Rescue excavations conducted within the modern urban fabric of Stavroupoli during the 1990s and 2000s brought to light one of the most important Neolithic settlements in Central Macedonia. Situated in a strategic location between the Thermaic Gulf and the hinterland, the settlement was inhabited during the sixth and fifth millennia BC. Archaeologists estimate that it covered approximately 100 stremmata (10 hectares), an exceptionally large extent for its time. Its inhabitants practised farming, animal husbandry and the exploitation of natural resources.
Within this environment, this rare zoomorphic object made of deer antler was created. It is a fragment of a zoomorphic figurine or decorative element. Preserved are the head, with its strongly projecting muzzle, and part of the neck. The eyes are rendered in relief, while the ears or antlers, which once projected prominently, are broken off. Four parallel horizontal decorative notches are visible on the neck.
At the Stavroupoli settlement, only about 3% of the faunal remains related to subsistence derive from wild animals, while the remainder belong to domestic species. Bones, antlers and even teeth were worked into tools and a variety of artefacts. The antlers derive from large cervids (red deer, Cervus elaphus) and medium-sized cervids (fallow deer, Dama dama, and roe deer, Capreolus capreolus), documenting both hunting activities and the practice of collecting naturally shed antlers. Antler was used for the manufacture of pointed tools, the shaping of handles and at least one other decorated object of unknown function.
Throughout prehistory, animals served as prey, sources of food and providers of raw materials, but they were also carriers of symbolic meanings. Domestication and the transition to animal husbandry created a distinction between the domesticated and the wild. Domestic animals assumed a central role in daily life, while wild species, particularly cervids, retained their importance both for subsistence and on a symbolic level.
Prehistoric communities were deeply connected to the animal world. Some scholars have argued that, owing to the seasonal shedding and regeneration of their antlers, deer were perceived as mediators between the human and the supernatural worlds, symbolising the eternal cycle of life. Their hunting may have represented more than a means of survival: it could also have been a communal activity, perhaps even a rite of passage marking the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Their symbolic significance was further associated with territoriality and the landscape inhabited by prehistoric communities. Cervids retained their significance throughout the Neolithic period across the wider Balkan region, as evidenced by their representations in figurines, rock art and pottery decoration.
Thousands of years later, this small antler head continues to tell the story of the close relationship between the Neolithic inhabitants of Stavroupoli and the natural landscape that surrounded them, as well as the animals with which they shared it. It speaks of a relationship of interdependence, respect and symbolism, in which the deer remained a powerful symbol of life, renewal and an enduring connection with nature.
You can see this zoomorphic antler object in the permanent exhibition 5,000, 15,000, 200,000 Years Before... An Exhibition on Life in Prehistoric Macedonia, displayed in Case 16.
The Exhibit of the Month was composed and edited by the archaeologist Ourania Palli.
