Late Mesolithic Armature Variability in the Southern North Sea Basin

Implications for Forager- Linearbandkeramik Contact Models of the Transition to Agriculture in Belgium and the Southern Netherlands

Bibliographic Data

ID7989028
AuthorsErick Robinson (0000-0002-0789-3724, Ghent University, corresponding author), Joris Sergant (Ghent University, corresponding author), Philippe Crombé (0000-0002-4198-8057, Ghent University, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume16
Issue1
Pages3-20
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1179/1461957112y.0000000022
OpenAlexW2040173287
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

Lithic armatures have been widely noted as key evidence for interpreting the role of indigenous Mesolithic traditions in the spread of the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture, and therefore early agriculture, across temperate Europe. Their role as evidence for the continuity of Mesolithic ‘identities’ has been emphasized without the use of a unified, systematic recording methodology of armatures from both Late–Final Mesolithic (LM–FM) and LBK sites that places armatures in their broader context as part of projectile technologies of late hunter-gatherers and early farmers. In this paper, we present the results of recent research in the southern North Sea basin that utilized a systematic and unified recording methodology to analyse armature assemblages from LM–FM and LBK sites on an inter-regional scale. We report that there is much more inter-regional variability in armature assemblages during the LM than traditionally considered in efforts to interpret similarities and possible cultural transmission processes between Mesolithic and LBK populations. This paper calls for a reassessment of inter-regional LM variability in the construction of Mesolithic-LBK contact models and a focus that places armatures in their broader social and technological contexts

Archaeology · Armature (electrical engineering · Context (archaeology · Geography · Indigenous · Mesolithic · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Engineering · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology

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