DOI Kapitel:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI Kapitel:Stapel, Bernhard: Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0179
178
Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
Fig. 1 Map of main sites discussed in the text. 1 Vreden-Stadtlohner StraBe; 2 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking; 3 Rosendahl-Osterwick;
4 Nottuln-Uphoven; 5 Oerlinghausen-Lipperreihe Heisterbrink; 6 Petershagen-Havern; 7 Hagen Blatterhdhle (graphics: M. Kloss, draft B. Stapel).
artefacts revealed unexpectedly late results, pointing
to an occupation of the site at about 4,900 calBC (GrA
21396: 6000 ± 50 BP, 4897 ± 62 calBC), some 400
years after the start of the Neolithic in Westphalia.
But Vreden is not the only Late Mesolithic site
of such an age. Birgit Gehlen has been examining
materials from east Westphalia as part of her research
project on Mesolithic sites in North Rhine-Westpha-
lia. One of the surveyed sites is Oerlinghausen-Lip-
perreihe Heisterbrink (Kreis Lippe; Gehlen et al.
2017, 16-29). In October 1927 this location had been
excavated by amateur archaeologists. Their report
described two artefact scatters or concentrations sur-
rounding a pit with charcoal filling, possibly a hearth.
The assemblage consists of over 860 silex arte-
facts of small dimension. The silex industry is based
on blades. Microliths are represented by trapezes,
micro points, and micro burins. A few blades with
oblique retouched end and some scrapers should also
be mentioned (Gehlen et al. 2017, 20-21 Abb. 7-8).
Similarities to Vreden can be noted above all in the
microliths, in the manufacturing technique, and in
the small dimensions of the artefacts (Gehlen et al.
2017, 26). An AMS dating of charcoal confirmed a
Final Mesolithic age of about 5,000 BC (Col 2190.1:
6080 ± 47 BP, 5005 ± 67 calBC).2
2 In east Westphalia there are a few Mesolithic sites with even
later radiocarbon dates (Banghard / Gehlen 2013, 211). The
reliability of these dates is under discussion.
Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
Fig. 1 Map of main sites discussed in the text. 1 Vreden-Stadtlohner StraBe; 2 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking; 3 Rosendahl-Osterwick;
4 Nottuln-Uphoven; 5 Oerlinghausen-Lipperreihe Heisterbrink; 6 Petershagen-Havern; 7 Hagen Blatterhdhle (graphics: M. Kloss, draft B. Stapel).
artefacts revealed unexpectedly late results, pointing
to an occupation of the site at about 4,900 calBC (GrA
21396: 6000 ± 50 BP, 4897 ± 62 calBC), some 400
years after the start of the Neolithic in Westphalia.
But Vreden is not the only Late Mesolithic site
of such an age. Birgit Gehlen has been examining
materials from east Westphalia as part of her research
project on Mesolithic sites in North Rhine-Westpha-
lia. One of the surveyed sites is Oerlinghausen-Lip-
perreihe Heisterbrink (Kreis Lippe; Gehlen et al.
2017, 16-29). In October 1927 this location had been
excavated by amateur archaeologists. Their report
described two artefact scatters or concentrations sur-
rounding a pit with charcoal filling, possibly a hearth.
The assemblage consists of over 860 silex arte-
facts of small dimension. The silex industry is based
on blades. Microliths are represented by trapezes,
micro points, and micro burins. A few blades with
oblique retouched end and some scrapers should also
be mentioned (Gehlen et al. 2017, 20-21 Abb. 7-8).
Similarities to Vreden can be noted above all in the
microliths, in the manufacturing technique, and in
the small dimensions of the artefacts (Gehlen et al.
2017, 26). An AMS dating of charcoal confirmed a
Final Mesolithic age of about 5,000 BC (Col 2190.1:
6080 ± 47 BP, 5005 ± 67 calBC).2
2 In east Westphalia there are a few Mesolithic sites with even
later radiocarbon dates (Banghard / Gehlen 2013, 211). The
reliability of these dates is under discussion.