Prehistoric Pottery Selection, Broughty Ferry Castle Museum, nr. Dundee, Angus, Scotland

A Copper Age woman's skeleton found in Spain reveals a story of survival and medical marvel. She must have had a great prehistoric surgeon because she survived not one, but two surgeries to her skull!

High Priestess of Tholos de Montelirio. Copper Age - Southwestern Iberia (3,000–2,800 BC.)

The Ivory Lady, Grand Chief of Valencina de la Concepción (Seville, Spain). Copper Age - SW Iberia.

Priestess of the Iberian Neolithic - early Copper Age

art by @Re_my_06

Dheut-e-Zonja, or Zôja-e-Dheut ("Lady of the Earth"), was the Illyrian/Albanian Earthmother of the ancient Balkans, also called Dheun, Dheu, and Toka ("Earth"), and Mëmë-dheu ("Mother Earth"). The Romans identified her with Tellus Mater, Terra Mater, or Magna Mater (Cybele). The very soil of Dheut-e-Zonja was believed to have the powers of an all-seeing eye that watched humanity from the ground up, knowing everywhere each of us goes. When an Albanian moved to a foreign land, he or she took with them a container of Mother Earth, as the concept of the Earthmother was regionalized. She was Mother of the Sun-goddess, rebirthing Her every morning. She cared for the dead, their remains buried and their soul going to an underworld paradise. Mourners would get on their knees making forlorn wailing sounds, then place their foreheads on Mother Earth. She was sometimes paired with Zoh-z, the Albanian Sky-god, with many formulaic sayings or prayers to Earth and Sky. Presumedly he was her husband. Dheut-e-Zonja was mother of vegetation. Her sacred groves were designated natural sites of great beauty, where it was forbidden to cut down trees, and no house or settlement was permitted, or the offenders' families would suffer longlasting misfortune.

An Albanian and Kosovan folk practice that lasted into the 20th Century provides lingering evidence of an Earthmother cult. Infants and children who were not thriving would be taken to a ritual location by an elderly woman of the family or village, there laid upon the ground, and covered with fresh earth, all except the head, the while reciting prayers or spells of healing. This was believed to impart the Earth's strength to the child.

Figurine: Copper Age ceramic goddess figurine found at Maliqi, Albania.

Iron Age Gold Torc from Burnley, Manchester Museum, Manchester University

Craig Celynin Ancient Landscape, nr. Rowen, Conwy Valley, Wales

Achnabreck Prehistoric Rock Art Panels, nr. Lochgilphead, Argyll, Scotland

Ballochmyle Prehistoric Rock Art Panels, Ballochmyle, East Ayrshire, Scotland

Mesolithic Harpoon Head, 4500 BCE, Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

This is a 6500 year old harpoon made from a Red Deer antler and found in the River Dee. It is of a similar type of harpoon to those found in Mesolithic caves or rock shelters near Oban. This piece has been carbon dated to around 4500 BCE.

Swinside Neolithic Stone Circle, Sunkenkirk, South Lakes.

Castleton 7a Prehistoric Rock Art Panels, nr. Falkirk, Scotland

Sculpture of a Bison (replica)

This is a replica of a 14,000-year-old sculpture found in the Madeleine Cave in France and is made of reindeer antler.

Museum of Archaeology, Durham University

Iron Age Enamelled Pin or Brooch, The Yorkshire Museum, York

Gwern Einion Prehistoric Burial Chamber, Pensarn, Wales

Dunbeath Iron Age Broch, Caithness, Scotland

Recreated Neolithic Roundhouses, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, nr. Salisbury, Wiltshire