Entry Details (Late Glacial occupation of northern Germany and adjacent ar…)
Database ID
76
Title
Late Glacial occupation of northern Germany and adjacent areas. Revisiting the archives.
Author(s)
Sonja B. Grimm; Berit Valentin Eriksen; Mara-Julia Weber
Period(s)
Late Palaeolithic
Period(s) Addition
Hamburgian; Federmesser; Bromme; Ahrensburgian
Content Dating Start
15000 BCE
Content Dating End
9500 BCE
Region(s)
Germany; Denmark; Sweden
Region(s) Addition
North Germany
Published
08.08.2023
Abstract
Our research interlinks palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archives pertaining to the Final Palaeolithic occupation of Schleswig-Holstein. We particularly focus on the chronology and the different challenges associated with the Late Glacial record. We review the radiocarbon dating record of Schleswig-Holstein and adjacent areas, especially Denmark and Sweden. Other data include pollen and tephra from the partially laminated biostratigraphic lake sequence from Nahe LA 11 in Schleswig-Holstein. Our results line up with observations of shifting ecological zones throughout the Weichselian Late Glacial in Schleswig-Holstein.
Keywords
Dating; Radiocarbon Dating
Description
This contribution presents the status quo of research on the Final Palaeolithic occupation of Schleswig-Holstein. Over the last two decades new insights became possible based on isotopic, genetic, biostratigraphic, tephrochronologic, and archaeological analyses. Some of these projects and studies are still on-going. The material on which these analyses were performed was mainly uncovered during the 20th century. We particularly focus on the chronology and the different challenges associated with the Late Glacial record. To do so, we review the radiocarbon dating record of Schleswig-Holstein and adjacent areas, especially Denmark, including 11 new radiocarbon dates from the sites of Stellmoor and Meiendorf. At present, in particular, the period of the Federmessergruppen (i. e., curve-backed point industries) appears poorly represented in this record. This shortage is due to preservational conditions on the one hand, as well as the often uncertain attribution of osseous single finds to archaeological entities on the other. Hence, a synoptic analysis of osseous remains of Late Glacial northern Germany and southern Scandinavia is desirable. The recently introduced partially laminated biostratigraphic lake sequence from Nahe LA 11 contains three cryptic tephra layers including the first geochemically identified evidence of the Laacher See Tephra in Schleswig-Holstein. The palynological analysis of this archive interlinks palaeoenvironmental with archaeological research questions. Amongst other implications, the data provided here suggest a continuity of human and reindeer presence in the area until the early Holocene. This result lines up with observations of shifting ecological zones throughout the Weichselian Late Glacial in Schleswig-Holstein.
