Deer and People - Bookmark

This is a cool book on Deer-Human interaction from the Paleolithic to the Modern Age.

Book cover, 2014 

Enough of it is accessible (or findable) that it's worth referencing next time deer remains turn up somewhere and you'd like to better understand the significance.

Deer were very important to some European cultures.  Some Mesolithic Europeans, like the La Brana bros, had the habit of wearing red deer tooth necklaces.  I believe perforated deer teeth and trophy antlers were very important to those cultures.

Neolithic cultures may have avoided killing deer altogether because annual antler sheds were more important for picks than the meat.  This hypothesis looks at the lack of deer processing evidence and tool usage requirement in the Neolithic.  Interesting theory, I'm just not sure I'd be okay with a group of does visiting my oat field three times a day.

Beaker and Bronze Age folk also used antler pick tools like Neolithic folk.  However, Beakers may have also used narrow pointed antler tines to pressure flake arrowheads when copper awls weren't available.  The Amesbury Acher had a shed antler in his grave, other archers have as well.

[Link]