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An offprint from

Mesolithic HorizonsPapers presented at the Seventh International Conference

on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005

Edited bySinéad McCartan, Rick Schulting, Graeme Warren and Peter Woodman

© OXBOW BOOKS 2009ISBN 978-1-84217-311-4

Contents

VOLUME IList of Contributors ixPreface (Peter Woodman) xvii

Plenaries (i) Mapping the European Mesolithic (S. K. Kozłowski) xx

(ii) The Mesolithic in Europe – some retrospective perspectives (Lars Larsson) xxvii

(iii) The way forward (T. Douglas Price) xxxiii

(iv) Ireland’s place in the European Mesolithic: why it’s ok to be different (Peter C. Woodman) xxxvi

(v) The Mesolithic and the 21st century (Marek Zvelebil) xlvii

New lands1 Introduction (Peter C. Woodman) 12 Climate change, demography and social relations: an alternative view of the Late Palaeolithic 3 pioneer colonization of southern Scandinavia (Felix Riede)3 Late Palaeolithic reindeer hunters – from a coastal perspective (Bengt Nordqvist) 114 Colonizing seascapes: comparative perspectives on the development of maritime relations in 16 the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in north-west Europe (Hein Bjartmann Bjerck)5 Entering new shores. Colonization processes in early archipelagos in eastern central Sweden 24 (Roger Wikell and Mattias Pettersson)6 TheflintcollectionfromtheRistolasiteinLahtiandtheculturalcontactsoftheearliest 31 Postglacial settlement of southern Finland (Hannu Takala)7 The Sujala site in Utsjoki: Post-Swiderian in northern Lapland? 38 (Jarmo Kankaanpää and Tuija Rankama)8 Hunter-gatherers of the Istrian peninsula: the value of lithic raw material analysis to study 45 small-scale colonization processes (Paolo Pellegatti)9 Early farmers on the coast: lithic procurement strategies of colonists in the eastern Adriatic 53 (Niels H. Andreasen)10 Thecolonisationofeasternalpineterritories:theValdiNoncasestudyandthe‘Regole’field 60 camps (Trento, Italy) (Giampaolo Dalmeri, Klaus Kompatscher, Maria Hrozny Kompatscher, Anna Cusinato and Michele Bassetti)

Mobility11 Introduction (C. R. Wickham-Jones) 7112 Moving perceptions: movement, mobility and the material dimension (Thomas Kador) 7313 Top-down or bottom-up?: Americanist approaches to the study of hunter-gatherer mobility 80 (Douglas B. Bamforth)14 Are we there yet? Using GIS to investigate paths and landmarks in the Mesolithic of south-west 89 Germany (Harry Starr and Susan Harris)15 RawmaterialandsettlementstrategiesatthePleistocene/HoloceneboundaryinTrentino 96 (north-eastern Italian Alps): (Fabio Cavulli and Stefano Grimaldi)16 Evidence of mobility between the coast and the inland region in the Mesolithic of northern 102 Fennoscandia (Mikael A. Manninen)17 Walking around the Federsee: analyzing mobility and settlement through regional surface survey 109 in south-west Germany (Susan K. Harris, Harry Starr, Lynn E. Fisher and Michael Jochim)18 One pig does not a winter make. New seasonal evidence at the Early Mesolithic sites of 115 Holmegaard and Mullerup and the Late Mesolithic site of Ertebølle in Denmark (Richard Carter)19 Deciphering archaeological palimpsests: an example from a Canadian Barrenland caribou 122 hunting camp (Bryan C. Gordon)

Contents v

People in their environment20 Introduction (Rick Schulting) 13121 Coastal perspectives on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition (Nicky Milner and Eva Laurie) 13422 Current research on prehistoric human coastal ecology: Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene 140 hunter-gatherer transitions in north-west Sicily (Marcello A. Mannino and Kenneth D. Thomas)23 The tragedy of the shoreline? Social ecology of Mesolithic coastal subsistence, with reference to the site 146 of Culverwell, Isle of Portland (southern England) (Marcello A. Mannino and Kenneth D. Thomas)24 Small game exploitation through the Mediterranean Pleistocene-Holocene transition in southern France: 152 a key resource augmenting the dietary range (Alexandre Bournery)25 AnexaminationofMesolithicshellfishgatheringactivitiesinthelowerAsónriverbasin 161 (Cantabria, España) (F. Igor Gutiérrez Zugasti)26 Stone Age settlement sites on an environmentally sensitive coastal area along the lower reaches of 167 theRiverPärnu(south-westernEstonia),asindicatorsofchangingsettlementpatterns,technologies and economies (Aivar Kriiska and Lembi Lõugas)27 Automating the extrapolation of sea-level displacement curves: implications for Mesolithic research 176 in western Norway (David N. Simpson)28 Shells, seals and ceramics: an evaluation of a midden at West Voe, Sumburgh, Shetland, 2004–5 184 (Nigel D. Melton)29 Mesolithic elk (Alces alcesL.)fromZamostje2(Russia) (Louis Chaix) 19030 Animal bone studies and the perception of animals in Mesolithic society (Anna Mansrud) 19831 Cultural small-scale variations in a hunter-gatherer society: or ‘everybody wants to be a little bit 203 different!’ An ethnoarchaeological study from Siberia (Ole Grøn, Torunn Klokkernes and Michail G. Turov)32 StableisotopicreconstructionofEarlyMesolithicdietatPupićinaCave 210 (Clea Paine, Tamsin O’Connell and Preston T. Miracle)33 Human colonisation routes and the origins of Irish mammals (Ceiridwen J. Edwards, Daniel G. Bradley) 21734 The ecology of hazel (Corylus avellana) nuts in Mesolithic Ireland (Anne M. G. McComb) 225

People and Places35 Introduction (Sinéad B. McCartan) 23536 Settlement patterns, landscape and society in western Norway during the Late Mesolithic 237 (Sigrid Mannsåker Gundersen)37 Mesolithic inland settlement in southern Norway (Per Persson) 24338 The settlement patterns of the Maglemose culture on Bornholm, Denmark. Some preliminary results 248 and hypotheses (Claudio Casati and Lasse Sørensen)39 People and places in the Latvian Mesolithic: a case study from the Zvejnieki archaeological complex 255 (Ilga Zagorska)40 DąbrowaBiskupia71:aspecializedcampfromtheMaglemoseculture 261 (Lucyna Domańska and Marcin Wąs)41 Early Holocene landscape dynamics and forager land use diversity: the example of Hoge Vaart-A27 269 (Almere, The Netherlands) (Hans Peeters)42 Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium 277 (Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen)43 Mesolithic settlement and land use in the Campine region (Belgium) 282 (Marc De Bie and Marijn Van Gils)44 Upland colonization: patterns of settling and habitation in northern Istria, Croatia (Darko Komšo) 28845 People and their land at the southern margins of the central Po Plain in the Early Mesolithic 296 (Federica Fontana, Maria Giovanna Cremona, Erika Ferrari, Federico Guarisco and Davide Mengoli)46 A view from the edges: the Mesolithic settlement of the interior areas of the Iberian Peninsula 303 reconsidered (Pablo Arias, Enrique Cerrillo-Cuenca, Esteban Álvarez-Fernández, Eloy Gómez-Pellón and Antonio González Cordero)47 RecentdevelopmentsinEarlyHolocenehunter-gatherersubsistenceandsettlement:aviewfrom south-western Iberia (Maria João Valente and António Faustino Carvalho) 31248 Mesolithic people in an open Mediterranean wetland 318 (Andrea L. Balbo , Darko Komšo and Preston T. Miracle)49 Occupation in a submerged Mesolithic landscape (Garry Momber, Julie Satchell and Jan Gillespie) 324

Contentsvi

Regional identities50 Introduction (Graeme Warren) 33351 Flint procurement in the French Alps during the Mesolithic: deciphering economic and cultural 336 territories (Céline Bressy)52 The power of place and regional identity in the British south-western Mesolithic (Clive Jonathon Bond) 34553 Worm’s Head and Caldey Island (south Wales, UK) and the question of Mesolithic territories 354 (Rick Schulting)54 Show me how you make your hunting equipment and I will tell you where you come from: technical 362 traditions,anefficientmeansofcharacterizingculturalidentities (Eva David)55 Being-in-the-(Mesolithic) world: place, substance and person in the Mesolithic of western Scotland 368 (Hannah L. Cobb)56 Man-landscape relations in Varanger, Finnmark, northern Norway (Maria Westrum Solem) 37357 Feast in the forest: creating a common cultural identity in the interior of the Scandinavian Peninsula 378 in the Late Mesolithic (Silje Elisabeth Fretheim)58 Ynys Enlli: shifting horizons 385 (Mark Edmonds, Robert Johnston, Emily La Trobe-Bateman, John Roberts and Graeme Warren)59 Inthemiddle,notinbetween:Svärdbärareninitsregionalcontext (Jenny Holm) 39260 ‘Foreign in origin and local in pattern’: Mesolithic pottery around the Baltic Sea (Fredrik Hallgren) 397

Dwellings61 Introduction (João Zilhão) 40762 Ishomewheretheheartis?ReflectionsaroundEarlyMesolithicsites,exemplifiedwithresultsfrom 409 an excavation on coastal south-western Norway (Astrid J. Nyland)63 Different ways of building, different ways of living: Mesolithic house structures in western Norway 414 (Leif Inge Åstveit)64 Islandsettlementsandmaritimehunter-fishers:spatialandtemporaltransformationsover11,000years 422 at Melkøya, northern Norway (Morten Ramstad)65 Twohousesand186,000artefacts.SpatialorganizationattheLateMesolithicsiteofStrandvägen, 430 Sweden (Tom Carlsson)66 Ålyst: a settlement complex with hut structures from the Early Mesolithic on Bornholm, Denmark 436 (Claudio Casati and Lasse Sørensen)67 Virtual hypothesis: the Maglemosian huts at Ålyst, Bornholm. Preliminary thoughts on the morphology 443 of dwellings on a Maglemosian site (Nicolai Garhøj Larsen)68 Findconcentrationsanddwellingstructures.TheinterpretationofFinalPalaeolithicfindscatters 450 (Frank Gelhausen, Jan F. Kegler and Stefan Wenzel)69 AlongtheshoresoftheAncylusLake.TrädgårdstorpandothercoastalMesolithicsettlementsites 458 during the Late Ancylus period in western Östergötland (Fredrik Molin)70 DwellingsandgravesfromtheLateMesolithicsiteofNivå10,easternDenmark (Ole Lass Jensen) 46571 Dreams and Landscapes: Mesolithic archaeology under water (Ole Grøn) 47372 Thembones:middensitesasadefiningcharacteristicoftheScottishMesolithic (C. R. Wickham-Jones) 47873 South-western regional identities: Birdcombe, Totty Pot and Hawkcombe Head (Paula J. Gardiner) 485

VOLUME II

Transitions74 Introduction (Rick Schulting) 49775 From Magdalenian to Early Neolithic: hunter-gatherers in transition in north-eastern Iberia 500 (Pilar García-Argüelles, Jordi Nadal and Josep M. Fullola)76 The end of the Mesolithic in western France: from taphonomy to the understanding of prehistoric 507 territories (Grégory Marchand)77 New perspectives on the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition in northern Italy (Thomas Perrin) 51478 Seasonal resource scheduling in the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Scotland (Rachel L. Parks) 52179 Thepaleoecologicalandpaleodietarysignificanceofediblelandsnails(Helix sp.) across the 527 Pleistocene-Holocene transition on the eastern Adriatic coast (Mia Rizner, Nikola Vukosavljević and Preston Miracle)80 Hunter-gatherer adaptations during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in Portugal: data and 533 explanatory models (Ana Cristina Araújo)

Contents vii

81 Lollikhuse, a site from the transitional phase between the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Denmark 541 (Søren A. Sørensen)82 Dąbkirevisited:newevidenceonthequestionofearliestcattleuseinPomerania 548 (J. Kabaciński, D. Heinrich and T. Terberger)83 Huntersandfishersinachangingworld.InvestigationsonsubmergedStoneAgesitesofftheBaltic 556 coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (Harald Lübke)84 The neolithisation of the Belgian lowlands: new evidence from the Scheldt Valley 564 (Philippe Crombé, Joris Sergant and Yves Perdaen)85 Interaction, exchange and imitation. Some short and preliminary notes on the distribution of Breitkeile 570 in Belgium and the Netherlands and its implications for the transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic (Leo B. M. Verhart)86 Confronting important animals (Trond Lødøen) 57687 The phase of transformation in western Norway (Thomas Bruen Olsen) 58388 Transition to farming in western Norway seen as a rapid replacement of landscapes (Asle Bruen Olsen) 589

Ritual in context89 Introduction (Ericka Engelstad) 59990 Caught in the middle: functional and ideological aspects of Mesolithic shores in Norway 602 (Knut Andreas Bergsvik)91 Between the rock and the sea: site location and ritual practise in the Mesolithic in eastern central 610 Sweden (Christina Lindgren)92 Whatgoeswhere?IntrasitestudiesofdepositionsofMaglemosianartandflintpicksofthe 614 Maglemose and Kongemose cultures (Peter Andreas Toft)93 Soul-trips to the underworld? Interpretations of a decorated slate pickaxe from western Sweden 621 (Robert Hernek)94 Prehistory as a continuum in the discussion of continuity and change in Britain, 16,000 to 6000 cal BP 627 (Stella M. Blockley)95 New radiocarbon dates from the Stone Age graves at Dragsholm, Denmark 632 (T. Douglas Price, Erik Brinch Petersen and Michael P. Richards)96 From single graves to cemeteries: an initial look at chronology in Mesolithic burial practice 639 (Christopher Meiklejohn, Erik Brinch Petersen and Jeff Babb)97 Burials in the cave: new evidence on mortuary practices during the Mesolithic of Cantabrian Spain 650 (Pablo Arias, Angel Armendariz, Rodrigo de Balbín, Miguel A. Fano, Juan Fernández-Tresguerres, Manuel R. González Morales, María José Iriarte, Roberto Ontañón, Javier Alcolea, Esteban Álvarez- Fernández, Francisco Etxeberria, María Dolores Garralda, Mary Jackes and Álvaro Arrizabalaga)98 Coping with cadavers: ritual practices in Mesolithic cemeteries (Liv Nilsson Stutz) 65799 Symbols around the body: tooth ornaments from the graves at the Zvejnieki cemeteries, northern Latvia 664 (Lars Larsson)

Understanding the social context100 Introduction (Nyree Finlay) 673101 Dogs and people, an arising relationship: Canis familiaris amongst hunter-gatherer societies in the 675 Iberian Peninsula (Cristina García-Moncó)102 Wood and wild animals: towards an understanding of a Mesolithic world (Steven Price) 683103 Transforming bodies: mortuary practices in Mesolithic Britain (Chantal Conneller) 690104 Fishysettlementpatternsandtheirsocialsignificance:acasestudyfromthenorthernMidlandsof 698 Ireland (Aimée Little)105 A Mesolithic social landscape in south-west Britain: the Somerset Levels and Mendip Hills 706 (Clive Jonathon Bond)106 Sounds like sociality: new research on lithic contexts in Mesolithic Caithness 717 (Steve Mills and Amelia Pannett)107 Theidentificationofchildren’sflintknappingproductsinMesolithicScandinavia 722 (Farina Sternke and Mikkel Sørensen)108 An experimental analysis of perforated shells from the site of Šebrn Abri (Istria), Croatia 730 (Samuel Benghiat, Darko Komšo and Preston T. Miracle)109 From sharing to giving: handling the inequality of things at the end of the Mesolithic (Roger Edenmo) 736

Contentsviii

Understanding Mesolithic technology110 Introduction (Sheila Coulson) 743111 The illustration of Mesolithic artefacts and its contribution to the understanding of Mesolithic 745 technology (Alan Saville)112 From the mountain to the sea: an ethnographic perspective for the Early Mesolithic settlement dynamics 754 in north-eastern Italy (Stefano Grimaldi and Elisabetta Flor)113 Early Mesolithic hunting strategies in the north-eastern Italian Alps: an experimental analysis 760 (Stefano Grimaldi)114 Tools and colour in Mesolithic Scotland (Karen Hardy, Steven Birch and Robert S. Shiel) 766115 ForagersinthealpineRhinevalley.InterpretingtwoMesolithicrocksheltersnearKoblach 772 in Vorarlberg, Austria (Sonja Laus)116 Macrolithic industries of the Portuguese Mesolithic: a human adaptive response 779 (Ana Cristina Araújo, Francisco Almeida and M. João Valente)117 ‘Rulers’ofsouthernSweden:technologicalaspectsofarediscoveredtool(Arne Sjöström and Björn Nilsson) 788118 One problem – many solutions: strategies of lithic raw material procurement in Mesolithic Europe 795 (Laurent-Jacques Costa and Farina Sternke)119 Variability of lithic resource exploitation systems in northern Italy during the early Holocene: the 802 case-studies of Mondeval de Sora (Belluno) and I.N.F.S. (Bologna) (Federica Fontana and Antonio Guerreschi)

Flint alternatives120 Introduction (Kjel S. Å. Knutsson) 811121 Quartz analyses of the Kaaraneskoski site, Lapland (Tuija Rankama) 813122 Ways to interpret quartz (Karl-Fredrik Lindberg) 820123 Percussion events by the shore: a comparative approach to the manufacture and use of quartz in 827 Uppland, Sweden (†Per Falkenström)124 Flint knappers or quartz knappers? The procurement of different types of quartz in south-east Mesolithic 833 Norway (Lotte Eigeland)125 RecentstonetooluseandmaterialcultureoftheWola,PapuaNewGuinea (Karen Hardy) 838126 Petrography and mechanics of the Armorican Massif rocks: the impact on Late Mesolithic industries 845 in western France (Rodrigue Tsobgou Ahoupe)127 Production and use of Mesolithic groundstone axes and adzes in Zealand, Denmark: description, 853 production, distribution and status (Susanne Ritz Nicolaisen)128 Theelusiveflint:rawmaterialsandlithictechnologyintheMesolithicofeasternAsturias,Spain 860 (Pablo Arias, Patricia Fernández, Celia Marcos and Irene Rodríguez) Current research129 ThetransitiontotheHoloceneintheBajoAsónBasin(Cantabria,Spain):anarchaeozoologicalpoint 869 of view (Ana Belén Marín Arroyo)130 Mesolithic human remains from Poza l’Egua and Colomba caves (Asturias, Spain) 871 (Labib Drak and María Dolores Garralda)131 An assessment of our knowledge, the main problems of research, and current investigations with 873 regard to the Mesolithic of Cantabrian Spain (9th–6th millennium cal BC) (Miguel Ángel Fano)132 Hermitage, Ireland: life and death on the western edge of Europe (Tracy Collins) 876133 The Early prehistory in the west of Ireland: investigations into the social archaeology of the 880 Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland (Killian Driscoll)134 Lake-platforms at Lough Kinale – memory, reach and place: a Discovery Programme Project 882 in the Irish midlands (Christina Fredengren)135 ReconstructingMesolithicpalaeodietusingdentalmicrowearanalysis (T. Rowan McLaughlin) 887136 TheexcavationofLateMesolithicfishtrapremainsfromtheLiffeyestuary,Dublin,Ireland 889 (Melanie McQuade and Lorna O’Donnell)137 LakesidedevelopmentsinCountyMeath,Ireland:aLateMesolithicfishingplatformandpossible 895 mooring at Clowanstown 1 (Matt Mossop)138 The development and historiography of pollen studies in the Mesolithic of the Scottish islands 900 (Kevin J. Edwards)139 Molluscan studies of the Danish Mesolithic-Neolithic shell-midden Krabbesholm II: new information 907 concerning the marine and terrestrial environment (Nina Helt Nielsen)

Consolidated Bibliography 908Index 998

People and Places

42. Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium

Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen

Over the last decade, �Sandy Flanders� (north-west Belgium) has been the subject of intensive Mesolithic research and has revealed much new information at both intra- and inter-site levels. Analysis of the distribution of Stone Age sites and different raw materials (local and exotic) is used to reconstruct land-use systems during different stages of the Final Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic. Preliminary results indicate not only a clear shift in site location and site density but also in the distribution of exotic raw materials (quartzites) around the middle of the Boreal (c. 7600/7500 cal BC). The Þ rst shifts might point to changing settlement systems due to environmental changes, while the latter rather seems to reß ect changing social or cultural conditions.

Keywords: Belgium, exotic quartzites, land-use systems, social/cultural territories.

IntroductionSandy Flanders is situated in north-western Belgium between the North Sea coast and the lower Scheldt River. It is a typical low-lying area (between 3 and 15m asl), lying under, mainly, coversand deposits which are only in the most eastern and northerly parts, sealed by peat and/or clay (Crombé 2005). Since 1986 this area, which covers a surface of approximately 3000km², has been surveyed mainly by students and amateur archaeologists (Van der Haegen et al. 1999; Van Vlaenderen et al. 2006). This has led to the discovery of numerous surface sites, mainly dating to the Final Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic. In some parts of the study area (i.e. Meetjesland, the Moervaart depression, and Waasland), the extensive surveys were carried out very systematically.

Our research project, which started in 2004, focuses on these three core areas. Starting with a detailed inventory of data related to the Stone Age sites, additional surveys by Þ eld walking and manual drilling were undertaken to check and/or complete the database. Once the database has been completed, an analysis using a geographical information system (GIS) will be done to attempt a reconstruction of land-use systems from the Final Palaeolithic (mainly Federmesser) until the start of the Bronze Age. At present the data of two core areas, the Meetjesland and the Moervaart depression, have already been entered into the database and a Þ rst, preliminary, spatial analysis has been carried out.

One of the major problems with surface sites is the difÞ culty of dating them. As absolute dates are usually missing, dating can only be obtained using typological

and technological criteria. However, this implies that a considerable number of artefacts, or type fossils, are present on each individual site. Sites which are small, as a result of too limited research, have deep stratigraphical positions or short occupation histories, will be particularly difÞ cult to date. On the other hand, large sites may yield mixed assemblages from different occupation events (palimpsests). In view of these problems we have tried to classify the sites in relatively broad chronological stages, i.e. Final Palaeolithic (Federmesser), Early Mesolithic (Preboreal � Þ rst half Boreal), Middle Mesolithic (second half Boreal), Late/Final Mesolithic (Þ rst half Atlantic), and Neolithic.

Results and discussionThe chronological distribution of the sites (minimum 50 artefacts) analysed thus far shows a variability in the number of sites per phase. If we look at the raw data expressed in number of sites per phase (Figure 42.1), there is a marked dominance of sites belonging to the Early Mesolithic (37 sites), followed by those of the Late Mesolithic (22 sites). Middle (7 sites) and Final Mesolithic sites (4 sites) are, on the other hand, hardly in evidence.

However, if the difference in the duration of each phase is taken into account another pattern emerges. As a matter of fact, the Late Mesolithic lasted approximately twice as long as the Final Palaeolithic, the Early and Final Mesolithic, and even four times longer than the Middle Mesolithic. If each chronological stage is theoretically reduced to 500 uncalibrated BP years and the number of

Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen278

sites is recalculated in accordance (e.g. by dividing the number of sites by two or more, dependent on whether the stage is reduced twice or more) (Figure 42.2), a marked and gradual decrease of sites can be noticed from the Middle Mesolithic until the Final Mesolithic. The limited number of sites belonging to the Final Mesolithic might, in part, be due to taphonomic factors. Until now sites from this stage have only been found in alluvial contexts, and through which are difÞ cult to detect by Þ eld walking. The decline of Middle and Late Mesolithic sites, on the other hand, is much more difÞ cult to explain: taphonomic reasons or a lesser visibility cannot be invoked here.

A similar tendency can be seen in the distribution of the radiocarbon dates obtained from salvage excavations in Sandy Flanders. At present 102 dates from different materials, coming from ten sites, are available (Crombé et al. 2008). The distribution of these dates shows a strong concentration between 8700 and 7000 cal BC (which corresponds to the Early Mesolithic and the Þ rst part of the Middle Mesolithic). From 7000 cal BC onwards there is a drastic decrease in the number of dates. If all charcoal dates are excluded (because these are not secure anthropogenic indicators) the tendency is even stronger:

most dates cluster between 8700 and 7400 cal BC, or the Early Mesolithic.

Generally, a dramatic decline in the number of sites is interpreted as an indication of a reduced population density (Crombé et al. 2008). However there are other factors which might have inß uenced the numbers, for example changes in mobility or land-use systems in the course of the Mesolithic. There are two possibilities: either during the Late Mesolithic the same exploitation system was used as in the Early Mesolithic, but with reduced mobility, or there was a change in exploitation system, for example from a collecting to a foraging system (Binford 1980). From ethnographical studies it is known that a collecting system leads to a high number of logistical or non-residential sites, such as hunting stands, Þ eld camps, caches, etc. In an opposite sense, a foraging system creates many more residential camps than would a collecting system, because of a higher residential mobility.

However the difference between residential and non-residential camps is archaeologically hard to distinguish. When dealing with surface evidence only, it is almost impossible to assess whether there have been major changes in the mobility system throughout the Mesolithic in the study area. It is even difÞ cult to make a distinction based on evidence retrieved from excavations such as, for example, the Early Mesolithic site of Verrebroek �Dok I� (Crombé et al. 2003).

This excavation, which yielded at least 55 independent artefact concentrations, is the largest in the area so far. The largest excavated units are probably palimpsests of three or more occupation events, while the smallest ones seem to be the result of single and short-term visits. Hierarchical cluster analysis of these units indicates important intra-site variability in the tool compositions. Two major types of assemblages seem to exist. Type one is characterised by a dominance of microliths combined with a signiÞ cant number of common tools: type two only consists of microliths.

Tool variability such as this is generally, or traditionally, interpreted as reß ecting functional differences (Jacobi 1978; Simmons 1979; Verhart 2003). In most studies, assemblages with numerous common tools (comparable to our type 1) are interpreted as residential camps, whereas assemblages dominated by microliths (our type 2) are usually considered as non-residential camps, hunting, or Þ eld camps.

However recent microwear analysis has shown clearly that such correlations are too simpliÞ ed. Three artefact concentrations from Verrebroek �Dok I�, all belonging to type 1, have been analysed so far (Beugnier and Crombé 2005). The results indicate a rather restricted number of domestic activities, with an emphasis on hide working and plant processing. Plant processing includes the scraping and splitting of non-woody plants, most likely reed or fresh hazelnut sticks. Hide working is represented only by its initial stages, namely stripping of the hides, smoothing the hides, and the treatment of hides with abrasives. What is surprising, however, is the almost total absence of other

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Figure 42.1. Number of sites per chronological phase.

Figure 42.2. In order to avoid distortion caused by the differences in duration of the chronological phases (Middle Mesolithic: c. 500 years uncal. BP; Final Palaeolithic, Early Mesolithic and Final Mesolithic: c. 1000 years uncal. BP; Late Mesolithic: c. 2000 years uncal. BP), each phase is reduced to 500 years uncal. BP and the number of sites is recalculated in accordance.

Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium 279

Figures 42.3, 42.4, 42.5. Distribution of Final Palaeolithic (above), Early Mesolithic (centre), and Late Mesolithic sites (below) in the western part of the Moervaart depression (grey: sand substratum).

domestic activities that normally produce wear traces rather rapidly, such as wood-, bone-, and leatherworking. The activity spectrum of these three concentrations is not very consistent with what is normally expected for a residential or base camp. This spectrum might be representative of a non-residential camp type, for example a hunting Þ eld camp, where a limited set of basic domestic activities would have been performed. The only way to gain more insight into this problem is to expand the microwear analysis to other assemblage types as much as possible, on intra-site and inter-site levels.

Thus, for the time being, it is not possible to make a clear distinction between residential and non-residential sites within our study area. Hence it cannot be veriÞ ed whether the decrease in sites is a result of a change from a collecting to a foraging mobility. However, besides a reduction in site numbers, a clear shift in the distribution pattern of sites between the Early and Late Mesolithic seems also to indicate a change in the settlement system.

Firstly, Early Mesolithic sites often seem to cluster in speciÞ c landscape features, for example, in the eastern part of the study area. Here Early Mesolithic sites cluster along the southern slope of a large sand ridge over a distance of more than 7km. Such extensive clusters are not known from the Late Mesolithic. Second, there seems to be a marked discontinuity in the settlement location between the Early and Late Mesolithic (Figures 42.3, 42.4 and 42.5). Final Palaeolithic sites were very often re-occupied during the Early and Middle Mesolithic (Crombé and Verbruggen 2002). However these sites are only a small percentage of the Early and Middle Mesolithic sites: most sites are situated in new locations. On the other hand the Final Palaeolithic sites were nearly all not re-occupied in the Late Mesolithic, and only 38% of the Late Mesolithic occupations were established on the same location as Early and Middle Mesolithic sites. Most of these re-used sites seem to be located close to open water systems.

Similar trends have been observed in other study areas of north-west Europe (e.g. Waterbolk 1983�4; Groenendijk 1993; Spikins 1999), and have been explained as resulting from major environmental changes, more precisely the change from a rather open coniferous forest in the Preboreal and Boreal, characterised by evenly distributed resources, to a dense and dark broad-leaf forest with clustered resources.

Another major change obviously occurred in the use and distribution of exotic raw materials. During the Mesolithic two different types of quartzites were imported in Sandy Flanders � from Tienen and Wommersom. Both raw materials originate from the Tienen region in central Belgium, more than 80km away from the research area (Caspar 1984; Crombé 1998). On Early Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders Tienen quartzite clearly predominates over Wommersom quartzite (Crombé et al. 2008) (Figure 42.6). It is remarkable that in the area to the east of Sandy Flanders, in the Campine region, Wommersom quartzite is the only exogenous raw material attested. From the Middle Mesolithic, and deÞ nitely from the Late Mesolithic onwards,

the situation in Sandy Flanders changes completely: just as in the Campine region, Wommersom quartzite now becomes the most important, and, most of the time, the only exogenous raw material (Figure 42.7).

It is clear that environmental arguments cannot be held responsible for these changes. Rather, we should look in the direction of social and/or cultural changes. It is not unlikely that these exotic materials, originating from the same outcrop area, were used as social markers by different groups in order to visualise and defend their social territories.

Joris Sergant, Philippe Crombé and Yves Perdaen280

Figure 42.6. Percentages of Tienen and Wommersom quartzite from Early Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders and the Campine.

Figure 42.7. Percentages of Tienen and Wommersom quartzite from Early, Middle, and Late Mesolithic sites in Sandy Flanders.

If this were the case, then the Scheldt River in the Early Mesolithic might have been the limit between two different groups, one to the west of the Scheldt using Tienen quartzite, another to the east using Wommersom

quartzite. In the Later Mesolithic the Scheldt ceased to signify a limit, or the need to visualise the borders of group territories disappeared or decreased considerably. Whether this points to a change from a period of social stress in the

Mesolithic territories and land-use systems in north-western Belgium 281

Early Mesolithic to a period of more stabilisation in the Late Mesolithic remains to be further investigated.

ConclusionsThe Þ rst results of our research project, although still very preliminary, indicate at least three major changes at the transition from the Early/Middle Mesolithic to the Late Mesolithic in Sandy Flanders. Changes occur in the site density with a marked reduction in site number, in the site location with a stronger emphasis on locations along open water systems, and in the use and distribution of exotic raw materials.

The Þ rst two changes might be related to changes in the landscape, forcing local hunter-gatherers to change their way of exploiting the area. The third might be an expression of changing social conditions, for example an increasing territoriality.

AcknowledgementsOur thanks are due to the Fund for ScientiÞ c Research (Flanders) for the Þ nancial assistance of our project (�Man and landscape. Study of prehistoric land-use systems in three core regions of Sandy Flanders between c. 12,000 and 2000 BC�).

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