DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Stapel, Bernhard: Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0180
Bernhard Stapel
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Fig. 2 Vreden-Stadtlohner StraBe. Flint artefacts: 1-3 microliths; 4-6 blade fragments; 7-8 scapers; 9 core (drawings: J. Piesniewski
and P. Altevers).
The two sites probably reveal a Final Meso-
lithic cluster in the Muenster Embayment. These
hunter-gatherers lived in northern Westphalia at
a time when agricultural communities of the LBK
and early Rossen cultures were settled in the loess
zone of the Hellweg region and east Westphalia,
which is situated 80-100 km further south (Poll-
mann et al. in prep.). During the later Middle Neo-
lithic (4,750-4,400 calBC) the settlement area of
the cultures of Danubian tradition was extended to
the north, with Nottuln-Uphoven (Kreis Coesfeld)
forming the first Neolithic outpost in the lowlands
of northwestern Germany (Groer 2010; 2013).
T-shaped antler axes in Westphalia
T-shaped antler axes represent an artefact category
often discussed concerning the transition from Fi-
nal Mesolithic to Neolithic in northwestern Europe.
Over 20 specimens from twelve sites are known from
Westphalia (Stapel 2013b, 228-231 Abb. 290). These
all are single finds dredged from river sediments of
the Ems, Lippe, and Weser rivers. Radiocarbon dates
for Westphalian specimens show a range from 5,000
to 3,500 calBC. This corresponds to previous dating
results, e.g. from Belgium (Crombe et al. 1999, 116
table 2).
179
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1
Fig. 2 Vreden-Stadtlohner StraBe. Flint artefacts: 1-3 microliths; 4-6 blade fragments; 7-8 scapers; 9 core (drawings: J. Piesniewski
and P. Altevers).
The two sites probably reveal a Final Meso-
lithic cluster in the Muenster Embayment. These
hunter-gatherers lived in northern Westphalia at
a time when agricultural communities of the LBK
and early Rossen cultures were settled in the loess
zone of the Hellweg region and east Westphalia,
which is situated 80-100 km further south (Poll-
mann et al. in prep.). During the later Middle Neo-
lithic (4,750-4,400 calBC) the settlement area of
the cultures of Danubian tradition was extended to
the north, with Nottuln-Uphoven (Kreis Coesfeld)
forming the first Neolithic outpost in the lowlands
of northwestern Germany (Groer 2010; 2013).
T-shaped antler axes in Westphalia
T-shaped antler axes represent an artefact category
often discussed concerning the transition from Fi-
nal Mesolithic to Neolithic in northwestern Europe.
Over 20 specimens from twelve sites are known from
Westphalia (Stapel 2013b, 228-231 Abb. 290). These
all are single finds dredged from river sediments of
the Ems, Lippe, and Weser rivers. Radiocarbon dates
for Westphalian specimens show a range from 5,000
to 3,500 calBC. This corresponds to previous dating
results, e.g. from Belgium (Crombe et al. 1999, 116
table 2).