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#0181
180
Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
Because T-shaped antler axes were used both
by Final Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic
farmers, an unambiguous cultural assignment is
only exceptionally possible.3 This is perhaps true
for an antler axe from Greven-Sandgrube Schencking
(Kreis Steinfurt; Stapel 2013b, 229 Abb. 291). The
sand pit exploiting Holocene and Pleistocene sand
is located in the Ems floodplain. Since the 1970s, a
bulk of archaeological finds dating from the Middle
Palaeolithic to the late Middle Ages has been recov-
ered there by amateur archaeologists, including this
object. The dating of the T-shaped antler-axe from
Greven (MAMS 11799: 6027 ± 30 BP, 4898 ± 42
calBC) is very similar to the results from Vreden and
Heisterbrink. Since the item is older than the begin-
ning of the Rossen settlement in Nottuln-Uphoven,
it should probably be attributed to Final Mesolithic
groups.
Swifterbant in Westphalia?
The northwestern European lowlands seem to have
been settled by cultures of hunter-gatherer descent
until the end of the 5th millennium calBC or even
later; represented by the Swifterbant culture west
of the river Elbe (Louwe Kooijmans 2007, 306),
and the Ertebolle culture north and east (Hartz
et al. 2007, 574 fig. 4). With late radiocarbon dates
for Westphalian Mesolithic assemblages it may be
possible to detect influences from the north or west
in this region. Two recently found artefacts from
Greven-Sandgrube Schencking have initiated a new
discussion on this issue.
In 2013, the operator of the sand pit handed over
an unexpected piece of worked bone to the amateur
archaeologist Gregor Laufer. It is a 47.5 cm long and
24 cm wide scapula of an aurochs (Fig. 3). Two cir-
cular discs with a diameter of 7.3 cm and 8.8 cm
have been cut out of the bone. At the damaged end
there are signs that a third disc has been obtained,
too (Stapel / Schlosser 2014, 46-49). A 14C-dating
yielded an age of 4,345 ± 9 calBC (MAMS 18466:
5488 ± 24 BP). Comparable scapulae with circular
cuts were not known from Westphalia before.
However, there are good parallels from the
distribution area of the north German and Danish
Ertebolle culture, e.g. a scapula with three cutouts
from the site Ringkloster in Jutland, DK (Andersen
3 It is perhaps possible to distinguish between Mesolithic and
Neolithic T-shaped antler axes on the basis of aspects of the
manufacturing process (David 2019, 479).
Fig. 3 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking. Scapula with circular cu-
touts (photo: S. Brentfuhrer).
1994/1995, 36-38 fig. 20a/b). There it was possible
to prove that these scapulae are waste products of
bone ring production. Further roughouts for disc or
rings and waste pieces have also been published for
sites with Swifterbant material, e.g. Hude I, Dummer
(Landkreis Diepholz; Deichmuller 1969, 32-33
Abb. 2,1.5).
We owe the study by Lutz Klassen on the transi-
tion from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in south-
ern Scandinavia a distribution map of this artefact
group, which is based on preliminary work by Dan-
ish colleagues (Klassen 2004, 126-128 Abb. 96; cf.
Vang Petersen 1984, fig. 13). This type of bone ring
production, which can be seen in the scapulae with
circular cuts, seems to be closely linked to Final
Mesolithic groups, whose subsistence was based
on hunting, fishing, and gathering. In contrast, no
comparable finds are known from contemporaneous
west and south German Neolithic farming cultures.
The Greven specimen is the most southern find of
its type so far (Fig. 4).
Swifterbant and the Late Mesolithic in Westphalia
Because T-shaped antler axes were used both
by Final Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic
farmers, an unambiguous cultural assignment is
only exceptionally possible.3 This is perhaps true
for an antler axe from Greven-Sandgrube Schencking
(Kreis Steinfurt; Stapel 2013b, 229 Abb. 291). The
sand pit exploiting Holocene and Pleistocene sand
is located in the Ems floodplain. Since the 1970s, a
bulk of archaeological finds dating from the Middle
Palaeolithic to the late Middle Ages has been recov-
ered there by amateur archaeologists, including this
object. The dating of the T-shaped antler-axe from
Greven (MAMS 11799: 6027 ± 30 BP, 4898 ± 42
calBC) is very similar to the results from Vreden and
Heisterbrink. Since the item is older than the begin-
ning of the Rossen settlement in Nottuln-Uphoven,
it should probably be attributed to Final Mesolithic
groups.
Swifterbant in Westphalia?
The northwestern European lowlands seem to have
been settled by cultures of hunter-gatherer descent
until the end of the 5th millennium calBC or even
later; represented by the Swifterbant culture west
of the river Elbe (Louwe Kooijmans 2007, 306),
and the Ertebolle culture north and east (Hartz
et al. 2007, 574 fig. 4). With late radiocarbon dates
for Westphalian Mesolithic assemblages it may be
possible to detect influences from the north or west
in this region. Two recently found artefacts from
Greven-Sandgrube Schencking have initiated a new
discussion on this issue.
In 2013, the operator of the sand pit handed over
an unexpected piece of worked bone to the amateur
archaeologist Gregor Laufer. It is a 47.5 cm long and
24 cm wide scapula of an aurochs (Fig. 3). Two cir-
cular discs with a diameter of 7.3 cm and 8.8 cm
have been cut out of the bone. At the damaged end
there are signs that a third disc has been obtained,
too (Stapel / Schlosser 2014, 46-49). A 14C-dating
yielded an age of 4,345 ± 9 calBC (MAMS 18466:
5488 ± 24 BP). Comparable scapulae with circular
cuts were not known from Westphalia before.
However, there are good parallels from the
distribution area of the north German and Danish
Ertebolle culture, e.g. a scapula with three cutouts
from the site Ringkloster in Jutland, DK (Andersen
3 It is perhaps possible to distinguish between Mesolithic and
Neolithic T-shaped antler axes on the basis of aspects of the
manufacturing process (David 2019, 479).
Fig. 3 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking. Scapula with circular cu-
touts (photo: S. Brentfuhrer).
1994/1995, 36-38 fig. 20a/b). There it was possible
to prove that these scapulae are waste products of
bone ring production. Further roughouts for disc or
rings and waste pieces have also been published for
sites with Swifterbant material, e.g. Hude I, Dummer
(Landkreis Diepholz; Deichmuller 1969, 32-33
Abb. 2,1.5).
We owe the study by Lutz Klassen on the transi-
tion from the Mesolithic to the Neolithic in south-
ern Scandinavia a distribution map of this artefact
group, which is based on preliminary work by Dan-
ish colleagues (Klassen 2004, 126-128 Abb. 96; cf.
Vang Petersen 1984, fig. 13). This type of bone ring
production, which can be seen in the scapulae with
circular cuts, seems to be closely linked to Final
Mesolithic groups, whose subsistence was based
on hunting, fishing, and gathering. In contrast, no
comparable finds are known from contemporaneous
west and south German Neolithic farming cultures.
The Greven specimen is the most southern find of
its type so far (Fig. 4).