Archaeology Magazine - June 1956 - 68

the site actually represents a very early
and hitherto little known stage in the
development of the Maglemosian.
In contrast to the Danish settlements,
Star Carr was a winter camping place
some 240 square yards in area situated
on the edge of the lake. Here a small
communityof hunters and fishers lived
on a rough platform of brushwood,
stone and wads of clay thrown down on
the reed-swamp surface bordering the
lake. No remains of houseswere found,
although skin tents or reed huts could
have existed and completely perished.
The palaeobotanical evidence assigns
this occupation to the very end of the
Pre-Borealstage in the Blytt-Sernander
sequence, according to Drs. Godwin
and Walker, which agrees with the
Carbon 14 dating of about 7500 B.c.
The faunal remains, studied by Drs.
Fraser and King, show that the occupants of Star Carr hunted Red Deer,
Roe Deer, Moose, Wild Ox and Wild
Boar, in addition to smaller animals
and some birds. There was no trace of
the domesticDog. Wooden implements
were made of birch and brushwood,
while strips of birchbark were stored in
rolls. Flint, bone and antler were all
worked, the latter by the so-called
"groove-splinter" technique which began during Aurignaciantimes in southwestern France. In this manner a remarkable series of barbed points was
produced. Worked frontlets of Stag
were found, presumably either used as
headdressesduring ritual dances or actually worn for magical purposes during the chase.Thus, notwithstandingits
peripheral location, Star Carr has provided a remarkably completepicture of
the daily life of the Early Mesolithic
ATSTAR
EXCAVATIONS
CARR:
AnEarlyMespeoples who occupiedthe North EuroolithicSite at Seamer,near Scarborough, pean Plain
immediately before the
Yorkshire/
by J. G. D. Clark. 200 pages, period which is so richly documented
80 figures, 24 plates. Cambridge Uni- by the
Maglemosian sites of the conversity Press, New York 1954 $11.50 tinent.
This book, which measuresup to the
This book is not only an important
contribution to our knowledge of cul- Cambridge University Press's well
tural developments in northwestern known standards of technical excellence, is an outstandingly fine example
Europe during Mesolithic times, but
also it is a model publication of which of the team approach to the solution of
the author may justly be proud. Star an archaeologicalproblem. Under the
Carr is a bog-site five miles SSE of
inspiring and able leadership of Dr.
Clark, palaeobotanists, PleistocenegeScarboroughin the parish of Seamer.It
was discovered in 1947 by Mr. John ologists and vertebrate palaeontoloMoore, and surface indications sug- gists have succeededin presenting the
fullest ecological picture yet recongested that it would prove tq belong to
a British faciesof the Danish Maglemo- structed of a small community of
sian. However, Dr. Clark's brilliant hunter-fishersliving at the beginningof
the Early Post-Glacialperiod. From the
excavations(1949-51) have shown that

designation as "one of the few battles
which changed the course of history."
It might have changed it if Ramseshad
not escaped!
The plates are good, though some
reproductions are inferior to those of
the German edition. Among the drawings in the text, about seventeen have
been added in the English edition, and
these are rather poor re-drawings from
secondhand or obsolete originals. The
drawing on page 212, for instance, is
interesting only to show how early
visitors misinterpreted the gate lion
shown here on Plate IV, and that on
page 161 is no more than a caricature.
"Enink" is "Euyuk," now spelled
Hiiyiik (so correctly on Plate XX),
and the ch is French for sh in what
should be Marash.
In spite of these editorial slips which
will hardly be noticed by the general
reader, the book fulfils quite well its
purpose of telling the public of the
work that went into the recovery of
a forgotten civilization. The facts are
rendered correctly,and the book makes
good reading, Even the tricky subject
of recent discussionsof the chronology
of the ancient Near East is treated in
a readable form. The bibliography is
rather too detailed for a book of this
kind; those readers who want to learn
more about the Hittites will do well,
instead of embarking on the task of
reading the scholarlypapers listed here,
to turn to Gurney's Pelican Book The
Hittites.
H. G. Güterbock
Universityof Chicago

148

factual and methodological,as well as
from the theoretical, points of view
Star Carr is destinedto be acclaimedas
a major contribution to archaeological
literature. Furthermore, by publishing
his results fully and with exemplary
promptitude, the author has won the
everlasting gratitude of his colleagues.
In every respect this is a singularly fine
piece of work- one that should be acquired by all libraries of any standing
in this country and abroad.
Hallam L. Movius, Jr.
Peabody Museum
Harvard University
THE ANCIENTINHABITANTS
OF JEBEL
MOYA,
by R. Mukherjee, C. R. Rao
and J. C. Trevor, xi, 123 pages, 3
plates, 88 tables. Cambridge University Press,New York 1955 $7.50
This monograph concernsthe physical types living in the southern Sudan
during the first millennium B.c. and
their racial links with other African
groups in ancient and modern times.
From 1911-1914Sir Henry S. Wellcome conductedlarge-scaleexcavations
at Jebel Moya, about 160 miles southsoutheast of Khartoum between the
Blue and White Niles. One-fifth (5
acres) of the site was excavated. A
total of 3,137 human skeletons, many
very fragmentary, was recorded. However, during shipmentmany boneswere
smashed. The final materials for detailed study, besides the field measurements and observations,were only 98
crania, mandibles and miscellaneous
bones.
Trevor begins by examining the reliability of the field measurementsand
observations.He concludesthat the allimportant determination of the sex of
each skeleton, as well as the recording
of the metrical data during the third
and fourth seasons, must be rejected
as unreliable. This further reduces the
material. After statistical examination
Trevor presents clearly with elaborate
tables the nature and characteristicsof
the Jebel Moyans.
The most interesting chapter is that
dealing with their racial affinities.The
comparative material has been restricted to males, mainly from Egypt
and East Africa: (a) 1,800skulls from
a single cemetery south of Giza
( XX Vlth-XXXth dynasty); (b, c)
predynastic Egyptians from Nagada

Archaeology Magazine - June 1956

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1956