My colourised version of the photo of the original reproduced at the end of this piece. Colours represent a mallard drake. |
A paper was published in the online journal Internet Archaeology* in 2016 detailing a find from the previous year at Star Carr in North Yorkshire. They recovered a remarkable 11,000 year old shale pendant just over 3 centimetres (1¼ inches) wide. Many interpretations of the engraving were offered but most were a bit weird. I think the most obvious is that it is a carving of a duck.
Updated 20/3/2021: I found a larger photo to manipulate, open in a new tab for the full image:
More after the break.