During the last 75 years the advances of dating methods in archaeology are reflected in the development of the Hamburgian chronology. The Hamburgian was first defined as an archaeological culture from a purely typological standpoint, and was subsequently placed by later research in a stratigraphically and palynologically well determined time frame. The interval, which is covered by the Hamburgian, is associated with the period of climate change from the late Weichselian to the early Lateglacial Interstadial. Accordingly the makers of the Hamburgian were the first to recolonise the North European Plain after the Last Glacial Maximum. But even though Hamburgian assemblages were also among the first ever 14C dated archaeological inventories, reliable dates are rare. Especially for the inner chronology of the Hamburgian a lack of dates for the later (Havelte) group often seems to be caused by the poor preservation of organic material. Therefore other dating methods (like stratigraphy) are still indispensable for understanding the chronology of the Lateglacial expansion onto the North European Plain. Based on the contemporarily available evidences of typology, stratigraphy, pollen analysis, geographic distribution and reliable 14C dates, an origin of the Hamburgian in the East German and Polish late Magdalenian appears most plausible.

in: M.J.L.Th. Niekus, R.N.E. Barton, M. Street & Th. Terberger (eds.) 2012: A mind set on flint. Studies in honour of Dick Stapert, 235-250. , 2012

In 2005 a Hamburgian site came to light after the removal of the top soil from a plot near Stroe, in the area of the ice-pushed ridges in the Central Netherlands. In November 2008, an evaluation was carried out by the Cultural Heritage Agency (Amersfoort). Artefacts made of a fine-grained flint and fragments of unworked stone were found in coversands dating from the Weichselian Upper Pleniglacial (the Last Glacial Maximum) and thus clearly predating the Hamburgian. As a result of post-depositional processes, all finds were recovered in secondary context and data on the spatial use of the camp site are absent. The flint assemblage is dominated by retouched tools, including two basal fragments of Havelte points, blades displaying edge damage (‘use retouch’) and small chips. The high number of blade end scrapers and the results of use-wear analysis indicate that the processing of hides may have been a main activity. Many of the tools examined on use-wear traces were hafted. It is concluded that the site of Stroe may be an example of a small ‘logistical camp’, predominantly consisting of a transported toolkit with ready-made tools and blades being used in short-term activities.

Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Steinzeit in Schleswig-Holstein und im Ostseeraum, 2020

Besonderer Dank gilt dem Vorstand des Zentrums für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie Schleswig, besonders dem Direktor, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, und der Forschungsleiterin, Berit Valentin Eriksen, die die Veröffentlichung dieses Bandes durch die Bereitstellung der erforderlichen Mittel für den Druck der Arbeit maßgeblich unterstützten. Sönke Hartz und Harald Lübke Schleswig, im Oktober 2019 Editors' Preface The series 'Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Steinzeit in Schleswig-Holstein' was founded by its first editor, Jürgen Hoika, in 1994, 25 years ago, in order to establish a possibilty to publish Stone Age research results from Schleswig-Holstein at the then Archaeological State Museum (Archäologisches Landesmuseum [ALM]), today's Museum for Archaeology (Museum für Archäologie, Schloss Gottorf [MfA]). Publications should, on the one hand, reflect proceedings of symposia, conferences and workshops with Stone Age topics primarily held at Gottorf Castle, on the other hand, dissertations presenting comprehensive material. According to that, the first volume, published in 1994, contained the contributions to the 1 st International Funnelbeaker Symposium, which, initiated by Jürgen Hoika and Jutta Meurers-Balke, had taken place at the Archaeological State Museum in 1984. Following that, eight dissertations, mainly accomplished at the Institute for Pre-and early History at the Christian-Abrechts-University Kiel, were published, starting with those by today's editors. All these volumes contributed substantially to the scientific presentation and analysis of excavation materials from Schleswig-Holstein and-since 2012, when the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) also became involved in editig the series-the whole of the Baltic Sea area. Therefore the editors are especially happy to once more present conference proceedings with volume 10 of the series 'Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Steinzeit in Schleswig-Holstein und im Ostseeraum': 'Working at the Sharp End: From Bone and Antler to Early Mesolithic Life in Northern Europe' collects contributions to a workshop held at Gottorf Castle on 14 th-16 th March, 2016. This represented the closing workshop of the DFG-funded project 'Neubewertung von Chronologie und Stratigraphie des frühholozänen Fundplatzes Hohen Viecheln (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der diagnostischen Knochenartefakte' (DFG project no. 271652103), directed by Daniel Groß, Harald Lübke, John Meadows (all ZBSA) und Detlef Jantzen (Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; Landesarchäologie). In addition to the project's final report the volume contains 17 papers by researchers invited to participate in the workshop, representing either additional studies on material from the site Hohen Viecheln or related topics in research of the early Holocene Mesolithic in northern Europe. Each paper was, according to international standards, peer-reviewed by two anonymous reviewers and then returned to the author for reworking before final editorial work. Copy-editing was performed by Gundula Lide, supported by Jana Elisa Freigang and Jorna Titel. Daniel Groß realised the layout; cover and cover illustration were designed by Jürgen Schüller. Most maps and figures were provided by the authors themselves, some were reworked by Daniel Groß. We express our sincere thanks to all involved! It is a novelty for the series to have papers published online first immediately after completion and authors' approval in open access for free download on the website of Wachholtz Publishers. We would like to thank Henner Wachholtz, Wachholtz Publishers, very much for making this possible! Special thanks are due to the board of the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology (ZBSA) Schleswig, particularly to the director, Claus von Carnap-Bornheim, and the head-of-research, Berit Valentin Eriksen, who substantially supported this publication by providing financial means for its printing.

2014

Quartär, 2008

The relationship of the classic Hamburgian and the Havelte Group has been a matter of discussion for some decades. In order to evaluate the hypothesis that they are chronologically distinct a radiocarbon data set comprising almost 100 dates, including a number of so far unpublished ones, was examined regarding its validity. Based on this edited 14C record of classic Hamburgian and Havelte Group sites a chronological differentiation can indeed be postulated. The transitional period between the two groups can be located within the earliest part of the Lateglacial Interstadial and is possibly connected with the spread of denser, shrub vegetation. Furthermore the calibrated 14C dates indicate that the development of the classic Hamburgian and its northward expansion should be placed before the beginning of the Lateglacial Interstadial into the late Pleniglacial steppe.

The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia, 2019

L. Mevel, S. B. Grimm, From one camp to another. First results of a comparative techno-economic analysis of the Federmesser-Gruppen lithic industries from the Central Rhineland. In: B. V. Eriksen, E. Rensink, S. Harris (eds.), The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia. Proceedings of the Amersfoort, Schleswig and Burgos UISPP Commission meetings. Schriften des Museums für Archäologie Schloss Gottorf, Ergänzungsreihe 13 (Kiel 2019), 105-135. A comparative technological analysis of lithic industries provides a means to assess the behavioural evolution of prehistoric societies at different scales of space and time. Furthermore, based on this, behaviour can be considered in an anthropological perspective. The objective of this approach is to evaluate the transformation processes of human societies, taking into account the dynamics of natural factors, and to discuss the degree of variability between human groups at intra-site, intra-regional, and inter-regional levels. The Lateglacial sites from the Central Rhineland constitute an exceptional record in quality and detailed preservation (Street et al. 2006; 2012), and make possible a major contribution to the discussion about the important transformation of the technical and economic behaviour. The technological analysis of several sites (Gönnersdorf SW, Andernach-Martinsberg AN2- FMG and AN3-FMG, Kettig, Niederbieber concentrations 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and Bad Breisig) dated between 12,500 and 10,800 14C-BP provides a basis for discussing the variability of the lithic industries dated to the end of the Magdalenian and to the Federmesser-Gruppen phase. This paper will question behavioural homogeneity during this period according to typological, technological, and economic data. Based on the large time span covered by the dated settlements, we are able to present arguments with reference to a diachronic axis and to discuss the relevance of behavioural evolution of the Federmesser-Gruppen industries of the Central Rhineland, as this is documented for other geographic areas (Valentin 2008a; Mevel 2017). First results of the technological analyses have highlighted variations between sites in the patterns of blank production, the categories of lithic projectile implements made and used as well as in economic behaviour. The significance of these variations and their chronological and cultural value will be assessed. Finally, the homogeneity of the “Azilianisation” process will be discussed at a European scale based on a comparison with data from neighbouring areas.

Untersuchungen und Materialien zur Steinzeit in Schleswig-Holstein und im Ostseeraum, 2020

In Mesolithic times, weapons, tools and instruments made of animal bones, antlers, and teeth will have been a normal and extensive part of man-made human equipment. Numerous Mesolithic bone artefacts have been accidentally found or dredged out from organic sediments in northeast Germany. There are more than 550 bone points and around 70 other bone tools from 71 find spots from bogs and wetlands. It is the same with some excavations: extraordinary numbers of Mesolithic bone artefacts came to light at Hohen Viecheln in Mecklenburg and at sites Friesack 4 and Friesack 27 in Brandenburg. Since the excavation of many Mesolithic sites everywhere in Northern Europe it has been very clear that implements and tools made of animal bones were an essential part of human equipment. Animal bones were a 'hard' material, but still softer and better workable than stone and silex, they were also different from wood. Therefore this raw material could be used for producing objects with more or less hard 'demands': spear-and arrowheads, daggers, knives, fishhooks, objects with a cutting edge, objects with a shaft hole, awls, chisels, ornaments, and others. The abundance of Mesolithic bone objects in northeast Germany is in some respect the result of the specific geological and geomorphological situation induced after the Weichselian glaciation of the region. There are four ice-marginal valleys with side-channels crossing the country as depressions filled now mostly with humic/ wet sediments. Additionally there are many lakes and bogs with organic sediments along the shores, also with many swampy areas. The ancient organic objects in these sediments are mostly preserved, even after some periods of cultivation in the last three centuries. Such geomorphological conditions seem to have been very favourable for the preservation of Mesolithic bone and antler relics. In Mesolithic times, weapons, tools and instruments made of animal bones and antler-by evidence of the amount of such objects at some excavated sites-will have been a normal and very extensive part of man-made human equipment all over Europe. But due to preservation conditions, excavation possibilities, and regional differences of geo-factors for chance findings, there are great differences in the distribution of objects of the Mesolithic bone and antler industries in

Bell Beaker Settlement of Europe, 2019

In: A. Gibson (ed.), Bell Beaker Settlement of Europe: The Bell Beaker Phenomenon from a Domestic Perspective. Prehistoric Society Research Papers 9 (Oxford), 235-254. Central Germany is generally defined as being the Middle Elbe-Saale region, located North, East and South of the Harz Mountains and within the federal states of Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. In the north it is limited by the lowlands of northern Germany with mostly poor-quality soils and in the south by the Thuringian Forest and the Ore Mountains. The areas south-east to north-east of the Harz mountains were key settlement regions during the Neolithic, due to the excellent soils and the balanced climate. In addition, natural deposits of salt and copper are important, although the use of local copper sources in the Neolithic remains to be confirmed. This paper starts with a brief regional overview of the cultural development during the 3rd millennium BC and outlines the general character of the settlement and economic strategies of the different archaeological cultures. The aim of this paper is to present new insights into settlements and house structures of the Final Neolithic, namely the Schönfeld culture, the Corded Ware culture and the Bell Beaker culture, in Central Germany (Fig. 13.1) and to relate them to those of the subsequent Early Bronze Age Únětice culture. Mainly based on the evidence discovered within the last 15 years, the settlement history of the period between approximately 2800–2000 BC will be re-evaluated.

Landscapes, Histories and Societies in the Northern European Neolithic, 2014

Certain ideal types are associated with terms like “Funnel Beaker Culture” or “Neolithic mode of production”. Although they are helpful, if not necessary, as analytical tools they carry the risk of being used in narratives about the actual past, overlooking their artificial nature. Although there is an awareness of this problem in the case of the “culture concept”, there seems to be a lack of sensitivity in the case of economic habits and their impact on the structure and characteristics of societies. On the basis of the investigation of the Neolithic landscape, the site locations, and natural conditions in two districts of Schleswig-Holstein (Stormarn and Herzogtum Lauenburg), this paper will discuss the different trajectories — locational continuity and discontinuity — for different activities and the economic practises that can be deduced from the different land uses. While there appears to be a long continued implementation of areas for permanent settlements from the Mesolithic up to the Late Neolithic, fundamental differences are nevertheless obvious in the case of temporary activity zones. The related changes do not coincide with phase boundaries implemented for cultural and stylistic traditions. This leads to the plausible conclusion that not only economic practices but also societal configurations were continually in-between different stages of development.