Mesolithic Europe

W. Heuschen, M. Baales & J. Orschiedt (2016): 1. Neue Grabungen in der Blätterhöhle in Hagen und auf ihrem Vorplatz. Archäologie in Westfalen-Lippe 2015, 28-31.
The excavation mounted at the entrance to the Blätterhöhle cave and in the cave itself continued in 2015. New profile sections were dug in the area of the hearth among other places, samples were taken and finds recovered.
One of the new finds was an arrow-shaft smoother made of coarse sandstone, suggesting that wooden arrow shafts were made at the entrance to the cave during the Mesolithic period.

In den Naturwissenschaften ist es von großem Interesse, wie sich Tierwelt, Vegetation und Landschaft am Ende der Eiszeit vor und nach dem Eingreifen des Menschen entwickelt und gegenseitig beeinflusst haben. In der Paläoökologie werden große Herbivoren der so genannten Megafauna (>45kg) als Modellorganismen genutzt, um solche komplexen Prozesse zu rekonstruieren. Die subfossilen Knochenreste dieser Arten wurden durch die häufige Bejagung in der Steinzeit im Gegensatz zu anderen Wirbeltierarten vergleichsweise repräsentativ im Erdreich abgelagert. In Mitteleuropa breiteten sich vor ca. 14000 - 13000 Jahren schon Rothirsch, Reh, Ur, Wildschwein und Elch mit unterschiedlicher Dynamik nördlich der Alpen aus. Diese Arten stellen zusammen mit dem Waldwisent und dem Wildpferd einen potenziell natürlichen Bestandteil der nacheiszeitlichen Ökosysteme Mitteleuropas dar, und durch sie induzierte Prozesse bedeuten daher 'natürliche Wildnis'. Wildpferde und Totholzkäfer, welche als Indikatoren für den Zustand der nacheiszeitlichen Urlandschaft herangezogen werden, zeigen, dass auch der Mensch spätestens seit der Jungsteinzeit einen Einfluss auf die Biodiversität hatte.

The study of Mesolithic settlements is a key aspect to understanding the articulation of social and economic organizations of the last huntergatherers. Analyzing the spatial organization of settlements increases indeed our knowledge of activity areas, subsistence strategies, seasonality of occupations and social organization. At another “reading” level, spatial organization is a direct reflection of a “Weltanschauung”. It necessarily reproduces the links between humans and non-humans, both in the material world and elsewhere. Describing a Mesolithic habitat means gaining access to a form of world organization: obviously, the process is anything but simple!
If this structuralist perspective remains in fine in our mind, our intention in this volume is rather to return to the very constitution of our
archaeological knowledge. The use of different dwelling structures (e.g., post holes, stakes, pits, walls, floors, and hearths) and the links that can be established between them give us the opportunity to understand moments of life, as well as economic or social choices. The interpretation of their functions often leads to important concepts (mobility system, storage, social hierarchy) and historical scenarios, whether or not they are integrated into evolutionary perspectives. The passage from these archaeological facts to their interpretation is obviously a crucial phase of archaeological work, and therefore closer monitoring of these questions is needed. Research on dwelling structures can be approached from a wide range of theoretical and methodological points of view, which in turn can provide heterogeneous perspectives of archaeological interpretation that lead to the enrichment of discussion and debates. Over the last ten years, the methods of analysis available to archaeologists have undergone major upheavals. It
was thus important to draw up a balance sheet. In this sense this special issue aims not only to assemble contributions on dwelling structures from archaeological sites, but also to highlight multidisciplinary research on structures from various methodological perspectives.

Most of the papers published in this special issue were presented in the session TH1-23, Mesolithic dwelling structures: from methodological approaches to archaeological interpretation at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists that took place in Vilnius
(Lithuania) in August/September 2016. The session brought together a wide variety of scholars to discuss the significance of dwelling structures during the Mesolithic in Europe. It provided a stimulating forum for discussion of new theoretical and methodological approaches to understanding human uses of space and their social organization. In addition, some invited papers have been added, increasing the geographical and theoretical methodologicalspectra of the special issue.

The Mesolithic site at Ostrovul Banului was investigated by Vasile Boroneant in 1966, prior to the building of the Iron Gates I hydroelectric dam. 227 items made of hard animal materials (in various stages of manufacturing) were the subject of the present research. Four categories of raw materials were identified: deer antler, long bone diaphyses, teeth (mammals and fish) and gastropod shells. All raw materials could have been obtained locally, suggesting
their direct acquisition and processing by the Mesolithic community. The typological range is limited, but comprises well-defined tool series. The most representative were antler chisels, bone points and tusk side-scrapers. While the projectile points are indicative of hunting activities, the other items suggest domestic uses (cutting and shaving wood, perforating and cleaning hides, etc.). An important observation concerns raw material differentiation of the blanks: volume blanks for antler, and flat blanks in the case of bone and tooth. Analysis of the hard animal materials from Ostrovul Banului indicates a community that was highly
specialized both economically and technologically. The inventory fits the general pattern of Mesolithic assemblages from the Iron Gates.

This article presents the results of the analyses of fish remains from Dąbki, site 9, situated on the western part of the Polish Baltic coastline. Most samples were excavated from an inshore refuse layer in the peat bog, while some other samples come from a Stone Age settlement located at the shore of the former lake (silted up and overgrown). A total of 18 ichthyological taxa were identified (15 freshwater and 3 migratory). The study showed that, despite the site’s relatively close proximity to the seashore, the fishing economy had a local character and was probably concentrated on the fresh and brackish waters of the nearest lakes and rivers.

Aged 10,000 and Changing Gender – a Portrait of the ‘Birthday Boy’ From Koelbjerg


Seventy-five years ago, Svend Andersen found a human skull while digging peat in Grøftebjerg Bog at Koelbjerg near Vissenbjerg on western Funen (fig. 1). Seventy-five is no age to speak of and the Koelbjerg skull eventually turned out to be much older. It is, in fact, approx. 10,000 years old and the skull and the remaining skeletal parts that soon emerged from the bog are actually the oldest find of human remains in Scandinavia.
The skeleton is generally known as the Koelbjerg woman, whereas, in fact, analyses determining its gender and linkage have been an issue for debate since 1943 when the find was first presented in scientific journals. The debate rests on the assumption that the skeletal remains discovered are from one individual, which – despite uncertainties regarding the circumstances of the find – is corroborated by the composition of the skeletal remains: a skull inclusive of the lower jaw, a bone derived from an upper arm, and three bones from right and left lower arms, respectively, six bones from the right and left leg, parts of a pelvic girdle, as well as a lumbar vertebra. Only one of each bone was found and, finally, the proportions of bones match perfectly.
The Koelbjerg skeleton find has garnered much interest from both Danish and foreign scientists. As an authorised museum institution, Odense City Museums are bound by the provisions of the Museum Act and the institution is thus obliged to keep and handle the collection of archaeological and culture-historical artefacts in a satisfactory manner. With this in mind, we need to always carefully consider whether we can justify the extraction of samples that will mean the destruction of even a minor part of an artefact.
In the autumn of 2015, there was yet another formal request for material from the Koelbjerg skeleton to undergo analysis. This time from a group of researchers headed by Morten Erik Allentoft, the Centre for Geogenetics at the University of Copenhagen and, having considered the proposed research perspective as well as the new analysis techniques, the museum decided to cooperate, seeing an opportunity to settle the ongoing issue of the gender of the skeleton once and for all. Under intense media attention, the hindmost molar from the right upper jaw was then carefully extracted (fig. 3). The roots of this tooth were gently cut off so that the root strata containing DNA could be subjected to analysis while the crown itself was duly put back into the skull. The analytical process is time-consuming and was not yet complete by the turn of 2016/2017, but preliminary results concluded beyond doubt that the Koelbjerg skeleton is that of a man and not a woman! On his death, the Koelbjerg man was fully grown and likely to have been in his late twenties. He was approx. 155 cm tall, which is below average, but not noticeably so at that time. The face had the typical male characteristics of a marked brow (supraorbital) ridge, strong muscular attachments, and a reclining forehead. While the skull showed classic male features, his general build had been slight and the Koelbjerg man is probably best described as a relatively small and delicately built man in the prime of life.
In the spring of 2016 and in continuation of the DNA examinations, Karin Margarita Frei, research professor at the National Museum of Denmark, conducted analyses of strontium isotopes from the skull. The measurements were made in a fragment of enamel already chipped off from the last preserved molar in the upper left-hand jaw and did not require new further surgical measures. The analyses of strontium will reveal the specific geographical whereabouts of a person at the time the analysed material was formed. In the case of the Koelbjerg man, this was a tooth that would have been fully developed at the age of 3-4. The result of the strontium analysis indicates that the Koelbjerg man is a native, born and raised in a landscape identical to present-day Funen. It was thus very likely in present-day Funen that the Koelbjerg boy grew into the Koelbjerg man: the boy grew up to be a light-footed huntsman in pursuit of big game.

No vale do Sado, Arapouco apresenta-se como um sítio-chave para discussão das modalidades de implantação e funcionamento do conjunto de concheiros do Mesolítico final, desta região. Perspectivas anteriores têm defendido o carácter especializado e temporário de Arapouco, no contexto deste complexo de concheiros, tratando-se do sítio mais a jusante até agora identificado e com maior abundância de restos de ictiofauna (ARNAUD 1989, 2000; GABRIEL 2010). A análise isotópica realizada sobre um esqueleto humano proveniente do concheiro de Arapouco demonstra a importância dos recursos marinhos, na dieta deste indivíduo (CUNHA & UMBELINO 2001). Não obstante, a cultura material deste sítio não foi alvo de estudo sistemático até à data, apesar da sua reconhecida importância para o conhecimento do povoamento e da paleo-economia pré-históricas. Neste sentido, a análise da indústria lítica de Arapouco afigurou-se como uma tarefa imperativa, apresentando-se aqui os primeiros resultados. Detectar na indústria lítica de Arapouco elementos específicos que conectem o sítio com a exploração especializada de recursos aquáticos constitui o objectivo central desta análise.

http://blogperso.univ-rennes1.fr/catherine.dupont/index.php/post/2009/05/11/Dupont-C.%2C-Tresset-A.%2C-Desse-Berset-N.%2C-Gruet-Y.%2C-Marchand-G.%2C-Schulting-R.%2C-2009-%E2%80%93-Harvesting-the-seashores-in-the-Late-Mesolithic-of-north-western-Europe.-A-view-from-Brittany-Journal-of-World-Prehistory%2C-12.

The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), today a subarctic species with breeding populations in the White Sea, around the Jan Mayen Islands and Newfoundland, was a common pinniped species in the Baltic Sea during the mid-and late Holocene. It is puzzling how an ice dependent species could breed in the Baltic Sea during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), and it remains unclear for how long harp seals bred in the Baltic Sea and when the population became extirpated. We combined radiocarbon dating of harp seal bones with zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and stable isotope data to reconstruct the harp seal occurrence in the Baltic Sea. Our study revealed two phases of harp seal presence and verifies that the first colonization and establishment of a local breeding population occurred within the HTM. We suggest that periods with very warm summers but cold winters allowed harp seals to breed on the ice. Human pressure, salinity fluctuations with consequent changes in prey availability and competition for food resources, mainly cod, resulted in physiological stress that ultimately led to a population decline and local extirpation during the first phase. The population reappeared after a long hiatus. Final extinction of the Baltic Sea harp seal coincided with the Medieval Warm Period. Our data provide insights for the first time on the combined effects of past climatic and environmental change and human pressure on seal populations and can contribute with new knowledge on ongoing discussions concerning the impacts of such effects on current arctic seal populations.

The presence of pottery on sites that are otherwise
culturally attributed to the Mesolithic poses a series
of problems in relation to the development of the
Neolithisation process. These problems relate to the
association of the pottery with the Mesolithic lithic
industry and to the question whether the indigenous
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers might have produced
their own pots. This paper presents several Late Mesolithic
sites where pottery has been found and seeks
to provide an overview of the various possibilities regarding
this phenomenon.

In this paper, a systematic review of archaeobotanical data from Stone Age (c. 8900–1500 cal BC) sites in mainland Finland is presented for the first time and compared with ethnographical data. The data was collected from 76 archaeological sites and consists of charred and waterlogged remains from soil samples and charred hand-picked remains from archaeological excavations. The data shows that various wild plants were gathered in Finland during the Stone Age and that different opportunities for plant gathering prevailed in various parts of the country. Hazel and water chestnut were widespread and used in locales further to the north than where they grow today, but they were still confined to southern Finland. Some plants, such as bearberry and crowberry, were ubiquitous and collected throughout Finland. In the light of the data analysed, it is suggested that most of the charred plant remains derive from food processing (roasting, smoking, frying, cooking), waste management, and fuel use.

In de reeks Archeologie in Fryslân komen de verschillende historische landschappen van Fryslân aan bod. Elk deel biedt een overzicht van de resultaten van oud en nieuw onderzoek naar de wisselwerking tussen het landschap en zijn bewoners door de eeuwen heen. 11.000 tot 7.000 jaar geleden was Fryslân één grote wildernis. Een uitgestrekt oerbos, afgewisseld met open plekken, werd doorsneden door vele kleine
waterstromen en bewoond door wilde dieren. Door dit landschap trokken kleine groepen jager-verzamelaars, levend van wat het land, de lucht en het water hen bood. We noemen deze periode de Midden-Steentijd of Mesolithicum. Van het leven van deze rondtrekkende jagers vinden we slechts een klein deel in de bodem terug. Alleen hun vuurstenen werktuigen, het afval van de bewerking daarvan, resten van hun kampvuren en heel soms sporen van hun onderkomens zijn in de grond bewaard gebleven. Door deze nauwkeurig te bestuderen, kunnen we ons toch een beeld vormen van hoe het leven en het landschap er toen uit hebben gezien. Hieruit blijkt dat Fryslân en vooral de omgeving rond het Burgumer Mar (vroeger: Bergumermeer) duizenden jaren lang een grote aantrekkingskracht op de Steentijdjagers had. Universitaire- en amateur-archeologen (stientsjesikers) hebben hier in de afgelopen honderd jaar namelijk tientallen vindplaatsen en duizenden vuurstenen artefacten uit de Midden-Steentijd gevonden.In dit boek kijken we naar al die vondsten en opgravingen, die samen het verhaal van het Friese Mesolithicum vertellen. We staan bijvoorbeeld uitgebreid stil bij een grote opgraving uit de jaren ’70 aan de oevers van het Burgumer Mar en bij een recent onderzoek bij Sumar in het kader van de aanleg van de Centrale As. Maar we besteden ook veel aandacht aan de verschillende Friese stientsjesikers, die een onmisbare rol spelen in het onderzoek naar de Midden-Steentijd in Fryslân.