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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

New Lands

7. The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama The Sujala site consists of two small clusters of Þnds located by Lake Vetsijärvi in the borough of Utsjoki, northernmost Finnish Lapland. The Þnds consist primarily of artefacts and debitage produced by a macroblade industry utilizing tuffaceous chert. This lithic material is not native to the area and probably derives from the Varanger Peninsula in Norway, roughly 100km north of the site. The raw material may suggest a connection with the Preboreal Komsa Phase of the North Norwegian Finnmark Mesolithic, which is also characterized by a macroblade technology. However, the typological features of the Sujala arrowheads and certain characteristics of the blade technology suggest an origin in the Post-Swiderian cultures of north-eastern Europe. Post-Swiderian sites are not previously known from Lapland. Radiocarbon dates place the site near the Preboreal/Boreal boundary. Keywords: Lapland, Post-Swiderian, blade technology, tanged points. The location The Sujala site lies on a gravel ridge overlooking Lake Vetsijärvi, a large tundra lake located on a fell plateau in Utsjoki, Finland’s northernmost borough (Figure 7.1). The ridge forms a peninsula that protrudes into the lake from the south. The peninsula is also the terminus of a rough track that connects the lake with the main road, some 20km distant. That the site was discovered at all is largely due

Figure 7.1. Location of the Sujala site.

to the track, which, running the length of the ridge, has destroyed the ground vegetation in its path, leaving surface Þnds in full view.

The survey The site was discovered by the authors in 2002 during an archaeological survey of what was then an archaeologically uncharted area (Rankama and Kankaanpää 2003; Rankama 2005). The survey was mounted in order to test Tuija Rankama’s hypothesis that the inland tundra lakes of Utsjoki were already playing a role in the local economy in the Mesolithic (Rankama 1996, 528–31, 557). Searching the lakeshores by kayak, and the track on foot, turned up one Sámi campsite, one undated pitfall, and ten Stone Age sites, nine of which produced a quartz inventory typical of Finnish prehistoric sites from the Boreal to the Bronze Age. The tenth site, however, produced fragments of large blades made from a weathered chert-like material quite alien to Finnish archaeology. This site was dubbed ‘Sujala’ after Eero Sujala, whose Þshing cabin stood nearby. Large blade technology is very rare in Finland, which has no native sources of ßint or chert. The material of the Sujala Þnds is a microcrystalline stone that was originally reported from coastal sites in Norwegian Finnmark (Lapland), and erroneously called ‘dolomite’ because in its weathered form the stone turns whitish and rather light and soft (e.g. Simonsen 1961, 14). Recently, however, the material has been redeÞned as ‘tuffaceous chert’ by Bryan Hood (1992,

39

The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? 91–3). In its unweathered form, it is dark, greenish grey or nearly black, and much more dense and hard than the weathered variety. No quarries or outcrops of the stone have been reported so far, but Finnish geologists who have seen the Sujala material have stated that it cannot originate in the Fennoscandian Shield. The nearest likely source is the Varanger Peninsula, in Norwegian Finnmark, some 100km due north of the Sujala site (Jukka Välimaa, Tuomo Manninen and Reino Kesola, pers. comm., 2005). The Þrst potential ‘parent’ coming to mind for the Sujala Þnds was the earliest occupation of Norwegian Finnmark, a Preboreal phase referred to as Mesolithic Period I, or the Komsa phase, and dated to 10,000–9000 BP (c. 9500–8250 cal BC) (Olsen 1994, 30–1; Woodman 1993, 74). Like the Sujala assemblage, the Komsa phase is characterized by both large blades and tuffaceous chert. All previously known sites of this phase, however, are located on the coast. This currently lies some sixty kilometres north of Lake Vetsijärvi, but Þords reaching up the Teno River and Lake Pulmankijärvi valleys would have shortened the distance to thirty kilometres during the Preboreal Period with its higher sea levels. Were its roots to be found in this direction, the Sujala site promised to be not only the Þrst inland Komsaphase site, but also the Þrst Komsa site in Finnish Lapland (Kankaanpää and Rankama 2005, 150–3).

The excavations A test excavation was carried out at the Sujala site in 2004. Surface collecting resulted in the pinpointing of two scatters of tuffaceous chert artefacts, located roughly 200m apart. Test pitting showed that the scatters were some 10–15m in diameter and fairly dense. The northern scatter (Area 1) produced 177 artefacts of tuffaceous chert and 8 of quartz,

while the southern scatter (Area 2) produced 161 and 4 respectively. A small, sparse scatter of 21 artefacts made from various lithic materials (quartz, quartzite, ßint, and white chert), discovered some 25 metres south of Area 1, probably represents a later event. The most remarkable Þnds were two blade cores and a tanged arrowhead, all from Area 2. Blades and blade fragments – many of them retouched – were numerous, accounting for a good 35% of all tuffaceous chert artefacts. Excavations continued in Area 2 in 2005. The choice fell on this area because it had produced not only the blade cores and arrowhead but also a more varied selection of other lithic artefact types. The 33 square metres that were excavated during a two-week Þeld season covered an estimated 3/5 of the scatter (Figure 7.2). The removal of a thin layer of sod and mixed soil revealed an untouched, leached podsol surface that was Þrst excavated down in one 5cm spit, followed by two 2.5cm spits, and a Þnal emptying out of two small pit-like features no deeper than another 5cm. The Þnd layer was quite thin and included the mixed top layer; the lowest Þnds lay no deeper than 15cm below the surface. The most notable feature was a sizeable dark stain that contained wood charcoal and burnt bone, in addition to a concentration of lithic Þnds. The stain, which was some 2m in diameter, probably represented the remains of a campÞre and the ßoor of a light shelter, since particularly the eastern edge was very clearly demarcated, not only by the colour but by the Þnds as well. No evidence of a stone hearth was noted. In terms of Þnds, the excavation was very productive: 42 charcoal samples were collected for dating, the dark stain produced 606g of burnt bone, and lithic Þnds numbered 4808, of which 4781 (99.4%) were tuffaceous chert.

332 331

track

N

330 329 328 327 326 x 325 324 323 322

2004

321

Surface find

2005 Excavation find

320

Blade core

319 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 y

Figure 7.2. The distribution of Þnds in Area 2 (grid in m).

40

Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama

The dates Three samples were sent to the University of Helsinki Dating Laboratory for radiocarbon dating. One sample was charcoal, the two others burnt bone. The bone samples gave AMS dates of 8940±80 BP (8290–7820 cal BC; Hela-1103) and 8930±85 BP (8290–7790 cal BC; Hela1104), while the charcoal sample was dated to 9265±65 BP (8640–8300 cal BC; Hela-1102) (calibrations by OxCal 3.10, Bronk Ramsey 2005). The bone dates were considered more reliable, since old wood (speciÞcally pine (Pinus)) has proven to be a problem in some Lapland sites (e.g. Carpelan 2003, 34) and the species of the charcoal sample was not identiÞed. However, two other charcoal samples from nearly the same location were subsequently analysed by Tuuli Timonen and Pirkko Harju of the Finnish Museum of Natural History and found to be birch (Betula) (T. Timonen, pers. comm., 2006). With birch, the potential old wood error would be shortened to less than 100 years, since birches do not live very long (as compared to conifers) and rot quickly once dead. Birch would also Þt the botanical succession better, as the local arboreal vegetation during the Preboreal would have been mainly birch (Hyvärinen 1975; Seppä 1996). There is thus the possibility that the charcoal date is valid.

of the platforms has only been used to detach two short and wide blades. The detachments from the other direction are narrow and regular. The platform at this end has been completely removed. Therefore it is impossible to say what the platform angle has originally been. When this core was found in 2004 it was missing a part of the platform as a result of a frost fracture. The missing part was, however, recovered during the 2005 excavation (Figure 7.4: 3). The length of the core is 59.7mm and its latest blade scars are 8–9mm wide. The other discovered cores are all fragmentary. Three of the fragments are small bases of conical cores (Figure 7.5: 41–3). They have been deliberately struck off, apparently in an effort to make the bottom of the core ßatter, perhaps to sit better on an anvil during reduction. One larger core end (Figure 7.5: 37) is from a wedge-shaped core and has blade scars on one broad side only. At least 298 core tablets have been discovered (Figure 7.5: 38–40), ranging in size from 65mm in the largest dimension to thumbnail size and smaller. Only one (Figure 7.5: 40) has removed the whole striking platform. A common feature among the rest is hinge termination. This may be due to the normal behaviour of ßake detachments from a ßat surface (cf. Cotterell and Kamminga 1987, 701).

The lithic Þnds A table of the lithic Þnds from the 2004 and 2005 Sujala excavations is presented in Figure 7.3. The columns with question marks indicate uncertain identiÞcations. The cherts include Þve artefacts of cherty materials differing somewhat from the ‘normal’ tuffaceous chert, while the ‘other’ category consists of quartz, quartzite, and a slatelike material. The ‘fragment’ category consists of artefacts that cannot be assigned to any of the other categories because of the absence of diagnostic features. Most of the fragments appear to be very small blade fragments. Formal tools include whole and fragmentary examples of side and end scrapers, burins, and tanged arrowheads on blades, as well as a possible borer/reamer. In addition, there are a large number of retouched blades and fragments of various kinds. The 30 arrowhead Þnds include one whole point, 16 tip fragments, four base fragments (three with the tang intact), seven tang fragments, and two fragments that are either tips or tangs. One artefact was identiÞed as an arrowhead preform and two as preform fragments. All of the unambiguous cores from Sujala derive from blade production. The assemblage includes two complete cores. One of them (Figure 7.4: 1) is almost conical in shape. It has a ßat base and regular blades have been detached from three of its sides. The platform has been formed by radial ßake detachments. One of them has overshot and destroyed part of the core edge; nevertheless, some further core tablets were removed after that. The length of the core is 51.3mm, and the width of the last detached blades is 5–10mm. The other core (Figure 7.4: 2) has, in its present state, two opposing platforms and acute platform angles. One

Artefact type Tanged arrowhead/fragment Tanged arrowhead roughout/fragm. Scraper on blade Scraper on flake Borer/reamer Burin on blade, incl. fragmentary Burin spall implement Burin spall/spall fragment Unspecified tool on blade Retouched blade/blade fragment Retouched flake/flake fragment Retouched core tablet Retouched core-edge trimming flk. Retouched fragment Blade/blade fragment Blade-like flake Core or tool Blade core Blade core fragment Other core Core tablet Core rejuvenation flake Core-edge trimming flake Flake Fragment Raw material chunk total

Cherts 30 3

?

Other

?

7

1

14

12 1 19 6 307 6 5 1 14 1309 3 1 2 8

1 1 7 3 1

1

298 6 1131 113 1806

15

5095

29

1 1 1

15 2 27

5 1 7

Figure 7.3. Table of Þnds from the Sujala excavations in 2004 and 2005.

The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? It may also be a deliberate way of avoiding overshot ßakes that can destroy the core edge on the opposite side. Only four of the core tablets show signs of having been used as tools (e.g. Figure 7.5: 38). The rest are waste and qualify as evidence that the core reduction has taken place at Sujala. The number of small trimming ßakes that exceeds 1100 also indicates in situ core reduction. The sizes of some of the core tablets attest to the large original format of the cores reduced at Sujala. The width of the largest blades provides additional evidence: the maximum width is 42.6mm and blades exceeding 20mm in width are not rare. Among the retouched blades from the 2005 excavations only, there are Þfty such blade fragments (Figure 7.5: 5, 10, 24, 25, 29, 30), and with many the measured width represents a minimum, since one or both edges are retouched. The assemblage, however, also includes quite a number of small bladelets (Figure 7.5: 21). In the 2004 assemblage the width category 3–10mm formed c. 30% of the whole. The size distribution did not show any evidence of a separate microblade component, however (Kankaanpää and Rankama 2006, 125). The Sujala blades are characterized by their strict regularity. The sides are usually almost exactly parallel and the dorsal ridges follow the same alignment. The proÞle of the blades is very straight. In the 2004 material, only one of the proximal ends showed no trimming, while more than half of the proximal ends had been both trimmed and abraded (Kankaanpää and Rankama 2006, 126). The 2005 material has not yet been analysed. Retouch along the blade edges is typical of the Sujala material. This can take the form of very small retouch only

41

discernible through a microscope (Figure 7.5: 29), or, more often, larger detachments that occasionally show coarse use wear (e.g. Figure 7.5: 25, 26). Quite often the whole length of the blade edge is retouched. It is also common to Þnd ordinary retouch along one edge and inverse retouch along the other. Short blade segments with retouch along one or both edges are typical. They often have retouched notches on the edges where the blade has broken (Figure 7.5: 20, 22). The occurrence of notches is so common that it might be considered a method of snapping the blades. The snapping has almost invariably occurred perpendicular to the long axis of the blade. Thus, we are not dealing with a microburin technique, and microliths are absent from the assemblage: with the exception of scraper-like tools, retouch along the snapped surfaces is unknown. The function of the retouched blades is unknown. Most of them seem too thick and large to have worked as insets for bone implements. Some have doubtless been used as knives, but in others the angle of the retouch seems too obtuse for that. A use as side scrapers does not seem very probable, at least for such long retouched blade fragments as in Figure 7.5: 24 or 31. Very wide scraper edges do not work on pliable material and hafting would be very difÞcult. Coarse wear, nevertheless, occurs on some of the retouched blade edges. A few shorter blade segments with very worn undercut edge retouch have been deÞned as side scrapers (Figure 7.5: 18, 19). End scrapers are also included in the 2005 assemblage (Figure 7.5: 15–17). They are not common, and in some cases the scraper retouch is rather coarse – or possibly so worn that the original shape has been lost. Blade burins are also present. The two largest specimens,

Figure 7.4. Blade cores from the Sujala site: 1) conical core, to the right the striking platform and core base; 2) bi-directional core; 3) frost fragment of bi-directional core. (Drawings: T. Rankama; scale in cm).

42

Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama

Figure 7.5. A selection of artefacts from the Sujala site: 1) tanged arrowhead; 2, 4–7) arrowhead fragments; 3) arrowhead preform; 8) perforator/reamer?; 9–11) burins; 12–14, burin spalls; 15–17) end scrapers; 18–19) side scrapers; 20, 22–23) notched blade fragments; 21) microblade; 24–27, 29–36) retouched and unretouched blade fragments; 37, 41–43) core bases; 38–40) core tablets. (Drawings: T. Rankama; scale in cm).

The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? and a smaller one, are depicted as Figure 7.5, 9–11; the rest are smaller. The burin blows have always been struck on a snapped surface. The retouched edges in Figure 7.5: 10 seem to be typical: although only one edge-retouched burin has been found so far, several of the 19 burin spalls have been struck from similarly retouched blade edges (Figure 7.5: 12–14). The retouched edges in Figure 7.5: 10 are coarsely worn. It is possible, therefore, that the modiÞcation as a burin represents a secondary function. Hinge termination seems to be a typical feature of the burin spalls. The Sujala assemblage also includes one whole blade arrowhead and 29 arrowhead fragments (Figure 7.5: 1, 2, 4–7). Two of the fragments can be reÞtted to form an almost complete point, with only part of the tang missing. All of the arrowheads are of the same type: tanged but not barbed, with the tang retouched on both edges and sometimes bifacially. The alignment of the points is along the central axis of the blades. The ventral side of the tip has invasive retouch from both edges meeting in the middle. The tip of the point is at the distal end of the original blade. The complete arrowhead is 42mm long and 17.9mm wide, while the almost complete specimen is 45mm long and 13mm wide. The fragments are within a similar size range. Three arrowhead roughouts have also been found (Figure 7.5: 3). In addition, one artefact with invasive ventral retouch (Figure 7.5: 8) has been tentatively classiÞed as a perforator or reamer. The Sujala assemblage, thus, is characterised by a well-developed, carefully executed blade technology, producing extremely regular blades. No evidence of ßake core reduction has been found. The absence of cortex indicates that the blade cores have been brought to the site ready-shaped. The size of the largest core tablets and the width of the largest blades speak of a very large initial core size. In the light of the number of blades, blade fragments, core tablets, and other artefacts it can be safely said that a considerable amount of core reduction took place at this site. The secondary modiÞcation of the blades usually took the form of retouch along the blade edges, as well as snapping the blades into segments, perhaps with the aid of notches retouched on the edges. Some of the blades with edge retouch may have been used as scrapers, others as knives, but the functions of the rest are not yet known. In addition, burins and end scrapers were manufactured but their numbers are still fairly low. The most obviously diagnostic implement types are the arrowheads, especially since they are very uniform in shape and manner of production.

Discussion The Sujala assemblage is exceptional in Finnish archaeology. Only one other site, Lahti Ristola, has produced evidence of Early Mesolithic blade production (Takala 2004, 106–47); the few other ßint blades from Mesolithic sites appear to have been imported ready-made. Parallels for the Sujala material are therefore best sought outside the Finnish borders.

43

The large blades and raw material that characterize the Sujala Þnds appeared originally to suggest afÞnities with the Komsa culture of the northern Norwegian coast. However, the arrowheads clearly differ from the mostly irregular and asymmetric Ahrensburg-derived tanged points of the Norwegian Early Mesolithic (e.g. Prøsch-Danielsen and Høgestøl 1995, Þgure 4; Woodman 1993, Þgure 2: 1–8), and exhibit, instead, features typical of the Post-Swiderian points of the Baltic countries and northern Russia: the symmetry of the point and its alignment along the axis of the blade, the forming of the tang, and, most importantly, the invasive ventral retouch of the tip (e.g. Sorokin 1984, Þgure 3: 11; Takala 2004, Þgure 143; Volokitin 2005, Þgures 2 and 3; Zhilin 1996, Þgure 4). Other similarities with Post-Swiderian assemblages include the regularity of the blades, suggesting the use of the pressure technique in manufacture (cf. Sulgostowska 1999, 89–90). This differs from the early Komsa technology, which is characterized by hard hammer or punch percussion blade technology (Woodman 1993, 70). The total absence of ßake core reduction at Sujala is another feature that distinguishes it from Komsa assemblages, where, for example, discoidal or globular cores are common (e.g. Bøe and Nummedal 1936, Þgures 181–3). Additional similarities between Sujala and Post-Swiderian assemblages can be found in the retouch along the edges of the blades (e.g. Sorokin 1984, Þgures 2–4), the burins on a snapped blade with retouch along the edges (e.g. Sulgostowska 1999, 89), and the snapping of blades by Þrst retouching notches on one or both sides (Koltsov 1989, Þgure 4; Ostrauskas 2000, Þgure 3: 30). The latter feature is common in Russian materials, but opinions differ as to its intentionality (A. Volokitin, pers. comm., 2005; cf. Ostrauskas 2000, 175). Three possible interpretations, then, arise: the Sujala material represents either true inland Komsa with anomalous, fortuitously Post-Swiderian-like features, inland Komsa with actual Post-Swiderian influence, or true Post-Swiderian. Although the distance to the Norwegian coast is short and the raw material points in that direction, no Komsa sites have previously been discovered on the inland. The Sujala tanged points and blade technology clearly differ from typical Komsa Þnds. Together with the apparent inland adaptation, they place the Sujala Þnds closer to the Post-Swiderian cultures. This conclusion is also supported by the other similarities with Post-Swiderian assemblages. No Preboreal Post-Swiderian sites are previously known from Lapland, however; the nearest known ones lie 1000 kilometres away in southern Finland. Evidence of PostSwiderian penetration into northern Lapland, therefore, has consequences not only for the early settlement of Lapland itself, but also for the Early Postglacial prehistory of eastern Finland and Karelia, which formed the most likely route. Its consequences for the subsequent development of the Mesolithic occupation of northern Fennoscandia remain to be studied.

44

Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama

Acknowledgements In addition to the much-appreciated work of our volunteer excavation teams, research at Sujala has been made possible by grants from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Niilo Helander Foundation, and the Oskar Ößund Foundation. The analyses and understanding of the material have beneÞted from the comments of geologists Tuomo Manninen, Jukka Välimaa, and Reino Kesola, and a large number of archaeologists both home and abroad, including Charlotte Damm, Sheila Coulson, Ericka Engelstad, Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Sven Erik Grydeland, Esa Hertell, Kjel Knutsson, Aivar Kriiska, Mikael A. Manninen, Morten Ramstad, Aleksei Sorokin, Mikkel Sørensen, Miikka Tallavaara, Aleksandr Volokitin, Peter Woodman, and Mikhail G. Zhilin.

References Bøe, J. and Nummedal, A. 1936. Le Finnmarkien. Les origines de la civilization dans l’extrême-nord de l’Europe. Oslo, Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning. Bronk Ramsey, C. 2005. OxCal 3.10. WWW program and documentation available at http://www.rlaha.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/ oxcal.htm (accessed 10/2007). Carpelan, C. 2003. Arkeologiset vaiheet, in V.-P. Lehtola (ed.), Inari – Aanar. Inarin historia jääkaudesta nykypäivään, 30–95. Oulu, Inarin kunta. Cotterell, B. and Kamminga, J. 1987. The Formation of Flakes. American Antiquity 52 (4), 675–708. Hood, B. 1992. Prehistoric Foragers of the North Atlantic: Perspectives on Lithic Procurement and Social Complexity in the North Norwegian Stone Age and the Labrador Maritime Archaic. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts. Hyvärinen, H. 1975. Absolute and relative pollen diagrams from northernmost Fennoscandia. Fennia 142. Kankaanpää, J. and Rankama, T. 2005. Early Mesolithic Pioneers in Northern Finnish Lapland, in H. Knutsson (ed.), Pioneer settlements and colonization processes in the Barents region, 109–61. Vuollerim Papers on Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology, Vol. 1. Vuollerim, Vuollerim Museum Press. Kankaanpää, J. and Rankama, T. 2006. Säleitä ja säletekniikkaa Utsjoen Vetsijärveltä, in P. Pesonen and T. Mökkönen (eds.), Arkeologia ja kulttuuri. Uutta kivikauden tutkimuksessa. Arkeologipäivät 2005, 118–31. Hamina, The Archaeological Society of Finland. Kankaanpää, J. and Rankama, T. (in press). Säleitä ja säletekniikkaa Utsjoen Vetsijärveltä. Arkeologipäivät 2005.

Koltsov, L. V. (ed.) 1989. Mezolit SSSR. Arkheologiya SSSR. Moscow, Nauka. Olsen, B. 1994. Bosetning og samfunn i Finnmarks forhistorie. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. Ostrauskas, T. 2000. Mesolithic Kunda Culture. A Glimpse from Lithuania, in De temporibus antiquissimis ad honorem Lembit Jaanits, 167–80. Muinasaja teadus 8. Tallinn, University of Tallinn. Prøsch-Danielsen, L. and Høgestøl, M. 1995. A coastal Ahrensburgian site found in Galta, Rennesøy, Southwest Norway, in A. Fischer (ed.), Man & Sea in the Mesolithic – coastal settlement above and below present sea level, 123–30. Oxbow Monographs 53. Oxford, Oxbow Books. Rankama, T. 1996. Prehistoric Riverine Adaptations in Subarctic Finnish Lapland: The Teno River Drainage. PhD dissertation, Brown University Department of Anthropology. Ann Arbor, UMI Dissertation Services. Rankama, T. 2005. Kajakki-inventointia Vetsijärvellä. Kentältä poimittua 6, Museoviraston arkeologian osaston julkaisuja 11, 31–44. Rankama, T. and Kankaanpää, J. 2003. Utsjoki Vetsijärvi. Arkeologinen inventointi 18–23.7.2002. Unpublished survey report, archives of the Finnish National Board of Antiquities. Seppä, H. 1996. Post-glacial dynamics of vegetation and tree-lines in the far north of Fennoscandia. Fennia 174 (1). Simonsen, P. 1961. Varanger-Funnene II. Fund og udgravninger på fjordens sydkyst. Tromsø Museums Skrifter VII (2). Tromsø, Tromsø Museum. Sorokin, A. N. 1984. Mezolit Velikikh Meshtsherskikh Ozer. Sovetskaya Arkheologiya 1984/1, 46–65. Sulgostowska, Z. 1999. Final Palaeolithic Masovian Cycle and Mesolithic Kunda Culture Relations, in Tanged Points Cultures in Europe, 85–92. Lublin, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Press. Takala, H. 2004. The Ristola Site in Lahti and the Earliest Postglacial Settlement of South Finland. Jyväskylä, Gummerus. Volokitin, A. 2005. Some peculiarities of colonization of the European north-east in Mesolithic, in H. Knutsson (ed.), Pioneer settlements and colonization processes in the Barents region, 11–18. Vuollerim Papers on Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology 1. Vuollerim, Vuollerim Museum Press. Woodman, P. C. 1993. The Komsa Culture. A Re-examination of its Position in the Stone Age of Finnmark. Acta Archaeologica 63, 57–76. Zhilin, M. G. 1996. The western part of Russia in the Late Paleolithic - Early Mesolithic, in L. Larsson (ed.), The Earliest Settlement of Scandinavia and its relationship with neighbouring areas. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in 8o (24), 273–84. Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International.