Masks obtained from the skulls of deer, with the antler still in place. The cranium has been polished internally, making two holes for the eyes. This objects have been found in the archaeological site of Star Carr, northern Yorkshire, Great Britain, and belong to the Mesolithic period (about 10,000 years B.P.). The archaeological excavations have brought to light about twenty of these masks: such a number suggests that they were utilized in some kind of collective ritual, of which neither the meaning nor the performance are known. However, the analogies with masked processions and dances with deer antlers, documented in Great Britain from the Middle Ages until our times, appear particularly suggestive. The artifacts are preserved in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, U.K.

[Images: http://www.diggingthedirt.com/2012/06/22/star-carr-the-otherside-of-the-antler/]