Due to unusually good preservation conditions at Star Carr, the team was able to excavate preserved wooden artefacts. These include a huge number of split timbers which were laid down as a lakeside platform, as well as individual items such as a bow, a digging stick and a fragment of handle from what is assumed to be a paddle.

​The experiments at the YEAR Centre were concerned with what carpentry techniques were available during the Mesolithic and what diagnostic marks these may have left on the artefacts. Another important aspect was the experimental replication of the digging stick, bow and paddle. The bow will be dealt with in a separate page but you can see the paddle being shaped in the gallery as well as methods for felling and splitting timber.