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#0182
Bernhard Stapel
181
Fig. 4 Distribution map of scapulae with cutouts. Greven-Sandgrube Schencking is marked in red (graphics M. Kloss, after Klassen
2004, Abb. 96).
3 cm
Fig. 5 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking. Decorated rim sherd
(photo: P. Altevers).
The shoulder blade is a waste product and can
therefore hardly be interpreted as an import find
from the north in a region otherwise dominated by
Neolithic cultures such as the Rossen culture. There
seems to be much to suggest that Final Mesolithic
hunters of the Swifterbant culture lived here along
the river Ems.
Furthermore, a ceramic fragment in the collec-
tion of archaeological remains discovered in the sand
pit over the past decades might belong to a similar
cultural context. It had already been picked up a few
years ago by another amateur archaeologist, Man-
fred Schlosser. The characteristics of this sherd differ
markedly from those of the Iron Age ceramics oth-
erwise found there. The rim sherd has a decoration
with fingertip and fingernail impressions on both the
outside and the interior of the rim (Fig. 5). A food
crust offered the possibility of radiocarbon dating. The
result pointed to the 43rd century calBC (Col 2679,1,2:
5,395 ± 40 BP).4 Therefore it seems quite possible to
look for parallels in the Swifterbant culture.
4 Radiocarbon dating in cooperation with B. Gehlen and
J. Rethemeyer, University of Cologne. We are still waiting for
the results of an isotopic evaluation concerning the reliability
of the date. A correction for reservoir effects is possible.
181
Fig. 4 Distribution map of scapulae with cutouts. Greven-Sandgrube Schencking is marked in red (graphics M. Kloss, after Klassen
2004, Abb. 96).
3 cm
Fig. 5 Greven-Sandgrube Schencking. Decorated rim sherd
(photo: P. Altevers).
The shoulder blade is a waste product and can
therefore hardly be interpreted as an import find
from the north in a region otherwise dominated by
Neolithic cultures such as the Rossen culture. There
seems to be much to suggest that Final Mesolithic
hunters of the Swifterbant culture lived here along
the river Ems.
Furthermore, a ceramic fragment in the collec-
tion of archaeological remains discovered in the sand
pit over the past decades might belong to a similar
cultural context. It had already been picked up a few
years ago by another amateur archaeologist, Man-
fred Schlosser. The characteristics of this sherd differ
markedly from those of the Iron Age ceramics oth-
erwise found there. The rim sherd has a decoration
with fingertip and fingernail impressions on both the
outside and the interior of the rim (Fig. 5). A food
crust offered the possibility of radiocarbon dating. The
result pointed to the 43rd century calBC (Col 2679,1,2:
5,395 ± 40 BP).4 Therefore it seems quite possible to
look for parallels in the Swifterbant culture.
4 Radiocarbon dating in cooperation with B. Gehlen and
J. Rethemeyer, University of Cologne. We are still waiting for
the results of an isotopic evaluation concerning the reliability
of the date. A correction for reservoir effects is possible.