Decorated objects from the Mesolithic period are quite rare. Occasionally bone tools, such as axes or points, are decorated with geometric lines. The only sculpture that has been found is a carved stone statuette or ‘amulet’ made from a rock called shale. It was found at Nab Head in South Wales, and may represent a Venus figurine or a phallus.

Jewellery was also found at Nab Head. Here, shale was an important resource, as the site seems to have been a centre for manufacturing beads. Hundreds of beads have been found which were made by shaping the shale and piercing it with a sharp stone point. The beads were made in various shapes; round, oval, square or triangular, and then strung together to make necklaces or bracelets.

Beads, probably from Nab Head, have been found at other sites in South Wales which suggests that they were highly valued objects, traded over long distances. Other materials were also used to make beads. At Star Carr in Yorkshire beads were made from amber, deer teeth, bird bone as well as shale. Beads made from animal teeth and shell were left as grave goods at Aveline’s Hole in Somerset. This shows how important these objects were, as they were left there to either decorate the body, or perhaps to take to the after-life.