Pottery produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the northeast European forest zone is... more Pottery produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the northeast European forest zone is among the earliest in Europe. Absolute chronologies, however, are still subject to debate due to a general lack of reliable contextual information. Direct radiocarbon dating of carbonized surface residues (“foodcrusts”) on pots can help to address this problem, as it dates the use of the pottery. If a pot was used to cook fish or other aquatic species, however, carbon in the crust may have been depleted in 14C compared to carbon in terrestrial foods and thus appear older than it really is (i.e. showing a “freshwater reservoir effect,” or FRE). A connected problem, therefore, is the importance of aquatic resources in the subsistence economy, and whether pots were used to process aquatic food. To build better chronologies from foodcrust dates, we need to determine which 14C results are more or less likely to be subject to FRE, i.e. to distinguish crusts derived mainly from aquatic ingredients from those composed mainly of terrestrial foods. Integrating laboratory analyses with relative chronologies based on typology and stratigraphy can help to assess the extent of FRE in foodcrust dates. This article reports new 14C and stable isotope measurements on foodcrusts from six Stone Age sites in central and northern European Russia, and one in southeastern Estonia. Most of these 14C results are not obviously influenced by FRE, but the isotopic data suggest an increasing use of aquatic products over the course of the 6th and 5th millennia cal BC.
Only in the last 20 years have German research institutes and heritage agencies turned their atte... more Only in the last 20 years have German research institutes and heritage agencies turned their attention to the investigation of the settlements that were inundated by rapid sea-level rise during the Holocene. Over 142 sites have been recorded so far, the majority on the Baltic coastline, and mostly of Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic date. Underwater excavations on the Baltic coast of sites such as Timmendorf-Nordmole, Neustadt and Strande demonstrate H. Jöns
In the coastal waters of Kiel Bay near the village of Strande (district of Rendsburg-Eckernforde,... more In the coastal waters of Kiel Bay near the village of Strande (district of Rendsburg-Eckernforde, Schleswig-Holstein) divers unexpectedly came across trunks of fallen oak trees at 6 m depth, which led to the discovery of a new submerged late Mesolithic site. During a preliminary excavation in 2012, research divers uncovered a well-preserved coastal site, consisting of several organic sediment and silt layers with a large number of stone artefacts and organic finds. Wooden objects, plant remains, bones of several marine and freshwater fish, marine and terrestrial mammals, water birds and fragmented human bones were found. Tree ring dating, radiocarbon dates of leister prongs and human bones, and the artefact inventory pinpoint the site to the pre-pottery Ertebolle phase (5450–4750 cal BC). Sites of this time period are of particular interest as they are still rare in the south-western Baltic Sea area, where only very few sites have been examined in detail. To evaluate the extent of the organic sediment and silt layers and their potential for preserving more finds, a survey project was executed in summer 2014 over a wider area around the excavation trenches. This established a high potential for the recovery of additional finds and structures in the surrounding area, and further investigations at Strande are planned.
In the 5th millennium BC, Schleswig-Holstein stood between the fully Neolithic societies south an... more In the 5th millennium BC, Schleswig-Holstein stood between the fully Neolithic societies south and east of the river Elbe and the fisher-hunter-gatherer societies (the Ertebølle Culture) of southern Scandinavia. Contacts with the farming cultures in the south are evidenced by imports such as pottery, Danubian stone axes and early copper axe-blades from southeastern Europe. In Denmark and southern Sweden the beginning of food production was accompanied by the beginning of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) around 4000/3900 BC. Along the Baltic coast of northern Germany, by contrast, agriculture can be tt·aced as far back in the Erteb0lle period as c. 4700/4600 BC. However, the economy was still largely based on hunting and fishing, carried out from large coastal settlements. Analyses of tools and pottery show that cultural contacts were oriented to both the northwest (Jutland) and the northeast (Zealand/Scania). Between 4100 and 3900 BC new ceramic types were introduced under influence ...
In den vergangenen Jahren haben Ausgrabungen auf Feuchtbodensiedlungen im Bereich der Mecklenburg... more In den vergangenen Jahren haben Ausgrabungen auf Feuchtbodensiedlungen im Bereich der Mecklenburger Bucht zu einem differenzierten Bild der chronologischen Entwicklung des ausgehenden Mesolithikums und beginnenden Neolithikums geführt. Mit Hilfe feinstratigraphisch analysierter und absolut datierter Siedlungsinventare wird deshalb eine Neugliederung des Endmesolithikums (Ertebølle-Kultur) und des älteren Frühneolithikums (früheste Trichterbecherkultur) vorgestellt. Für das Endmesolithikum wird eine Unterteilung in vier Phasen vorgeschlagen, von denen jeweils zwei der akeramischen und der keramischen Ertebølle-Kultur zugerechnet werden. Nicht alle Phasen sind bislang im östlichen und im westlichen Teil der Mecklenburger Bucht durch Siedlungsplätze belegt; die synchronen Inventaren zeigen allerdings erstaunliche Parallelen im Werkzeugspektrum, in der Schlagtechnik oder im Beginn der Keramikherstellung. Lokale Besonderheiten, wie sie sich derzeit noch in der Bevorzugung bestimmter Flin...
Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe, 2007
The border between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in Central Europe is traditionally defined on... more The border between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in Central Europe is traditionally defined on the basis of subsistence strategy. It is the development from hunter-gatherer groups in the forests of the early Holocene to the first farmers. The debate on the character of this process has been going on for over 100 years. This chapter presents results of new research on this subject, with an emphasis on northern Germany.
Der Beitrag stellt drei mesolithische Geweihlochstäbe der Fundstellen Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (bei... more Der Beitrag stellt drei mesolithische Geweihlochstäbe der Fundstellen Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (beide Norddeutschland) und Krzyż (Polen) vor, die nach Meinung der Autoren als zoomorphe Darstellungen interpretiert werden können. Die Basis der Abwurfstangen wurde jeweils teilweise abgearbeitet und die Sprosse als spitzer Stumpf zugerichtet. Die so entstandene Form kann als stilisierter Kopf eines Elches angesprochen werden. Die ähnliche Zurichtung der Objekte und die nahezu übereinstimmende absolute Datierung der Geweihstäbe von Twedt-Buschau und Krzyż in das frühe Boreal unterstützen diese Hypothese. Die skulptierten Geweihstäbe, die ein neues Element mesolithischer Kunst der nordeuropäischen Tiefebene repräsentieren, werden abschließend in die Entwicklung der spätpaläolithischen/mesolithischen Kunst eingeordnet. Cet article présente trois bâtons percés mésolithiques trouvés sur les sites de Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (tous deux en Allemagne du Nord) et Krzyż (Pologne), dans lesquels les auteurs voient des représentations zoomorphes. Ces bois tombés ont été partiellement travaillés à leur base et les andouillers taillés en pointe arrondie. La forme qui en résulte peut alors être perçue comme la tête stylisée d'un élan. La taille similaire de ces trois objets et la datation absolue, presque identique, des bâtons percés de Twedt-Buschau et Krzyż au début du Boréal renforcent cette hypothèse. Ces bâtons percés et sculptés, qui représentent un nouvel élément de l'art mésolithique des plaines de l'Europe septentrionale, sont ensuite intégrés dans l'évolution artistique du Paléolithique final au Mésolithique. The article discusses three perforated antler objects from Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (northern Germany) and Krzyż (Poland) which can be interpreted as zoomorphic representations. The roses of the antlers show cutmarks and the lower tines were modified into pin like stumps. The antlers are identified as abstract elk heads. This is supported by the very similar shape of the objects and the fact that the pieces from Twedt-Buschau and Krzyż date to the same early Boreal period. In the final chapter the meaning of the new evidence is discussed in the frame work of the development of Late Palaeolithic to Mesolithic art.
SUMMARY The article presents the results of the SINCOS research group and the SINCOS II project b... more SUMMARY The article presents the results of the SINCOS research group and the SINCOS II project bundle concerning the changes of the socio-economic system of the communities and societies living on the shore of the southwestern Baltic rim from the mid-Holocene Mesolithic and Neolithic period to the Early Medieval Age. The main focus is laid on the stage of the Littorina Transgression from 6000 to 2000 cal. BC, when the people living in the maritime zone between the Oder estuary and the Oldenburg Rift were facing a continuous shore displacement and a coastal decline, forcing them to move their settlements successively to pretect them from inundation. Because of the regionally differing intensity of the isostatic rebound to the isostatic uplift of northern Scandinavia, the coasts of the Bay of Mecklenburg were affected by this phenomenon to a much larger scale than those of the Arkona Basin and the Pomeranian Bay. Both areas were separated by the Darss Sill, which acted as a threshold...
Pottery produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the northeast European forest zone is... more Pottery produced by mobile hunter-gatherer-fisher groups in the northeast European forest zone is among the earliest in Europe. Absolute chronologies, however, are still subject to debate due to a general lack of reliable contextual information. Direct radiocarbon dating of carbonized surface residues (“foodcrusts”) on pots can help to address this problem, as it dates the use of the pottery. If a pot was used to cook fish or other aquatic species, however, carbon in the crust may have been depleted in 14C compared to carbon in terrestrial foods and thus appear older than it really is (i.e. showing a “freshwater reservoir effect,” or FRE). A connected problem, therefore, is the importance of aquatic resources in the subsistence economy, and whether pots were used to process aquatic food. To build better chronologies from foodcrust dates, we need to determine which 14C results are more or less likely to be subject to FRE, i.e. to distinguish crusts derived mainly from aquatic ingredients from those composed mainly of terrestrial foods. Integrating laboratory analyses with relative chronologies based on typology and stratigraphy can help to assess the extent of FRE in foodcrust dates. This article reports new 14C and stable isotope measurements on foodcrusts from six Stone Age sites in central and northern European Russia, and one in southeastern Estonia. Most of these 14C results are not obviously influenced by FRE, but the isotopic data suggest an increasing use of aquatic products over the course of the 6th and 5th millennia cal BC.
Only in the last 20 years have German research institutes and heritage agencies turned their atte... more Only in the last 20 years have German research institutes and heritage agencies turned their attention to the investigation of the settlements that were inundated by rapid sea-level rise during the Holocene. Over 142 sites have been recorded so far, the majority on the Baltic coastline, and mostly of Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic date. Underwater excavations on the Baltic coast of sites such as Timmendorf-Nordmole, Neustadt and Strande demonstrate H. Jöns
In the coastal waters of Kiel Bay near the village of Strande (district of Rendsburg-Eckernforde,... more In the coastal waters of Kiel Bay near the village of Strande (district of Rendsburg-Eckernforde, Schleswig-Holstein) divers unexpectedly came across trunks of fallen oak trees at 6 m depth, which led to the discovery of a new submerged late Mesolithic site. During a preliminary excavation in 2012, research divers uncovered a well-preserved coastal site, consisting of several organic sediment and silt layers with a large number of stone artefacts and organic finds. Wooden objects, plant remains, bones of several marine and freshwater fish, marine and terrestrial mammals, water birds and fragmented human bones were found. Tree ring dating, radiocarbon dates of leister prongs and human bones, and the artefact inventory pinpoint the site to the pre-pottery Ertebolle phase (5450–4750 cal BC). Sites of this time period are of particular interest as they are still rare in the south-western Baltic Sea area, where only very few sites have been examined in detail. To evaluate the extent of the organic sediment and silt layers and their potential for preserving more finds, a survey project was executed in summer 2014 over a wider area around the excavation trenches. This established a high potential for the recovery of additional finds and structures in the surrounding area, and further investigations at Strande are planned.
In the 5th millennium BC, Schleswig-Holstein stood between the fully Neolithic societies south an... more In the 5th millennium BC, Schleswig-Holstein stood between the fully Neolithic societies south and east of the river Elbe and the fisher-hunter-gatherer societies (the Ertebølle Culture) of southern Scandinavia. Contacts with the farming cultures in the south are evidenced by imports such as pottery, Danubian stone axes and early copper axe-blades from southeastern Europe. In Denmark and southern Sweden the beginning of food production was accompanied by the beginning of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TRB) around 4000/3900 BC. Along the Baltic coast of northern Germany, by contrast, agriculture can be tt·aced as far back in the Erteb0lle period as c. 4700/4600 BC. However, the economy was still largely based on hunting and fishing, carried out from large coastal settlements. Analyses of tools and pottery show that cultural contacts were oriented to both the northwest (Jutland) and the northeast (Zealand/Scania). Between 4100 and 3900 BC new ceramic types were introduced under influence ...
In den vergangenen Jahren haben Ausgrabungen auf Feuchtbodensiedlungen im Bereich der Mecklenburg... more In den vergangenen Jahren haben Ausgrabungen auf Feuchtbodensiedlungen im Bereich der Mecklenburger Bucht zu einem differenzierten Bild der chronologischen Entwicklung des ausgehenden Mesolithikums und beginnenden Neolithikums geführt. Mit Hilfe feinstratigraphisch analysierter und absolut datierter Siedlungsinventare wird deshalb eine Neugliederung des Endmesolithikums (Ertebølle-Kultur) und des älteren Frühneolithikums (früheste Trichterbecherkultur) vorgestellt. Für das Endmesolithikum wird eine Unterteilung in vier Phasen vorgeschlagen, von denen jeweils zwei der akeramischen und der keramischen Ertebølle-Kultur zugerechnet werden. Nicht alle Phasen sind bislang im östlichen und im westlichen Teil der Mecklenburger Bucht durch Siedlungsplätze belegt; die synchronen Inventaren zeigen allerdings erstaunliche Parallelen im Werkzeugspektrum, in der Schlagtechnik oder im Beginn der Keramikherstellung. Lokale Besonderheiten, wie sie sich derzeit noch in der Bevorzugung bestimmter Flin...
Going Over: The Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition in North-West Europe, 2007
The border between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in Central Europe is traditionally defined on... more The border between the Mesolithic and the Neolithic in Central Europe is traditionally defined on the basis of subsistence strategy. It is the development from hunter-gatherer groups in the forests of the early Holocene to the first farmers. The debate on the character of this process has been going on for over 100 years. This chapter presents results of new research on this subject, with an emphasis on northern Germany.
Der Beitrag stellt drei mesolithische Geweihlochstäbe der Fundstellen Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (bei... more Der Beitrag stellt drei mesolithische Geweihlochstäbe der Fundstellen Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (beide Norddeutschland) und Krzyż (Polen) vor, die nach Meinung der Autoren als zoomorphe Darstellungen interpretiert werden können. Die Basis der Abwurfstangen wurde jeweils teilweise abgearbeitet und die Sprosse als spitzer Stumpf zugerichtet. Die so entstandene Form kann als stilisierter Kopf eines Elches angesprochen werden. Die ähnliche Zurichtung der Objekte und die nahezu übereinstimmende absolute Datierung der Geweihstäbe von Twedt-Buschau und Krzyż in das frühe Boreal unterstützen diese Hypothese. Die skulptierten Geweihstäbe, die ein neues Element mesolithischer Kunst der nordeuropäischen Tiefebene repräsentieren, werden abschließend in die Entwicklung der spätpaläolithischen/mesolithischen Kunst eingeordnet. Cet article présente trois bâtons percés mésolithiques trouvés sur les sites de Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (tous deux en Allemagne du Nord) et Krzyż (Pologne), dans lesquels les auteurs voient des représentations zoomorphes. Ces bois tombés ont été partiellement travaillés à leur base et les andouillers taillés en pointe arrondie. La forme qui en résulte peut alors être perçue comme la tête stylisée d'un élan. La taille similaire de ces trois objets et la datation absolue, presque identique, des bâtons percés de Twedt-Buschau et Krzyż au début du Boréal renforcent cette hypothèse. Ces bâtons percés et sculptés, qui représentent un nouvel élément de l'art mésolithique des plaines de l'Europe septentrionale, sont ensuite intégrés dans l'évolution artistique du Paléolithique final au Mésolithique. The article discusses three perforated antler objects from Twedt-Buschau, Verchen (northern Germany) and Krzyż (Poland) which can be interpreted as zoomorphic representations. The roses of the antlers show cutmarks and the lower tines were modified into pin like stumps. The antlers are identified as abstract elk heads. This is supported by the very similar shape of the objects and the fact that the pieces from Twedt-Buschau and Krzyż date to the same early Boreal period. In the final chapter the meaning of the new evidence is discussed in the frame work of the development of Late Palaeolithic to Mesolithic art.
SUMMARY The article presents the results of the SINCOS research group and the SINCOS II project b... more SUMMARY The article presents the results of the SINCOS research group and the SINCOS II project bundle concerning the changes of the socio-economic system of the communities and societies living on the shore of the southwestern Baltic rim from the mid-Holocene Mesolithic and Neolithic period to the Early Medieval Age. The main focus is laid on the stage of the Littorina Transgression from 6000 to 2000 cal. BC, when the people living in the maritime zone between the Oder estuary and the Oldenburg Rift were facing a continuous shore displacement and a coastal decline, forcing them to move their settlements successively to pretect them from inundation. Because of the regionally differing intensity of the isostatic rebound to the isostatic uplift of northern Scandinavia, the coasts of the Bay of Mecklenburg were affected by this phenomenon to a much larger scale than those of the Arkona Basin and the Pomeranian Bay. Both areas were separated by the Darss Sill, which acted as a threshold...
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