11,000-YEAR-OLD DEER SKULL MASKS FROM STAR CARR SUGGEST THAT BREUIL MAY HAVE BEEN RIGHT:

 

 "The Shaman" of Les Trois Freres, France. Photograph J. Vertut, collection Bégouën.

Henri Edouard Prosper Breuil was a French pioneer in rock art studies who did the first recording of many of the French cave art discoveries. One particular image that proved controversial was from the cave of Les Trois Freres. In a chamber that he dubbed The Sanctuary Breuil sketched a figure he called The Sorcerer.

Composite of photograph and Breuil's sketch, Internet photograph, public domain.

“The Sorcerer engraving was first studied and copied by Henri Breuil while making his sketches of the cave art, back in the 1920s. He drew a human-type figure with a headdress that resembled antlers, and it was this sketch – published in the 20s – that influenced many subsequent theories about the Sorcerer. Breuil himself believed that the picture represented a shaman or magician, and that its presence in the Sanctuary indicated that the chamber was used for shamanistic or ritualistic ceremonies.” (Visual-Arts-Cork)

Breuil's sketch of "The Shaman" from Les Trois Freres, France. Internet photograph, public domain.

Breuil’s sketch shows an anthropomorphic figure wearing a set of antlers and, while the antlers figure prominently in his sketch, researchers have since questioned the accuracy of Breuil’s work because no photograph of the image shows the antlers in question. It is reported that this image is both painted (or drawn) in pigment, but also that there is some fine scratching involved in it so the possibility remains that the antlers are there in finely scratched detail that Breuil’s up close and in person examination revealed, but that they have not been picked up in subsequent photographs.

Finds at the British site of Star Carr have provided a possible explanation for the antler headdress on this figure.

        Star Carr deer mask, Internet                      photograph, public domain.

“The site was occupied during the early Mesolithic archaeological period, which coincided with the preboreal and boreal climatic periods. Though the ice age had ended and temperatures were close to modern averages, sea levels had not yet risen sufficiently to separate Britain from continental Europe. Highlights among the finds include Britain’s oldest structure, 21 red deer stag skull-caps that may have been headdresses and nearly 200 projectile, or harpoon, points made of red deer antler. These organic materials were preserved due to having been buried in waterlogged peat. Normally all that remains on Mesolithic sites are stone tools.” (Wikipedia)

The lower portions of the skulls had been removed, the inside surface smoothed, and holes drilled for the thongs that are assumed to have held the masks on the wearer’s head. Some of the larger examples have eye holes suggesting that they covered a portion of the wearer’s face as well. This is notable because it may cast light on one of the Abbe Breuil’s more controversial conclusions from the French cave of Le Trois Freres.

Star Carr deer mask, Photograph ancient-origins.net.

Now that we have actual antlered headdresses it seems to heighten the possibility that Breuil was indeed correct and seemingly supports his version of the figure wearing an antlered headdress. The versions with eye holes might also explain the strange round eyes on the figure as well.

None of this proves anything, of course, but it may add possible evidence toward the eventual conclusion of this mystery.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Visual-Arts-Cork, Trois Freres Cave, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com

Wikipedia, Star Carr, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Carr