The Mesolithic Period in Europe

1. The Mesolithic Period in Europe Chapter 13

2. Climatic Changes in Europe in the Early Postglacial Period • Around 9,500 B.C., a rapid rise in the earth’s temperatures began • Caused rapid rise in ocean levels, separating Great Britain from the rest of Europe • Changes in vegetation were more gradual • Open steppe and tundra were replaced by parkland and forest vegetation • Significant changes in animal populations resulted from changes in vegetation

3. Mesolithic Societies in Europe • The Mesolithic describes the postglacial hunters and gatherers of Europe, from 11,500 years ago until farming began • Mesolithic people were the last indigenous hunters and gatherers in Europe, who settled in small groups • In the past these people were understood to have been poor foragers in a new environment • Recent excavations suggest Mesolithic people actively exploited the new environment with innovation

4. Pollen Analysis • Palynology, or pollen analysis, is the study of pollen grains • Pollen data can be used to: • Trace the vegetational history of an area • Assess past human impact on vegetation, such as agriculture • Presence of pollen in various features may produce information about past human behavior • May be used in conjunction with Radiocarbon analysis

5. Mesolithic Stone Technology Two types commonly found in Mesolithic sites: • Large, chipped stone axes made of flint • used to fell trees and work wood • Group of small flint tools (microliths) • used as parts of composite tools, easily repaired and versatile

6. How Did Mesolithic Peoples Make a Living? • Primarily broad-spectrum foragers, used a wide range of animal and plant resources • Territorial people, who maintained small geographical areas • Developed a wide range of new hunting, fishing, and plant-collecting technologies • Fishing and fowling supplemented hunting • Increase in permanence of settlement

7. Fishing in Mesolithic Europe • Fishing increased during the Mesolithic • Boats useful for fishing and hunting wild birds • Leister prongs, parts of fish spears, provide evidence for fishing in lakes and streams • Shellfish became more important for subsistence, evidenced by the presence of Kitchen middens (shell mounds)

8. Vegetation in the Mesolithic Diet • Increasing amount of evidence supports the widespread and intensive use of vegetation • Some east Baltic sites have produced evidence of intensive harvesting, processing, and storage of water chestnuts • Presence of mattocks and hoes suggest soil work • Fire was used to manipulate the natural environment, which can increase food yields and enables soil to absorb and retain heat

9. Mesolithic Settlement Patterns • Mesolithic foragers occupied cave sites in the Alpine Region, with access to geographical resources • Site along the shores of lakes and rivers dominate the low-lying area across the North European Plain • The loess belt, in central Europe between the Scandinavian and Alpine ice sheets, was much less populated because it could not offer the environmental diversity sought by Mesolithic foragers

10. Map of Mesolithic Europe

11. An Example of a Mesolithic Settlement: Mount Sandel in Northern Ireland • Mount Sandel, campsite (c.a. 8,000 B.C.) in Northern Ireland • Four hearth areas, within outlines of dome-shaped huts • Plant and animal remains reveal fishing, hunting, and plant collecting each played a role in subsistence strategies • Certain types of fish and raw materials were accessed from a distance, possibly suggesting organized task groups among the population

12. Star Carr: Interpreting Mesolithic Seasonality • Early Mesolithic site in northern England, used seasonally • Radiocarbon dated to approximately 8,700 to 8,400 B.C. • Waterlogged deposits preserved organic materials • Many large game animal remains present; presence of deer antlers suggestive of seasonality, site occupation occurred annually in winter • Use of antlers for this determination is questioned, though additional evidence still supports seasonal occupation (late spring, rather than winter)

13. Population Growth and Economic Transformations in the Later Mesolithic • Wide range of archaeological data suggestive of social and economic changes in the Mesolithic, possibly related to population growth • Variation in stone tool technology indicative of Mesolithic social groups, occupying small group territories • Kitchen middens and other factors suggest increase in settlement permanence throughout the Mesolithic

14. A Late Mesolithic Site: Tybrind Vig in Denmark • Tybrind Vig, Danish Mesolithic settlement occupied between 5,500 and 4,000 B.C. • Well-preserved, waterlogged site • Fish traps, leister prongs, and remains of boats indicate maritime orientation of the population, verified by chemical analysis of human remains • Plant foods, wild game mammals, sea mammals and shellfish also played a role in subsistence • Oldest known textile remains from Europe recovered from Tybrind Vig

15. Social Changes in the Later Mesolithic: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity • Cemeteries, increasingly common and provide evidence for social roles and status • Trade and exchange networks evidenced by marine resources recovered from central European sites • Presumed formal leadership necessary to coordinate within and between group activities, potentially leading to a degree of social inequality

16. Conclusion • Mesolithic populations appear to have had innovative responses to changed and changing environmental conditions • Change from mobile, small-scale hunting and gathering populations into complex foragers • Evidence supports formation of complex hunter-gatherer populations, with permanent residences, specialized tool kits, storage facilities, trade and exchange, and social elaboration