Yorkshire discovery heads way in showing ancient past on stamps

THEY REPRESENT some of the most inspiring artefacts and atmospheric sites of pre-historic Britain.
The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.
The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.

And images showcasing ancient objects and locations are featuring on a new set of stamps, which present a timeline from a ritual of 11,000 years ago to the Iron Age of about 300BC.

Mesolithic headdresses found in North Yorkshire by archaeologists from the University of York are among the artefacts displayed on the stamps.

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The headdresses of Star Carr have stirred public imagination since they were first discovered in the 1950s. In 2015, further 
deer frontlets were found, re-igniting questions of why they were made and giving a further insight into the lives of the people of Yorkshire from 11,000 years ago.

The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.
The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.

The launch of the stamps coincides with a new exhibition, Ritual or Disguise: The Star Carr Headdresses, at the Yorkshire Museum in York.

The stamps also feature the neolithic village of Skara Brae on Orkney, the Drumbest horns in Northern Ireland and the Battersea Shield which was found in the River Thames in London, as well as the Grime’s Graves flint mine in Norfolk, the Avebury stone circles in Wiltshire, the Mold Cape discovered in Wales and Maiden Castle hill fort in Dorchester.

Illustrated by London-based artist Rebecca Strickson, the stamps have been designed as overlay illustrations, showing how people lived at the sites or used the objects.

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Professor Nicky Milner, a lecturer in York’s Department of Archaeology and co-director of the excavations at Star Carr, said the headdresses are “incredibly rare” and the site near Scarborough is the only location in Britain where they have been found.

The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.
The new stamps feature some of the most inspiring objects and atmospheric sites of British prehistory.

Philip Parker, stamp strategy manager at the Royal Mail, said: “The UK has an incredibly rich heritage of prehistoric sites and exceptional artefacts.

“These new stamps explore some of these treasures and give us a glimpse of everyday life in prehistoric Great Britain and Northern Ireland, from the culture of ancient ritual and music making to sophisticated metalworking and the building of huge hill forts.”