Research: Amulets and Masks

Funny old times...

Maskwitches has always been a curious project.
Cards on the table, I don’t really believe in anything we might call “supernatural”. I don’t have a religious faith, I dont beleive in ghosts (I’ve seen some weird stuff, but I still don’t think it’s “ghosts” in the typical sense) and so on.

But Maskwitches has always thrown up really weird coincidences. I think in part because (he says, so modestly) I’ve done the reading, it helps tune in to certain wavelengths of ideas. But it still surprises me when things I’ve guessed at, or think I’ve created, are supported by evidence I find later.

Within the game, witches are defined by their masks and their amulets. This came out of pretty much nowhere - it wasn’t a researched idea as such. But subsequently I’ve been quite startled to see how well supported the material evidence for mesolithic masks and amulets is. Let’s have a look at a couple of examples RIGHT NOW.

Masks

First up - Star Carr. I didn’t know anything about Star Carr when I started the project, but I’m very familiar with it now. I probably know more about hazelnut shells than I ever imagined I would…

At Star Carr in Yorkshire, England we find evidence for a relatively permanent, or at least seasonal, settlement of mesolithic folks. There’s so much to say about this amazing place, but the important bit for now is the masks that were found here. They’re the tops of deer skulls with holes drilled in them. Now we don’t know for certain that they’re masks. It’s hard to know anything for certain about this period. But they certainly seem likely to have been masks.

(Image: stolen from the British Museum. That’s irony, folks)

When I visit the Star Carr website, it’s shocking to me how I didn’t know anything about it when I set out the idea that these Mesolithic witches used masks, and made a bunch of images that fit the evidence so well. It’s well worth your time to read about
the site. The people who lived there got up to some fascinating stuff.

Amulets

It was only recently that I stumbled onto the amber amulets in the National Museum of Denmark, from the mesolithic period. These are such a perfect, retrospective fit for Maskwitches. There’s some nice images on this site too.

Star Carr again provides with the slate pendant.

(I won’t pinch images from These other websites. Return the marbles and we can talk, BM.)

Random

In digging up the links for this article, I stumbled into more interesting reading, which I present without context:

(De)constructing the Mesolithic. A History of Hut Reconstructions in the Netherlands:
https://exarc.net/issue-2020-1/ea/mesolithic-hut-reconstructions-netherlands

Mesolithic and Neolithic human remains in the Netherlands: physical anthropological and stable isotope investigations:
https://jalc.nl/cgi/t/text/get-pdf4080.pdf

The Pesse canoe:
http://bootvanpesse.com

Dental Health in the Mesolithic period:
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-mesolithic-period/the-man-from-korsoer-nor/dental-health-in-the-mesolithic-period/

Mesolithic items at the British Museum:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/x14235