The Antler Maceheads Dating Project

Abstract

This paper reports the first examples of direct radiocarbon measurements from antler maceheads, demonstrating that both the middle Thames specimens and those from northern Britain date to the second half of the 4th millennium cal BC. This suggests a degree of contemporaneity between riverine activity in the south and ‘prestige’ burial in the north, although the possibility that this is a function of the radiocarbon calibration curve cannot be discounted. The possibility that lattice decorated maceheads can be regarded as prototypes for the Maesmore series of fine stone maceheads is considered but the failure of two out of three decorated examples to produce radiocarbon determinations means that the debate cannot yet be settled.