Upcoming Conferences by Annabell Zander
The last Ice Age came to an end 11,500 years ago when rapid climate warming of c. 5-10°C occurred... more The last Ice Age came to an end 11,500 years ago when rapid climate warming of c. 5-10°C occurred within decades radically transforming Europe’s environment. This change in the landscape had a significant impact on the fauna and, of course, on humans. From early on, the
Pleistocene-Holocene transition was used to define the beginning of the Mesolithic and, based on typology, several archaeological traditions or groups were constructed. Shifting between different theoretical approaches during the 20th century, research largely focused on economic adaptation, technology and settlement history. In recent years the increase of data and the application of new methods allow a renewed discussion of the 10th millennium BCE. Among the
new proposals is the result of recent research showing that the climatic changes do not necessarily align to cultural changes.
However, it remains debated how various traditions/groups relate to each other. Thus, untangling this complex web of archaeological traditions at the Pleistocene-Holocene interface in Europe will
be the main focus of this session. We seek to question the division between Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology based on various case studies from across Europe, with particular interest in papers addressing several traditions from one region in terms of interrelatedness. We
also welcome papers which address methodological or theoretical aspects, such as a panEuropean terminology. Through a discussion of these problems we hope to offer a broader European perspective on the relationship between the various archaeological traditions at the
Palaeolithic-Mesolithic interface thereby inspiring new thoughts on human responses to the Holocene climatic change. Questions we wish to address are:
- How can different Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic traditions be defined and how do these
differ on a regional/European scale?
- How do different regions relate culturally during the 10th millennium BC?
- How can we define the “Final Palaeolithic” as opposed to the “Early Mesolithic”?
Conference Papers by Annabell Zander
by Annabell Zander, Ann-Katrin Meyer, Daniel Groß, Julia Goldhammer, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Richter, Sascha Krüger, Aimée Little, Harald Lübke, Svea Mahlstedt, Andy Needham, Diederik Pomstra, Caroline Posch, Rick Schulting, Benjamin Spies, Birgit Gehlen, Mathias P Bjørnevad-Ahlqvist, Becky Knight, Erwin Cziesla, Werner M Schön, Felicitas Faasch, Berit Valentin Eriksen, Marcel J L T Niekus, Markus Wild, Agnieszka Czekaj-Zastawny, Luc Amkreutz, and Harry K Robson Archäologische Informationen (Journal of the German Prehistoric Society)
The 26th Annual Meeting of the German Mesolithic Workgroup took place in Wuppertal from 10-12 Mar... more The 26th Annual Meeting of the German Mesolithic Workgroup took place in Wuppertal from 10-12 March 2017 and was organised and hosted by Annabell Zander (University of York) and Birgit Gehlen (CRC 806, University of Cologne). In sum, more than 70 academics, students and amateur archaeologists from 8 different countries attended this conference. The international programme consisted of 24 talks and 10 poster presentations which were held in English and German. The presentations ranged from international to regional themes concerning the Final Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Early Neolithic.
Key words – Mesolithic; Final Palaeolithic; Early Neolithic; Westphalia
http://www.dguf.de/index.php?id=9
http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/publications/past/
Conference report in the PAST Newsletter of the Prehistoric Society (pp. 10-11)
Papers by Annabell Zander
Mapping Stone Age Sites by Topographical Modelling: Problems and Possibilities
Handbook of Cultural Heritage Analysis
This chapter presents a non-destructive survey technique under development: acoustic detection an... more This chapter presents a non-destructive survey technique under development: acoustic detection and mapping of submerged Stone Age sites. While it has been experimentally established that reasonable amounts of man-knapped flint pieces can be excited by and respond to specific acoustic signal through meters of sea floor sediment, it is not yet known how small assemblages of knapped flint pieces one can obtain a response from and how deep in the sea floor this will be possible. It also remains to check experimentally if other knapped materials than flint (obsidian, quartzite, basalt, etc.) respond in a similar way given that some of their basic characteristics potentially differ from those registered for flint. This technique will facilitate a much more effective and cheap detection and mapping of submerged Stone Age sites with knapped lithics compared to the techniques available at present. Especially the deep sites down to the approximately 120 m deep coastlines of the glaciations, which are very difficult to localize today, represent an important research potential. In general, the highly productive coast lines must be assumed to have played an important economic role of human society from the Palaeolithic onwards, which means that we miss an important part of the picture of the human cultural development. In spite of the promising perspective of methodological improvement, one must be aware of the limitations of the acoustic method. It will not be able to map Stone Age sites lacking knapped lithics. This chapter presents and discusses the method’s basic technological principles and the experimental results obtained so far, elucidating its potential.
From the Early Preboreal to the Subboreal period - Current Mesolithic research in Europe, 2020
Evolutionary Anthropology, 2020
Time and time again, the systematics of Paleolithic archeology have been discussed, albeit most o... more Time and time again, the systematics of Paleolithic archeology have been discussed, albeit most often in relation to specific periods or phenomena, or in difficult-to-access publications. Despite these recurring debates, however, the practice of classification and of building cultural taxonomies has changed little over the last many decades. Today, the cultural taxonomies of the Paleolithic are in crisis. 6 Still, a robust definition of the analytical taxonomic units-cultures, industries , facies, groups-used for charting cultural and behavioral change in space and time is critical. Operational taxonomic units hinge on 1. consistent criteria for their definition and delimitation, 2. a clear taxonomic system into which such archeological entities are placed, 3. agreement on the meaning of the relative ranks within such taxo-nomic system, and 4. their prehistoric reality vis-à-vis anthropological, ethnic or linguistic notions of culture. Arguably, these four requirements are essential for conducting comparative and cumulative research at a supra-regional and dia-chronic scale, and for articulating sequences of culture change in the Paleolithic with paleogenomic, paleoecological or paleoclimatic data. Most commonly, different forms of the typological method have been used to construct such archeological cultures. Taxonomic issues are by no means restricted to the Paleolithic but take on a specific quality there as our temporal scales stretch from the near-paleontological of the Middle Pleistocene to the more intuitively appreciable timescales of the Final Paleolithic. The recurring debates about Paleolithic systematics together with recent research in many parts of the world and across many of its subperiods-from the Early Stone Age to the Epipaleolithic-have shown, however, that a substantial number of traditional archeological types are no longer doing their diagnostic work and that many formally named archeological units based on such types contribute more to confusion rather than solution in regard to our core questions. These issues are at the core of the European Research Foundation-funded project entitled CLIOdynamic ARCHaeology: Computational approaches to Final Paleolithic/earliest Mesolithic archaeology and climate change (CLIOARCH: http://cas.au.dk/en/ ERC-clioarch/) and the workshop on which we report here sought to catalyze joint thinking on Paleolithic systematics in a diachronic and global perspective.
Quaternary Science Reviews , 2018
During the Early and Mid-Holocene significant changes in the ecology and socio-cultural spheres o... more During the Early and Mid-Holocene significant changes in the ecology and socio-cultural spheres occurred around the Baltic Sea. Because of the underlying climatic changes and thus environmental alterations, the area was the scene for various cultural developments during the period under investigation. In the course of the melting of the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, isostatic and eustatic movements caused continual changes to the Baltic Sea basin. Changes in water level, however, affected not only the Early and Mid-Holocene coastlines, but also the whole Baltic Sea drainage system, including large lakes, rivers and watersheds in the hinterland were also dramatically impacted by these ecological changes. Prehistoric people were thus affected by changes in resource availability and reduction or enlargement of their territories, respectively. In order to evaluate the impact of changes in the water and land networks on the environment, resource availability, and human behaviour, and to reconstruct human responses to these changes, we pursue an interdisciplinary approach connecting environmental and archaeological research highlighted through different case studies.
Rund um den See im Vale of Pickering
Archäologie in Deutschland, 2017
Titelthema: Letzte Jäger im Norden in Archäologie in Deutschland 5/2017
An investigation of the earliest Mesolithic assemblages of Heek-Nienborg (Kr. Borken) and Werl-Bü... more An investigation of the earliest Mesolithic assemblages of Heek-Nienborg (Kr. Borken) and Werl-Büderich (Kr. Soest) gives new insights into the complex developments at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Westphalia, Germany. During this transition a gradual reduction in blade size can be traced in combination with an increasing number of microliths, including broad “Zonhoven points”. The occurrence of these points as well as notched and curved points in the Heek and Werl assemblages demonstrates an Ahrensburgian continuity. Furthermore, the triangular point and the elongated trapeze from Heek find parallels in the broad blade tradition of the Early Mesolithic in England. Heek-Nienborg reflects this broad blade tradition in Westphalia for the first time while Werl-Büderich represents the earliest scientifically dated Mesolithic assemblage in this region to date. The intermediate position of these assemblages show a Final Palaeolithic continuity into the Early Preboreal and therefore refute the idea of a clear cultural break between Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in Westphalia.
A. Zander (2016): Grenzgänger – Heek-Nienborg und Werl-Büderich zwischen Paläo- und Mesolithikum.... more A. Zander (2016): Grenzgänger – Heek-Nienborg und Werl-Büderich zwischen Paläo- und Mesolithikum. Archäologie in Westfalen-Lippe 2015, 187-189.
A comparison between the various lines of tradition in the transition period between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic has brought new insight into the cultural developments that took place in Westphalia at that time. The work was based on an analysis of flint assemblages from Heek-Nienborg and Werl-Büderich. The results attest to a gradual »Mesolithisation« of the region, which cannot be equated with the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene, but took several centuries.
by Bernhard Stapel, Birgit Gehlen, Nadler Lfd, Julia Blumenröther, Markus Wild, Thomas Richter, Annabell Zander, Harald Lübke, Zeiten Erleben, Valdis Berzins, Daniel Groß, Werner M Schön, and Joachim Pechtl Archäologische Informationen 38, Early View, Jun 11, 2015
The 23rd Annual Meeting of the German Mesolithic Workgroup took place in the district office at L... more The 23rd Annual Meeting of the German Mesolithic Workgroup took place in the district office at Landshut, from 21–23 March
2014 at the invitation of the district of Landshut. The meeting was attended by more than 60 scientists, students and amateur archaeologists from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark. A total of 20 papers were presented. In addition to the reports from the individual work areas of the participants, the Bavarian Mesolithic and a workshop on settlement dynamics in the Mesolithic were in the focus of the meeting.
Conference Presentations by Annabell Zander
Human responses to rapid environmental change: Archaeology across the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in western Germany. Amiens, France, 30. May – 4. June 2016.
M. Street, M. Baales, B. Gehlen, M. Heinen, A. Zander, 2016: Human responses to rapid environment... more M. Street, M. Baales, B. Gehlen, M. Heinen, A. Zander, 2016: Human responses to rapid environmental change: Archaeology across the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in western Germany. In: XXVIIIe Congrès »Préhistoire de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest: mobilité, climats et entités culturelles«, Programmes et résumés de communications, Session 3. »L’Europe du Nord-Ouest autour de 10 000 BP (9 600 cal BC): quels changements?« (workshop organized by U.I.S.P.P. Commission »The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia«), 86-88. Amiens, France, 30. May – 4. June 2016.
Symposium "100 years of the Bonn-Oberkassel double burial"
The project D4 of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 806 at the University of Cologne deals ... more The project D4 of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 806 at the University of Cologne deals with the study of the Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphalia. The cultural transition from Final Palaeolithic to Early Mesolithic, the “Mesolithization”, forms one important research focus of the Mesolithic unit. This research focus currently consists of three different projects, which will be introduced in this presentation: 1. The dating of the barbed points from Dinslaken puts the artefacts at the transition from the Allerød period to the beginning of the Younger Dryas. The typo-chronological context of the points suggest a cultural connection between the Final Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers from the Rhine to the modern North Sea region and the east of England. 2. Most of the aurochs remains from Bedburg-Königshoven can be dated to the Early Preboreal and might therefore point to two different phases of the site. This early date further questions the chronological context of the lithic assemblage, which exhibits a Final Palaeolithic character, and the antler frontlets from Bedburg. Consequently, further investigations of the assemblage are required. Moreover, Amelie Scheu from the Palaeogenetics Group at the University of Mainz is analysing the well-preserved aDNA material from an aurochs at Bedburg in order to decode the genome of the European aurochs for the first time. 3. The Early Holocene assemblages of Heek-Nienborg (long blades and microliths) and Werl-Büderich (microblades and microliths) offer a special insight into the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Westphalia. Werl-Büderich represents the earliest AMS-dated Mesolithic assemblage in Westphalia so far. Both assemblages allow a detailed study of transformations in Earliest Mesolithic silex material in this region. This detailed investigation involves an analysis of resin residues on long blades from the Heek assemblage to gain material for AMS-dating and information about tool usage. The comparison of both inventories will lead to a better understanding of possible transformations in blank production and tool function during the Pleistocene-Holocene interface.
Dr. Birgit Gehlen
[email protected]
Annabell Zander B.A.
[email protected]
University of Cologne
CRC 806, Project D4
Mesolithic Research Unit
Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11
D-50969 Cologne
Dr. Amelie Scheu
[email protected]
Palaeogenetics Group
Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz
Anselm-Franz-von Bentzel-Weg 7
D-55099 Mainz
Dr. Martin Street
[email protected]
Archaeological Research Center
and Museum for Human Behavioural
Evolution
Römisch-Germanisches-Zentralmuseum
Leibniz Research Institute for Archaology
Schloss Monrepos
D-56567 Neuwied
23. Tagung der AG Mesolithikum "Untersuchungen zu Fauna und Steinartefakten Europäischer Mesolithischer Fundplätze mit 'Hirschgeweihmasken'"
Wild Things Conference, Durham: “An investigation of the faunal and lithic assemblages of the European Mesolithic sites with antler frontlets”
The discovery of 21 red deer antler “head-dresses” (Clark 1954, 168-175) at Star Carr has focused... more The discovery of 21 red deer antler “head-dresses” (Clark 1954, 168-175) at Star Carr has focused this site as the centre of debate of Mesolithic research in Britain for more than half a century. Despite these special artefacts, Star Carr is often presented as an Early Mesolithic “type site” (Mithen 1994, 98; 115; Scarre 2005, 396-397). However, this paper emphasises the unique character of the site which only finds parallels in a small number of Mesolithic sites in northern Europe. In investigating these sites, this study moves beyond the antler “frontlets” as proposed common artefacts. It focuses on the faunal and lithic assemblages in order to establish further similarities between the sites while evaluating the significance of each site in its respective regional context. This paper reveals the special character of the sites in terms of a well-preserved range of unusual artefacts, the scale of occupation at the sites and the importance of terrestrial activities, such as the working of animal materials, including hide, antler and bone. At the same time this study emphasises the necessity of removing Western ontologies, such as the “nature” and “culture” divide, when reconstructing the lives of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in future research.
The project D4 of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 806 at the University of Cologne deals ... more The project D4 of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 806 at the University of Cologne deals with the study of the Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphalia. The cultural transition from Final Palaeolithic to Early Mesolithic, the “Mesolithization”, forms one important research focus of the Mesolithic unit. This research focus currently consists of three different projects, which will be introduced in this presentation: 1. The dating of the barbed points from Dinslaken puts the artefacts at the transition from the Allerød period to the beginning of the Younger Dryas. The typo-chronological context of the points suggest a cultural connection between the Final Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers from the Rhine to the modern North Sea region and the east of England. 2. Most of the aurochs remains from Bedburg-Königshoven can be dated to the Early Preboreal and might therefore point to two different phases of the site. This early date further questions the chronological context of the lithic assemblage, which exhibits a Final Palaeolithic character, and the antler frontlets from Bedburg. Consequently, further investigations of the assemblage are required. Moreover, Amelie Scheu from the Palaeogenetics Group at the University of Mainz is analysing the well-preserved aDNA material from an aurochs at Bedburg in order to decode the genome of the European aurochs for the first time. 3. The Early Holocene assemblages of Heek-Nienborg (long blades and microliths) and Werl-Büderich (microblades and microliths) offer a special insight into the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Westphalia. Werl-Büderich represents the earliest AMS-dated Mesolithic assemblage in Westphalia so far. Both assemblages allow a detailed study of transformations in Earliest Mesolithic silex material in this region. This detailed investigation involves an analysis of resin residues on long blades from the Heek assemblage to gain material for AMS-dating and information about tool usage. The comparison of both inventories will lead to a better understanding of possible transformations in blank production and tool function during the Pleistocene-Holocene interface.
Dr. Birgit Gehlen
[email protected]
Annabell Zander B.A.
[email protected]
University of Cologne
CRC 806, Project D4
Mesolithic Research Unit
Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11
D-50969 Cologne
Dr. Amelie Scheu
[email protected]
Palaeogenetics Group
Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz
Anselm-Franz-von Bentzel-Weg 7
D-55099 Mainz
Dr. Martin Street
[email protected]
Archaeological Research Center
and Museum for Human Behavioural
Evolution
Römisch-Germanisches-Zentralmuseum
Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology
Schloss Monrepos
D-56567 Neuwied
Talks by Annabell Zander
Grüner Tisch, Universität zu Köln (invited): Untersuchungen zu Fauna und Steinartefakten Europäischer Mesolithischer Fundplätze mit 'Hirschgeweihmasken'
Neander Talk (invited): "An investigation of the faunal and lithic assemblages of the European Mesolithic sites with antler frontlets"
Chapters by Annabell Zander
Archaeology across the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in western Germany: Human responses to rapid environmental change.
M. Street; M. Baales; B. Gehlen; M. Heinen; W. Heuschen; J. Orschiedt; N. Schneid; A. Zander, 202... more M. Street; M. Baales; B. Gehlen; M. Heinen; W. Heuschen; J. Orschiedt; N. Schneid; A. Zander, 2020: Archaeology across the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in western Germany: Human responses to rapid environmental change. In: C. Montoya, J.-P. Fagnart, J.-L. Locht (éds.), Préhistoire de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest: mobilité, climats et entités culturelles. Actes du 27e congrès préhistorique de France (Amiens, 30 mai-4 juin 2016), vol. 2. Société préhistorique française. Paris , 2019, 491-510.
In recent years, new insights into the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphalia have been gained. The Early Mesolithic human remains of the Blätterhöhle in Hagen should be mentioned specifically as they even attracted international attention. Here, a stratigraphic sequence containing hearth remains and lithic assemblages from the Early to Late Mesolithic has been excavated for the first time in this region. Recent results of excavations demonstrate that the sequence even dates back to the Late Pleistocene. Moreover, newly dated sites and single finds of the Final Palaeolithic-Early Mesolithic transitional period from this region suggest varying influences from northern and southern as well as western regions on the development of the Westphalian Mesolithic. Several sites, which have been assigned to the broad blade complexes or the "Long Blade industries"/the Belloisien due to the distinct blade technology and microlithic projectile points, seem to represent the initial stage of the Mesolithic in the Rhineland and in Westphalia.
Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes en contexte mésolithique ont été réalisées en Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie au cours des dernières années. Il faut mentionner, par exemple, les restes humains du Mésolithique ancien de la grotte de Blätterhöhle à Hagen qui ont suscité un intérêt important. En outre, et pour la première fois, une séquence stratigraphique comportant des vestiges de foyers associés à des vestiges lithiques couvrant l'ensemble du Mésolithique ancien, moyen et final a été découverts sur ce même site. D'autres nouveaux sites, ainsi que des analyses radiométriques menées sur des découvertes isolées de la transition Paléolithique final-Mésolithique ancien semblent indiquer que le Mésolithique de la Westphalie a été influencé par différents courants culturels originaires des régions septentrionales et méridionales ainsi que celui des zones occidentales. Plusieurs sites, attribués aux Long Blade Assemblages, ou Belloisien, en raison de leur caractéristique technique et de la présence d'armatures microlithiques, représentent la première phase du Mésolithique de Rhénanie et de Westphalie.
Stoneage Archaeology by Annabell Zander
C. Montoya, J.-P. Fagnart, J.-L. Locht (éds.), Préhistoire de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest: mobilité, climats et entités culturelles. Actes du 27e congrès préhistorique de France (Amiens, 30 mai-4 juin 2016), vol. 2. Société préhistorique française. Paris , 2019
In recent years, new insights into the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphali... more In recent years, new insights into the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphalia have been gained. The Early Mesolithic human remains of the Blätterhöhle in Hagen should be mentioned specifically as they even attracted international attention. Here, a stratigraphic sequence containing hearth remains and lithic assemblages from the Early to Late Mesolithic has been excavated for the first time in this region. Recent results of excavations demonstrate that the sequence even dates back to the Late Pleistocene. Moreover, newly dated sites and single finds of the Final Palaeolithic-Early Mesolithic transitional period from this region suggest varying influences from northern and southern as well as western regions on the development of the Westphalian Mesolithic. Several sites, which have been assigned to the broad blade complexes or the "Long Blade industries"/the Belloisien due to the distinct blade technology and microlithic projectile points, seem to represent the initial stage of the Mesolithic in the Rhineland and in Westphalia.
Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes en contexte mésolithique ont été réalisées en Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie au cours des dernières années. Il faut mentionner, par exemple, les restes humains du Mésolithique ancien de la grotte de Blätterhöhle à Hagen qui ont suscité un intérêt important. En outre, et pour la première fois, une séquence stratigraphique comportant des vestiges de foyers associés à des vestiges lithiques couvrant l'ensemble du Mésolithique ancien, moyen et final a été découverts sur ce même site. D'autres nouveaux sites, ainsi que des analyses radiométriques menées sur des découvertes isolées de la transition Paléolithique final-Mésolithique ancien semblent indiquer que le Mésolithique de la Westphalie a été influencé par différents courants culturels originaires des régions septentrionales et méridionales ainsi que celui des zones occidentales. Plusieurs sites, attribués aux Long Blade Assemblages, ou Belloisien, en raison de leur caractéristique technique et de la présence d'armatures microlithiques, représentent la première phase du Mésolithique de Rhénanie et de Westphalie.
Uploads
Upcoming Conferences by Annabell Zander
Pleistocene-Holocene transition was used to define the beginning of the Mesolithic and, based on typology, several archaeological traditions or groups were constructed. Shifting between different theoretical approaches during the 20th century, research largely focused on economic adaptation, technology and settlement history. In recent years the increase of data and the application of new methods allow a renewed discussion of the 10th millennium BCE. Among the
new proposals is the result of recent research showing that the climatic changes do not necessarily align to cultural changes.
However, it remains debated how various traditions/groups relate to each other. Thus, untangling this complex web of archaeological traditions at the Pleistocene-Holocene interface in Europe will
be the main focus of this session. We seek to question the division between Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology based on various case studies from across Europe, with particular interest in papers addressing several traditions from one region in terms of interrelatedness. We
also welcome papers which address methodological or theoretical aspects, such as a panEuropean terminology. Through a discussion of these problems we hope to offer a broader European perspective on the relationship between the various archaeological traditions at the
Palaeolithic-Mesolithic interface thereby inspiring new thoughts on human responses to the Holocene climatic change. Questions we wish to address are:
- How can different Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic traditions be defined and how do these
differ on a regional/European scale?
- How do different regions relate culturally during the 10th millennium BC?
- How can we define the “Final Palaeolithic” as opposed to the “Early Mesolithic”?
Conference Papers by Annabell Zander
Key words – Mesolithic; Final Palaeolithic; Early Neolithic; Westphalia
http://www.dguf.de/index.php?id=9
Papers by Annabell Zander
A comparison between the various lines of tradition in the transition period between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic has brought new insight into the cultural developments that took place in Westphalia at that time. The work was based on an analysis of flint assemblages from Heek-Nienborg and Werl-Büderich. The results attest to a gradual »Mesolithisation« of the region, which cannot be equated with the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene, but took several centuries.
2014 at the invitation of the district of Landshut. The meeting was attended by more than 60 scientists, students and amateur archaeologists from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark. A total of 20 papers were presented. In addition to the reports from the individual work areas of the participants, the Bavarian Mesolithic and a workshop on settlement dynamics in the Mesolithic were in the focus of the meeting.
Conference Presentations by Annabell Zander
Dr. Birgit Gehlen
[email protected]
Annabell Zander B.A.
[email protected]
University of Cologne
CRC 806, Project D4
Mesolithic Research Unit
Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11
D-50969 Cologne
Dr. Amelie Scheu
[email protected]
Palaeogenetics Group
Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz
Anselm-Franz-von Bentzel-Weg 7
D-55099 Mainz
Dr. Martin Street
[email protected]
Archaeological Research Center
and Museum for Human Behavioural
Evolution
Römisch-Germanisches-Zentralmuseum
Leibniz Research Institute for Archaology
Schloss Monrepos
D-56567 Neuwied
Dr. Birgit Gehlen
[email protected]
Annabell Zander B.A.
[email protected]
University of Cologne
CRC 806, Project D4
Mesolithic Research Unit
Bernhard-Feilchenfeld-Str. 11
D-50969 Cologne
Dr. Amelie Scheu
[email protected]
Palaeogenetics Group
Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz
Anselm-Franz-von Bentzel-Weg 7
D-55099 Mainz
Dr. Martin Street
[email protected]
Archaeological Research Center
and Museum for Human Behavioural
Evolution
Römisch-Germanisches-Zentralmuseum
Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology
Schloss Monrepos
D-56567 Neuwied
Talks by Annabell Zander
Chapters by Annabell Zander
In recent years, new insights into the Final Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in North Rhine-Westphalia have been gained. The Early Mesolithic human remains of the Blätterhöhle in Hagen should be mentioned specifically as they even attracted international attention. Here, a stratigraphic sequence containing hearth remains and lithic assemblages from the Early to Late Mesolithic has been excavated for the first time in this region. Recent results of excavations demonstrate that the sequence even dates back to the Late Pleistocene. Moreover, newly dated sites and single finds of the Final Palaeolithic-Early Mesolithic transitional period from this region suggest varying influences from northern and southern as well as western regions on the development of the Westphalian Mesolithic. Several sites, which have been assigned to the broad blade complexes or the "Long Blade industries"/the Belloisien due to the distinct blade technology and microlithic projectile points, seem to represent the initial stage of the Mesolithic in the Rhineland and in Westphalia.
Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes en contexte mésolithique ont été réalisées en Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie au cours des dernières années. Il faut mentionner, par exemple, les restes humains du Mésolithique ancien de la grotte de Blätterhöhle à Hagen qui ont suscité un intérêt important. En outre, et pour la première fois, une séquence stratigraphique comportant des vestiges de foyers associés à des vestiges lithiques couvrant l'ensemble du Mésolithique ancien, moyen et final a été découverts sur ce même site. D'autres nouveaux sites, ainsi que des analyses radiométriques menées sur des découvertes isolées de la transition Paléolithique final-Mésolithique ancien semblent indiquer que le Mésolithique de la Westphalie a été influencé par différents courants culturels originaires des régions septentrionales et méridionales ainsi que celui des zones occidentales. Plusieurs sites, attribués aux Long Blade Assemblages, ou Belloisien, en raison de leur caractéristique technique et de la présence d'armatures microlithiques, représentent la première phase du Mésolithique de Rhénanie et de Westphalie.
Stoneage Archaeology by Annabell Zander
Résumé : De nouvelles découvertes en contexte mésolithique ont été réalisées en Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie au cours des dernières années. Il faut mentionner, par exemple, les restes humains du Mésolithique ancien de la grotte de Blätterhöhle à Hagen qui ont suscité un intérêt important. En outre, et pour la première fois, une séquence stratigraphique comportant des vestiges de foyers associés à des vestiges lithiques couvrant l'ensemble du Mésolithique ancien, moyen et final a été découverts sur ce même site. D'autres nouveaux sites, ainsi que des analyses radiométriques menées sur des découvertes isolées de la transition Paléolithique final-Mésolithique ancien semblent indiquer que le Mésolithique de la Westphalie a été influencé par différents courants culturels originaires des régions septentrionales et méridionales ainsi que celui des zones occidentales. Plusieurs sites, attribués aux Long Blade Assemblages, ou Belloisien, en raison de leur caractéristique technique et de la présence d'armatures microlithiques, représentent la première phase du Mésolithique de Rhénanie et de Westphalie.