Star Carr ‘Life After the Ice' Jess Bates and Guy Schofield, Department of Archaeology
Event details
Merchant Adventurers' Arts Discovery Lecture
Star Carr ‘Life After the Ice’: Reconstructing prehistoric houses through immersive digital and experimental archaeology methods
Star Carr was a Mesolithic settlement in North Yorkshire, England, occupied around 11,000 years ago.
During excavations from 2004-2015 led by archaeologists from the Universities of York, Chester and Manchester, the earliest house in Britain was found alongside the earliest evidence of carpentry, artefacts including the oldest bow found in Europe, and over 20 complete deer-antler headdresses. These globally significant discoveries formed the basis of a major 2 year exhibition and publication engagement programme undertaken through a partnership between the Yorkshire Museum and the University of York. This co-curated exhibition enabled us to experiment with different approaches to reconstructing what life may have been like at Star Carr.
An immersive digital mural was developed in which we reconstructed the site’s landscape and, for the first time, we ‘peopled’ the settlement using digital characters brought to life through motion capture technology. As part of the public engagement programme, a replica of the earliest house in Britain was constructed in the museum gardens during August 2024 to provide a freely accessible way for people to engage with the exhibition.
In this talk, archaeologist Dr Jess Bates and digital artist Dr Guy Schofield will transport you back to the Mesolithic and explore how researchers are using innovative methods to gain insights into the lives of people living 11,000 years ago.
About the speakers
Jess Bates is a Mesolithic specialist who researches hunter-gatherer settlements and structures. She applies a range of different methods, from microscopic analysis of flint tools to spatial mapping to explore how the material culture of prehistoric societies can reveal insights into daily life.
Currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Archaeology, University of York, Jess leads on the MA Mesolithic Archaeology programme and is actively involved in engaging with local communities to promote awareness of the Mesolithic period and what we can learn from the past. This has resulted in delivering workshops across a number of local schools on the Mesolithic and Star Carr, and working closely with the Yorkshire Museum to co-develop the Life After the Ice exhibition.
Guy Schofield is a digital artist and researcher whose practice involves installation, film, sound, music, robots, sculpture, Virtual Reality, and games. He has developed and presented artworks, technology demonstrations and practical workshops at conferences, festivals and exhibitions in the UK, Europe, USA, South Africa, and Asia.
As a senior lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at University of York, Guy’s research is mainly in the fields of digital art and Human-Computer Interaction and often involves participatory approaches to making digital artworks. His current research interests centre on using videogame technologies in heritage settings. He is also involved in collaborations with researchers in Psychology, using Virtual Reality to explore physiological responses to fear.