher Artistotle recommended lentils to help out in the bedroom department.

Aristotle also apparently advised Alexander the Great to ban his soldiers from drinking mint tea during campaigns because he believed it to be an aphrodisiac. Hippocrates would disagree with Aristotle on this one though, as he believed the frequent consumption of mint-diluted sperm hindered erection and tired the body either way, probably best not to let soldiers drink mint tea when they are about to go into battle.

A few years later, the Greek historian Plutarch suggested the way to a strong libido was to eat fassolatha (a bean soup and the national dish of Greece). Other ancient Greek libido-boosters include onions, garlic and leeks although one wonders if the partner would agree with this…. however, they were often eaten with other libido-boosters, honey and sesame seeds.

Oysters are renowned for increasing libido, and in a satire written in the 2nd Century AD by the Roman writer Juvenal, he described the wanton ways of women after drinking wine and eating giant oysters. Another legendary aphrodisiac from ancient Rome which has withstood the test of time is the truffle, which is still among the most prized ingredients of the culinary world today.

Moving over to Asia, the Chinese culture has always regarded sexual activity as very sacred, but it still needs a bit of help from time to time. The appropriately named horny goat weed and ginseng were (and still are!) recommended and Deer Antler is another ancient Chinese remedy for sustaining stamina in the bedroom. Liquorice also has its roots in ancient Chinese medicine and it is one for the girls. Apparently chewing on its root is meant to augment ones lust. Another one highly prized by Chinese women as an aphrodisiac is nutmeg but be warned, if eaten in quantity, it can have a hallucinogenic effect.

Even the Bible proffers advice and makes mention of the root mandrake for its potent qualities.

Weird, wacky or unusual as they seem, as the recent analysis of the blue lily shows, under the scrutiny of modern science many of these ancient aphrodisiacs may have chemical stimulants which contribute to maintaining sexual hormone levels and/or sparking neurotransmitters that trigger feelings of love or sexual arousal. So next time youre on a hot date, dont forget your baboon faeces.