Elk staffs

This is an Elk-head staffs found in a grave in the Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov cemetery, one of the largest Early Holocene cemeteries in northern Eurasia, located in Karelia, northwest Russia...

A new radiocarbon dating, taking into account a correction for freshwater reservoir effects, suggests that the cemetery was even older than previously thought, and was used for some 100–300 years, centring on ca. 8250 to 8000 cal BP...

Around 30 elk head shaped staffs have been found from burials and settlement layers across a widespread area, extending from the Baltic region to the Urals...The map of sites where these artefacts were found...

These staffs made of antler were in use for a considerably long period from the Late Mesolithic to the Early Metal Period, and depictions of elk‐head staffs are also known from rock art sites...Like these from Alta, Norway...

All scholars seem to agree that the staffs belonged to mature individuals (especially of male gender) and that the staffs were used for some kind of ritual purpose...But the jury is still out on what that purpose exactly was...

Sources

Elk-head staffs from Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov and their widespread counterparts: old finds, new outlooks

Radiocarbon dating from Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov cemetery reveals complex human responses to socio-ecological stress during the 8.2 ka cooling event

Elk-head staffs in prehistoric north-easterneurope and north-western russia –signs of powerand prestige?