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An offprint from
Mesolithic Horizons Papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005
Edited by Sinéad McCartan, Rick Schulting, Graeme Warren and Peter Woodman
© OXBOW BOOKS 2009 ISBN 978-1-84217-311-4
Contents
VOLUME I List of Contributors Preface (Peter Woodman)
ix xvii
Plenaries (i)
Mapping the European Mesolithic (S. K. Kozłowski)
xx
(ii) The Mesolithic in Europe – some retrospective perspectives (Lars Larsson)
xxvii
(iii) The way forward (T. Douglas Price)
xxxiii
(iv) Ireland’s place in the European Mesolithic: why it’s ok to be different (Peter C. Woodman)
xxxvi
(v) The Mesolithic and the 21st century (Marek Zvelebil)
xlvii
New lands 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Introduction (Peter C. Woodman) Climate change, demography and social relations: an alternative view of the Late Palaeolithic pioneer colonization of southern Scandinavia (Felix Riede) Late Palaeolithic reindeer hunters – from a coastal perspective (Bengt Nordqvist) Colonizing seascapes: comparative perspectives on the development of maritime relations in the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in north-west Europe (Hein Bjartmann Bjerck) Entering new shores. Colonization processes in early archipelagos in eastern central Sweden (Roger Wikell and Mattias Pettersson) The flint collection from the Ristola site in Lahti and the cultural contacts of the earliest Postglacial settlement of southern Finland (Hannu Takala) The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? (Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama) Hunter-gatherers of the Istrian peninsula: the value of lithic raw material analysis to study small-scale colonization processes (Paolo Pellegatti) Early farmers on the coast: lithic procurement strategies of colonists in the eastern Adriatic (Niels H. Andreasen) The colonisation of eastern alpine territories: the Val di Non case study and the ‘Regole’ field camps (Trento, Italy) (Giampaolo Dalmeri, Klaus Kompatscher, Maria Hrozny Kompatscher, Anna Cusinato and Michele Bassetti)
1 3 11 16 24 31 38 45 53 60
Mobility 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Introduction (C. R. Wickham-Jones) Moving perceptions: movement, mobility and the material dimension (Thomas Kador) Top-down or bottom-up?: Americanist approaches to the study of hunter-gatherer mobility (Douglas B. Bamforth) Are we there yet? Using GIS to investigate paths and landmarks in the Mesolithic of south-west Germany (Harry Starr and Susan Harris) Raw material and settlement strategies at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in Trentino (north-eastern Italian Alps): (Fabio Cavulli and Stefano Grimaldi) Evidence of mobility between the coast and the inland region in the Mesolithic of northern Fennoscandia (Mikael A. Manninen) Walking around the Federsee: analyzing mobility and settlement through regional surface survey in south-west Germany (Susan K. Harris, Harry Starr, Lynn E. Fisher and Michael Jochim) One pig does not a winter make. New seasonal evidence at the Early Mesolithic sites of Holmegaard and Mullerup and the Late Mesolithic site of Ertebølle in Denmark (Richard Carter) Deciphering archaeological palimpsests: an example from a Canadian Barrenland caribou hunting camp (Bryan C. Gordon)
71 73 80 89 96 102 109 115 122
Contents
People in their environment 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Introduction (Rick Schulting) Coastal perspectives on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition (Nicky Milner and Eva Laurie) Current research on prehistoric human coastal ecology: Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene hunter-gatherer transitions in north-west Sicily (Marcello A. Mannino and Kenneth D. Thomas) The tragedy of the shoreline? Social ecology of Mesolithic coastal subsistence, with reference to the site of Culverwell, Isle of Portland (southern England) (Marcello A. Mannino and Kenneth D. Thomas) Small game exploitation through the Mediterranean Pleistocene-Holocene transition in southern France: a key resource augmenting the dietary range (Alexandre Bournery) An examination of Mesolithic shellfish gathering activities in the lower Asón river basin (Cantabria, España) (F. Igor Gutiérrez Zugasti) Stone Age settlement sites on an environmentally sensitive coastal area along the lower reaches of the River Pärnu (south-western Estonia), as indicators of changing settlement patterns, technologies and economies (Aivar Kriiska and Lembi Lõugas) Automating the extrapolation of sea-level displacement curves: implications for Mesolithic research in western Norway (David N. Simpson) Shells, seals and ceramics: an evaluation of a midden at West Voe, Sumburgh, Shetland, 2004–5 (Nigel D. Melton) Mesolithic elk (Alces alces L.) from Zamostje 2 (Russia) (Louis Chaix) Animal bone studies and the perception of animals in Mesolithic society (Anna Mansrud) Cultural small-scale variations in a hunter-gatherer society: or ‘everybody wants to be a little bit different!’ An ethnoarchaeological study from Siberia (Ole Grøn, Torunn Klokkernes and Michail G. Turov) Stable isotopic reconstruction of Early Mesolithic diet at Pupićina Cave (Clea Paine, Tamsin O’Connell and Preston T. Miracle) Human colonisation routes and the origins of Irish mammals (Ceiridwen J. Edwards, Daniel G. Bradley) The ecology of hazel (Corylus avellana) nuts in Mesolithic Ireland (Anne M. G. McComb)
131 134 140 146 152 161 167 176 184 190 198 203 210 217 225
People and Places 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
Introduction (Sinéad B. McCartan) Settlement patterns, landscape and society in western Norway during the Late Mesolithic (Sigrid Mannsåker Gundersen) Mesolithic inland settlement in southern Norway (Per Persson) The settlement patterns of the Maglemose culture on Bornholm, Denmark. Some preliminary results and hypotheses (Claudio Casati and Lasse Sørensen) People and places in the Latvian Mesolithic: a case study from the Zvejnieki archaeological complex (Ilga Zagorska) Dąbrowa Biskupia 71: a specialized camp from the Maglemose culture (Lucyna Domańska and Marcin Wąs) Early Holocene landscape dynamics and forager land use diversity: the example of Hoge Vaart-A27 (Almere, The Netherlands) (Hans Peeters) Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium (Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen) Mesolithic settlement and land use in the Campine region (Belgium) (Marc De Bie and Marijn Van Gils) Upland colonization: patterns of settling and habitation in northern Istria, Croatia (Darko Komšo) People and their land at the southern margins of the central Po Plain in the Early Mesolithic (Federica Fontana, Maria Giovanna Cremona, Erika Ferrari, Federico Guarisco and Davide Mengoli) A view from the edges: the Mesolithic settlement of the interior areas of the Iberian Peninsula reconsidered (Pablo Arias, Enrique Cerrillo-Cuenca, Esteban Álvarez-Fernández, Eloy Gómez-Pellón and Antonio González Cordero) Recent developments in Early Holocene hunter-gatherer subsistence and settlement: a view from south-western Iberia (Maria João Valente and António Faustino Carvalho) Mesolithic people in an open Mediterranean wetland (Andrea L. Balbo , Darko Komšo and Preston T. Miracle) Occupation in a submerged Mesolithic landscape (Garry Momber, Julie Satchell and Jan Gillespie)
235 237 243 248 255 261 269 277 282 288 296 303
312 318 324
Contents
vi
Regional identities 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
Introduction (Graeme Warren) Flint procurement in the French Alps during the Mesolithic: deciphering economic and cultural territories (Céline Bressy) The power of place and regional identity in the British south-western Mesolithic (Clive Jonathon Bond) Worm’s Head and Caldey Island (south Wales, UK) and the question of Mesolithic territories (Rick Schulting) Show me how you make your hunting equipment and I will tell you where you come from: technical traditions, an efficient means of characterizing cultural identities (Eva David) Being-in-the-(Mesolithic) world: place, substance and person in the Mesolithic of western Scotland (Hannah L. Cobb) Man-landscape relations in Varanger, Finnmark, northern Norway (Maria Westrum Solem) Feast in the forest: creating a common cultural identity in the interior of the Scandinavian Peninsula in the Late Mesolithic (Silje Elisabeth Fretheim) Ynys Enlli: shifting horizons (Mark Edmonds, Robert Johnston, Emily La Trobe-Bateman, John Roberts and Graeme Warren) In the middle, not in between: Svärdbäraren in its regional context (Jenny Holm) ‘Foreign in origin and local in pattern’: Mesolithic pottery around the Baltic Sea (Fredrik Hallgren)
333 336 345 354 362 368 373 378 385 392 397
Dwellings 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73
Introduction (João Zilhão) Is home where the heart is? Reflections around Early Mesolithic sites, exemplified with results from an excavation on coastal south-western Norway (Astrid J. Nyland) Different ways of building, different ways of living: Mesolithic house structures in western Norway (Leif Inge Åstveit) Island settlements and maritime hunter-fishers: spatial and temporal transformations over 11,000 years at Melkøya, northern Norway (Morten Ramstad) Two houses and 186,000 artefacts. Spatial organization at the Late Mesolithic site of Strandvägen, Sweden (Tom Carlsson) Ålyst: a settlement complex with hut structures from the Early Mesolithic on Bornholm, Denmark (Claudio Casati and Lasse Sørensen) Virtual hypothesis: the Maglemosian huts at Ålyst, Bornholm. Preliminary thoughts on the morphology of dwellings on a Maglemosian site (Nicolai Garhøj Larsen) Find concentrations and dwelling structures. The interpretation of Final Palaeolithic find scatters (Frank Gelhausen, Jan F. Kegler and Stefan Wenzel) Along the shores of the Ancylus Lake. Trädgårdstorp and other coastal Mesolithic settlement sites during the Late Ancylus period in western Östergötland (Fredrik Molin) Dwellings and graves from the Late Mesolithic site of Nivå 10, eastern Denmark (Ole Lass Jensen) Dreams and Landscapes: Mesolithic archaeology under water (Ole Grøn) Them bones: midden sites as a defining characteristic of the Scottish Mesolithic (C. R. Wickham-Jones) South-western regional identities: Birdcombe, Totty Pot and Hawkcombe Head (Paula J. Gardiner)
407 409 414 422 430 436 443 450 458 465 473 478 485
VOLUME II Transitions 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
Introduction (Rick Schulting) From Magdalenian to Early Neolithic: hunter-gatherers in transition in north-eastern Iberia (Pilar García-Argüelles, Jordi Nadal and Josep M. Fullola) The end of the Mesolithic in western France: from taphonomy to the understanding of prehistoric territories (Grégory Marchand) New perspectives on the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in northern Italy (Thomas Perrin) Seasonal resource scheduling in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Scotland (Rachel L. Parks) The paleoecological and paleodietary significance of edible land snails (Helix sp.) across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition on the eastern Adriatic coast (Mia Rizner, Nikola Vukosavljević and Preston Miracle) Hunter-gatherer adaptations during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in Portugal: data and explanatory models (Ana Cristina Araújo)
497 500 507 514 521 527 533
Contents 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88
Lollikhuse, a site from the transitional phase between the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Denmark (Søren A. Sørensen) Dąbki revisited: new evidence on the question of earliest cattle use in Pomerania (J. Kabaciński, D. Heinrich and T. Terberger) Hunters and fishers in a changing world. Investigations on submerged Stone Age sites off the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (Harald Lübke) The neolithisation of the Belgian lowlands: new evidence from the Scheldt Valley (Philippe Crombé, Joris Sergant and Yves Perdaen) Interaction, exchange and imitation. Some short and preliminary notes on the distribution of Breitkeile in Belgium and the Netherlands and its implications for the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic (Leo B. M. Verhart) Confronting important animals (Trond Lødøen) The phase of transformation in western Norway (Thomas Bruen Olsen) Transition to farming in western Norway seen as a rapid replacement of landscapes (Asle Bruen Olsen)
vii 541 548 556 564 570 576 583 589
Ritual in context 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
Introduction (Ericka Engelstad) Caught in the middle: functional and ideological aspects of Mesolithic shores in Norway (Knut Andreas Bergsvik) Between the rock and the sea: site location and ritual practise in the Mesolithic in eastern central Sweden (Christina Lindgren) What goes where? Intrasite studies of depositions of Maglemosian art and flint picks of the Maglemose and Kongemose cultures (Peter Andreas Toft) Soul-trips to the underworld? Interpretations of a decorated slate pickaxe from western Sweden (Robert Hernek) Prehistory as a continuum in the discussion of continuity and change in Britain, 16,000 to 6000 cal BP (Stella M. Blockley) New radiocarbon dates from the Stone Age graves at Dragsholm, Denmark (T. Douglas Price, Erik Brinch Petersen and Michael P. Richards) From single graves to cemeteries: an initial look at chronology in Mesolithic burial practice (Christopher Meiklejohn, Erik Brinch Petersen and Jeff Babb) Burials in the cave: new evidence on mortuary practices during the Mesolithic of Cantabrian Spain (Pablo Arias, Angel Armendariz, Rodrigo de Balbín, Miguel A. Fano, Juan Fernández-Tresguerres, Manuel R. González Morales, María José Iriarte, Roberto Ontañón, Javier Alcolea, Esteban ÁlvarezFernández, Francisco Etxeberria, María Dolores Garralda, Mary Jackes and Álvaro Arrizabalaga) Coping with cadavers: ritual practices in Mesolithic cemeteries (Liv Nilsson Stutz) Symbols around the body: tooth ornaments from the graves at the Zvejnieki cemeteries, northern Latvia (Lars Larsson)
599 602 610 614 621 627 632 639 650
657 664
Understanding the social context 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109
Introduction (Nyree Finlay) Dogs and people, an arising relationship: Canis familiaris amongst hunter-gatherer societies in the Iberian Peninsula (Cristina García-Moncó) Wood and wild animals: towards an understanding of a Mesolithic world (Steven Price) Transforming bodies: mortuary practices in Mesolithic Britain (Chantal Conneller) Fishy settlement patterns and their social significance: a case study from the northern Midlands of Ireland (Aimée Little) A Mesolithic social landscape in south-west Britain: the Somerset Levels and Mendip Hills (Clive Jonathon Bond) Sounds like sociality: new research on lithic contexts in Mesolithic Caithness (Steve Mills and Amelia Pannett) The identification of children’s flint knapping products in Mesolithic Scandinavia (Farina Sternke and Mikkel Sørensen) An experimental analysis of perforated shells from the site of Šebrn Abri (Istria), Croatia (Samuel Benghiat, Darko Komšo and Preston T. Miracle) From sharing to giving: handling the inequality of things at the end of the Mesolithic (Roger Edenmo)
673 675 683 690 698 706 717 722 730 736
Contents
viii
Understanding Mesolithic technology 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119
Introduction (Sheila Coulson) The illustration of Mesolithic artefacts and its contribution to the understanding of Mesolithic technology (Alan Saville) From the mountain to the sea: an ethnographic perspective for the Early Mesolithic settlement dynamics in north-eastern Italy (Stefano Grimaldi and Elisabetta Flor) Early Mesolithic hunting strategies in the north-eastern Italian Alps: an experimental analysis (Stefano Grimaldi) Tools and colour in Mesolithic Scotland (Karen Hardy, Steven Birch and Robert S. Shiel) Foragers in the alpine Rhine valley. Interpreting two Mesolithic rockshelters near Koblach in Vorarlberg, Austria (Sonja Laus) Macrolithic industries of the Portuguese Mesolithic: a human adaptive response (Ana Cristina Araújo, Francisco Almeida and M. João Valente) ‘Rulers’ of southern Sweden: technological aspects of a rediscovered tool (Arne Sjöström and Björn Nilsson) One problem – many solutions: strategies of lithic raw material procurement in Mesolithic Europe (Laurent-Jacques Costa and Farina Sternke) Variability of lithic resource exploitation systems in northern Italy during the early Holocene: the case-studies of Mondeval de Sora (Belluno) and I.N.F.S. (Bologna) (Federica Fontana and Antonio Guerreschi)
743 745 754 760 766 772 779 788 795 802
Flint alternatives 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128
Introduction (Kjel S. Å. Knutsson) Quartz analyses of the Kaaraneskoski site, Lapland (Tuija Rankama) Ways to interpret quartz (Karl-Fredrik Lindberg) Percussion events by the shore: a comparative approach to the manufacture and use of quartz in Uppland, Sweden (†Per Falkenström) Flint knappers or quartz knappers? The procurement of different types of quartz in south-east Mesolithic Norway (Lotte Eigeland) Recent stone tool use and material culture of the Wola, Papua New Guinea (Karen Hardy) Petrography and mechanics of the Armorican Massif rocks: the impact on Late Mesolithic industries in western France (Rodrigue Tsobgou Ahoupe) Production and use of Mesolithic groundstone axes and adzes in Zealand, Denmark: description, production, distribution and status (Susanne Ritz Nicolaisen) The elusive flint: raw materials and lithic technology in the Mesolithic of eastern Asturias, Spain (Pablo Arias, Patricia Fernández, Celia Marcos and Irene Rodríguez)
129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139
The transition to the Holocene in the Bajo Asón Basin (Cantabria, Spain): an archaeozoological point of view (Ana Belén Marín Arroyo) Mesolithic human remains from Poza l’Egua and Colomba caves (Asturias, Spain) (Labib Drak and María Dolores Garralda) An assessment of our knowledge, the main problems of research, and current investigations with regard to the Mesolithic of Cantabrian Spain (9th–6th millennium cal BC) (Miguel Ángel Fano) Hermitage, Ireland: life and death on the western edge of Europe (Tracy Collins) The Early prehistory in the west of Ireland: investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland (Killian Driscoll) Lake-platforms at Lough Kinale – memory, reach and place: a Discovery Programme Project in the Irish midlands (Christina Fredengren) Reconstructing Mesolithic palaeodiet using dental microwear analysis (T. Rowan McLaughlin) The excavation of Late Mesolithic fish trap remains from the Liffey estuary, Dublin, Ireland (Melanie McQuade and Lorna O’Donnell) Lakeside developments in County Meath, Ireland: a Late Mesolithic fishing platform and possible mooring at Clowanstown 1 (Matt Mossop) The development and historiography of pollen studies in the Mesolithic of the Scottish islands (Kevin J. Edwards) Molluscan studies of the Danish Mesolithic-Neolithic shell-midden Krabbesholm II: new information concerning the marine and terrestrial environment (Nina Helt Nielsen)
Current research
Consolidated Bibliography Index
811 813 820 827 833 838 845 853 860
869 871 873 876 880 882 887 889 895 900 907 908 998
People and Places
42. Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen Over the last decade, ‘Sandy Flanders’ (north-west Belgium) has been the subject of intensive Mesolithic research and has revealed much new information at both intra- and inter-site levels. Analysis of the distribution of Stone Age sites and different raw materials (local and exotic) is used to reconstruct land-use systems during different stages of the Final Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic. Preliminary results indicate not only a clear shift in site location and site density but also in the distribution of exotic raw materials (quartzites) around the middle of the Boreal (c. 7600/7500 cal BC). The Þrst shifts might point to changing settlement systems due to environmental changes, while the latter rather seems to reßect changing social or cultural conditions. Keywords: Belgium, exotic quartzites, land-use systems, social/cultural territories. Introduction Sandy Flanders is situated in north-western Belgium between the North Sea coast and the lower Scheldt River. It is a typical low-lying area (between 3 and 15m asl), lying under, mainly, coversand deposits which are only in the most eastern and northerly parts, sealed by peat and/or clay (Crombé 2005). Since 1986 this area, which covers a surface of approximately 3000km², has been surveyed mainly by students and amateur archaeologists (Van der Haegen et al. 1999; Van Vlaenderen et al. 2006). This has led to the discovery of numerous surface sites, mainly dating to the Final Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic. In some parts of the study area (i.e. Meetjesland, the Moervaart depression, and Waasland), the extensive surveys were carried out very systematically. Our research project, which started in 2004, focuses on these three core areas. Starting with a detailed inventory of data related to the Stone Age sites, additional surveys by Þeld walking and manual drilling were undertaken to check and/or complete the database. Once the database has been completed, an analysis using a geographical information system (GIS) will be done to attempt a reconstruction of land-use systems from the Final Palaeolithic (mainly Federmesser) until the start of the Bronze Age. At present the data of two core areas, the Meetjesland and the Moervaart depression, have already been entered into the database and a Þrst, preliminary, spatial analysis has been carried out. One of the major problems with surface sites is the difÞculty of dating them. As absolute dates are usually missing, dating can only be obtained using typological
and technological criteria. However, this implies that a considerable number of artefacts, or type fossils, are present on each individual site. Sites which are small, as a result of too limited research, have deep stratigraphical positions or short occupation histories, will be particularly difÞcult to date. On the other hand, large sites may yield mixed assemblages from different occupation events (palimpsests). In view of these problems we have tried to classify the sites in relatively broad chronological stages, i.e. Final Palaeolithic (Federmesser), Early Mesolithic (Preboreal – Þrst half Boreal), Middle Mesolithic (second half Boreal), Late/Final Mesolithic (Þrst half Atlantic), and Neolithic.
Results and discussion The chronological distribution of the sites (minimum 50 artefacts) analysed thus far shows a variability in the number of sites per phase. If we look at the raw data expressed in number of sites per phase (Figure 42.1), there is a marked dominance of sites belonging to the Early Mesolithic (37 sites), followed by those of the Late Mesolithic (22 sites). Middle (7 sites) and Final Mesolithic sites (4 sites) are, on the other hand, hardly in evidence. However, if the difference in the duration of each phase is taken into account another pattern emerges. As a matter of fact, the Late Mesolithic lasted approximately twice as long as the Final Palaeolithic, the Early and Final Mesolithic, and even four times longer than the Middle Mesolithic. If each chronological stage is theoretically reduced to 500 uncalibrated BP years and the number of
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Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Final Palaeolithic
Early Mesolithic
Middle Mesolithic
Late Mesolithic
Final Mesolithic
Figure 42.1. Number of sites per chronological phase. 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Final Palaeolithic
Early Mesolithic
Middle Mesolithic
Late Mesolithic
Final Mesolithic
Figure 42.2. In order to avoid distortion caused by the differences in duration of the chronological phases (Middle Mesolithic: c. 500 years uncal. BP; Final Palaeolithic, Early Mesolithic and Final Mesolithic: c. 1000 years uncal. BP; Late Mesolithic: c. 2000 years uncal. BP), each phase is reduced to 500 years uncal. BP and the number of sites is recalculated in accordance.
sites is recalculated in accordance (e.g. by dividing the number of sites by two or more, dependent on whether the stage is reduced twice or more) (Figure 42.2), a marked and gradual decrease of sites can be noticed from the Middle Mesolithic until the Final Mesolithic. The limited number of sites belonging to the Final Mesolithic might, in part, be due to taphonomic factors. Until now sites from this stage have only been found in alluvial contexts, and through which are difÞcult to detect by Þeld walking. The decline of Middle and Late Mesolithic sites, on the other hand, is much more difÞcult to explain: taphonomic reasons or a lesser visibility cannot be invoked here. A similar tendency can be seen in the distribution of the radiocarbon dates obtained from salvage excavations in Sandy Flanders. At present 102 dates from different materials, coming from ten sites, are available (Crombé et al. 2008). The distribution of these dates shows a strong concentration between 8700 and 7000 cal BC (which corresponds to the Early Mesolithic and the Þrst part of the Middle Mesolithic). From 7000 cal BC onwards there is a drastic decrease in the number of dates. If all charcoal dates are excluded (because these are not secure anthropogenic indicators) the tendency is even stronger:
most dates cluster between 8700 and 7400 cal BC, or the Early Mesolithic. Generally, a dramatic decline in the number of sites is interpreted as an indication of a reduced population density (Crombé et al. 2008). However there are other factors which might have inßuenced the numbers, for example changes in mobility or land-use systems in the course of the Mesolithic. There are two possibilities: either during the Late Mesolithic the same exploitation system was used as in the Early Mesolithic, but with reduced mobility, or there was a change in exploitation system, for example from a collecting to a foraging system (Binford 1980). From ethnographical studies it is known that a collecting system leads to a high number of logistical or non-residential sites, such as hunting stands, Þeld camps, caches, etc. In an opposite sense, a foraging system creates many more residential camps than would a collecting system, because of a higher residential mobility. However the difference between residential and nonresidential camps is archaeologically hard to distinguish. When dealing with surface evidence only, it is almost impossible to assess whether there have been major changes in the mobility system throughout the Mesolithic in the study area. It is even difÞcult to make a distinction based on evidence retrieved from excavations such as, for example, the Early Mesolithic site of Verrebroek ‘Dok I’ (Crombé et al. 2003). This excavation, which yielded at least 55 independent artefact concentrations, is the largest in the area so far. The largest excavated units are probably palimpsests of three or more occupation events, while the smallest ones seem to be the result of single and short-term visits. Hierarchical cluster analysis of these units indicates important intra-site variability in the tool compositions. Two major types of assemblages seem to exist. Type one is characterised by a dominance of microliths combined with a signiÞcant number of common tools: type two only consists of microliths. Tool variability such as this is generally, or traditionally, interpreted as reßecting functional differences (Jacobi 1978; Simmons 1979; Verhart 2003). In most studies, assemblages with numerous common tools (comparable to our type 1) are interpreted as residential camps, whereas assemblages dominated by microliths (our type 2) are usually considered as non-residential camps, hunting, or Þeld camps. However recent microwear analysis has shown clearly that such correlations are too simpliÞed. Three artefact concentrations from Verrebroek ‘Dok I’, all belonging to type 1, have been analysed so far (Beugnier and Crombé 2005). The results indicate a rather restricted number of domestic activities, with an emphasis on hide working and plant processing. Plant processing includes the scraping and splitting of non-woody plants, most likely reed or fresh hazelnut sticks. Hide working is represented only by its initial stages, namely stripping of the hides, smoothing the hides, and the treatment of hides with abrasives. What is surprising, however, is the almost total absence of other
Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium domestic activities that normally produce wear traces rather rapidly, such as wood-, bone-, and leatherworking. The activity spectrum of these three concentrations is not very consistent with what is normally expected for a residential or base camp. This spectrum might be representative of a non-residential camp type, for example a hunting Þeld camp, where a limited set of basic domestic activities would have been performed. The only way to gain more insight into this problem is to expand the microwear analysis to other assemblage types as much as possible, on intra-site and inter-site levels. Thus, for the time being, it is not possible to make a clear distinction between residential and non-residential sites within our study area. Hence it cannot be veriÞed whether the decrease in sites is a result of a change from a collecting to a foraging mobility. However, besides a reduction in site numbers, a clear shift in the distribution pattern of sites between the Early and Late Mesolithic seems also to indicate a change in the settlement system. Firstly, Early Mesolithic sites often seem to cluster in speciÞc landscape features, for example, in the eastern part of the study area. Here Early Mesolithic sites cluster along the southern slope of a large sand ridge over a distance of more than 7km. Such extensive clusters are not known from the Late Mesolithic. Second, there seems to be a marked discontinuity in the settlement location between the Early and Late Mesolithic (Figures 42.3, 42.4 and 42.5). Final Palaeolithic sites were very often re-occupied during the Early and Middle Mesolithic (Crombé and Verbruggen 2002). However these sites are only a small percentage of the Early and Middle Mesolithic sites: most sites are situated in new locations. On the other hand the Final Palaeolithic sites were nearly all not re-occupied in the Late Mesolithic, and only 38% of the Late Mesolithic occupations were established on the same location as Early and Middle Mesolithic sites. Most of these re-used sites seem to be located close to open water systems. Similar trends have been observed in other study areas of north-west Europe (e.g. Waterbolk 1983–4; Groenendijk 1993; Spikins 1999), and have been explained as resulting from major environmental changes, more precisely the change from a rather open coniferous forest in the Preboreal and Boreal, characterised by evenly distributed resources, to a dense and dark broad-leaf forest with clustered resources. Another major change obviously occurred in the use and distribution of exotic raw materials. During the Mesolithic two different types of quartzites were imported in Sandy Flanders – from Tienen and Wommersom. Both raw materials originate from the Tienen region in central Belgium, more than 80km away from the research area (Caspar 1984; Crombé 1998). On Early Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders Tienen quartzite clearly predominates over Wommersom quartzite (Crombé et al. 2008) (Figure 42.6). It is remarkable that in the area to the east of Sandy Flanders, in the Campine region, Wommersom quartzite is the only exogenous raw material attested. From the Middle Mesolithic, and deÞnitely from the Late Mesolithic onwards,
279
Figures 42.3, 42.4, 42.5. Distribution of Final Palaeolithic (above), Early Mesolithic (centre), and Late Mesolithic sites (below) in the western part of the Moervaart depression (grey: sand substratum).
the situation in Sandy Flanders changes completely: just as in the Campine region, Wommersom quartzite now becomes the most important, and, most of the time, the only exogenous raw material (Figure 42.7). It is clear that environmental arguments cannot be held responsible for these changes. Rather, we should look in the direction of social and/or cultural changes. It is not unlikely that these exotic materials, originating from the same outcrop area, were used as social markers by different groups in order to visualise and defend their social territories.
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Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen
Figure 42.6. Percentages of Tienen and Wommersom quartzite from Early Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders and the Campine.
Figure 42.7. Percentages of Tienen and Wommersom quartzite from Early, Middle, and Late Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders.
If this were the case, then the Scheldt River in the Early Mesolithic might have been the limit between two different groups, one to the west of the Scheldt using Tienen quartzite, another to the east using Wommersom
quartzite. In the Later Mesolithic the Scheldt ceased to signify a limit, or the need to visualise the borders of group territories disappeared or decreased considerably. Whether this points to a change from a period of social stress in the
Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium Early Mesolithic to a period of more stabilisation in the Late Mesolithic remains to be further investigated.
Conclusions The Þrst results of our research project, although still very preliminary, indicate at least three major changes at the transition from the Early/Middle Mesolithic to the Late Mesolithic in Sandy Flanders. Changes occur in the site density with a marked reduction in site number, in the site location with a stronger emphasis on locations along open water systems, and in the use and distribution of exotic raw materials. The Þrst two changes might be related to changes in the landscape, forcing local hunter-gatherers to change their way of exploiting the area. The third might be an expression of changing social conditions, for example an increasing territoriality.
Acknowledgements Our thanks are due to the Fund for ScientiÞc Research (Flanders) for the Þnancial assistance of our project (‘Man and landscape. Study of prehistoric land-use systems in three core regions of Sandy Flanders between c. 12,000 and 2000 BC’).
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