“It is so rare to find material this old in such good condition,” Nick Overton, a co-director of the project from The University of Manchester, said. “The Mesolithic in Britain was before the introduction of pottery or metals, so finding organic remains like bone, antler and wood, which are usually not preserved, are incredibly important in helping us to reconstruct peoples’ lives.”

The site — which is about 250 miles north of London, near Scarborough — dates back to the Mesolithic, or “Middle Stone Age” period, the university said. At the time it was inhabited, the settlement was on the shore of an island of a lake. Since then, the lake has been filled with peat deposits, burying but preserving the remains at the site.

Archaeologists said they found a variety of artifacts, including bones of animals that were hunted, handmade tools and weapons and traces of woodworking — a rare find. These remains have revealed previously misunderstood aspects of prehistoric life.

For example, the fossils discovered at the site indicate that humans were hunting a range of animals in various habitats, including elk and deer, the university said. The way the animals were butchered and deposited around the settlement also demonstrates that certain rituals existed within the civilization.

The hunting tools and weapons also shed light on unique rituals that may have existed within the ancient society. Some of the weapons and antler were decorated and taken apart before they were placed along the island’s shore, indicating that there may have been rules about disposing of animal remains and the weapons used to kill them.