Stock Photo - PRODUCTION - 14 September 2022, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale): Heiko Breuer (l), restorer, and Harald Meller, state archaeologist, examine fragments of a mask made of deer antlers in the workshop of the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle/Saale. Archaeologists had discovered a sacrificial pit with two antlers at the shaman's grave in Bad Dürrenberg, which is about 9000 years old. The depression was created about 600 years after the death of the woman and filled with the valuable masks. Similar masks from this period are known in small numbers from various sites in northern Central and Western Europe. Investigations on the finds from Bad Dürrenberg are not yet completed, and further findings are expected. The shaman, who was about 30 to 35 years old, was buried in a sitting position about 9000 years ago. In her arms she held a child about six months old. A headdress made of deer antlers and animal tooth pendants show the special position of the dead woman as spiritual leader of her group. Photo: Hendrik Schmidt/dpa. - Halle (Saale)/Saxony-Anhalt/Germany