Human Development in Landscapes | People | Dr. Stefanie Klooß, Alumni

Final Mesolithic and Early Neolithic Wooden Artefacts of Coastal Settlements on the Southwestern Baltic Sea

The exploration of the Ertebølle Culture and the Early Neolithic represented a major research topic on the German coast of the Baltic Sea from the late 90s to the 2000s. In the scope of various research projects, particularly the DFG sponsored SINCOS group and further rescue excavations, several coastal sites with good preservation conditions for organic material were investigated. In the present dissertation the excavated wooden artefacts were analysed in detail and compared with other finds, resulting in a comprehensive investigation of Stone Age wooden findings from the Northern German region.

The investigation area encompasses Ostholstein and the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern including Rügen Island. The region in front of Poel Island in the Bay of Wismar and the sites in the wetlands of the Oldenburger Graben were particularly well inspected. For the most part, inventories of the Ertebølle Culture were examined dating from 5500 to 4100 BC. Few sites even date into the Late Mesolithic around 6500 BC. Some settlement sites were used until the beginning of the Early Neolithic around 3800 BC.

From thirteen different coastal sites 4153 wooden artefacts of the Ertebølle Culture and the Early Neolithic were analysed. This includes 1223 tools and pointed sticks as well as predominantly anthropogenic wood without visible working traces. In addition, 80 preserved wooden findings from excavations of the 70s and 80s from the site Grube-Rosenhof LA 58 and 94 wooden artefacts of the Middle Neolithic settlement phase from the site Wangels LA 505 were examined. Above all, the wooden findings of the coastal sites account for fishing activities. In most cases fishing implements and remains of stationary fishing traps were recovered. In addition, dugouts, paddles, hunting tools and handles of stone and antler tools could be found. The artefacts were analysed by metric criteria and characteristics of shape. They were examined and compared archaeologically and dendrologically.

The first part of this doctoral dissertation describes the findings classified according to tool type. Thereby, the inventories of different sites could be compared among each other. Furthermore, the methods of tool production and the modes of operation were delineated. The evaluation of the artefacts also includes their comparison with material from other Ertebølle sites of Denmark and Southern Sweden. Additionally, findings from other eras and other regions of Europe were consulted. The second part of this analysis describes the wooden artefacts of the individual sites in detail or in summary for higher quantities. For every site the respective research history, dating, archaeological material and results derived from natural science are briefly mentioned.

As noted, a categorization of several wooden tools according to type was attempted. In doing so the existing division of paddle types from Hartz and Lübke (1999) was expanded. For the leister prongs of eel spears two types were determined and several groups were created for the knee-shaped handles. As a result of the great diversity, most types, with the exception of the leister prongs, have only a very limited number of examples. Signs of chronological development were found for paddles and leister prongs. The fishing implements, however, were already technically mature so there was little variation. This becomes all the more evident when these tools were compared with eel spears and trap baskets of recent history. Minor regional distinctions in the making of leister prongs are evidenced by the use of different wood types.

In general, the preference for certain, well-suited types of wood to create specific objects or tools could be proven for coastal settlements of the Ertebølle Culture and the Early Neolithic. This reflects downright standardisation. As such, fish trap baskets were always made from red dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) with root stripes of alder (Alnus glutinosa) and pine (Pinus sylvestris) as compound material. Tall lime (Tilia sp.) trunks and in one case a trunk of maple (Acer platanoides/ pseudoplatanus) - both wood types are easy to process - were used to build logboats. Spears and paddles were mostly crafted from the trunk wood of ash (Fraxinus excelsior), which is elastic but also rigid and especially resistant to breakage. The moderately tough wood of hazel (Corylus avellana) as well as very tough red dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and pomaceous wood (Maloidae) were used to produce leister prongs. Shafts and handles of stone and antler tools were made of miscellaneous wood types, mostly hazel (Corylus avellana), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) or pomaceous wood (Maloidae). For the production of bows, on the other hand, slow growing elm (Ulmus sp.) was selected, which was the best bow-making wood available at the time. Arrow shafts from split wood of hazel (Corylus avellana), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) as well as from sprouts of the latter are documented.

Based on the shape, age and annual ring widths of the hazel sticks management of hazel shrubs (Corylus avellana) by coppicing can be assumed. Straight, knotless shoots of hazel that are only a few years old with wide annual rings dominate the Final Mesolithic find layers of all sites. The shoots were needed in large quantities for the construction of fishing fences that were proven on nearly all investigated sites even if no well-preserved part of a wattle work could be detected. Regular cutting of bushes of red dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) and guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) can be assumed as well because straight rods of these plants were split and used to build fish trap baskets, which were likewise in high demand.

The fundamental importance of fishing for the coastal sites is also reflected in the results of fish bone analysis. Some sites can be interpreted as specialised eel catching places (Anguilla anguilla) because of wooden tools and the results of fish bone determination. At other places mainly the bones of small cod (Gadus morhua) and other marine fish were found, which could be caught by fish weirs composed of a fence and a trap basket.

No substantial change in the wooden material culture can be seen due to the fact that living on the coastal sites continued the same manner from the Final Mesolithic to the Early Neolithic.