DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Hartz, Sönke: Hunter-gatherer pottery from the Baltic Sea coast – some regional examples from Schleswig-Holstein
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0214
Sonke Hartz
213
Fig. 2 Pointed-bottomed vessels. 1 Rude LA 2; 2 Wangels LA 505; 3 Grube-Rosenhof LA 58; 4 Neustadt LA 156.
younger ERT in Schleswig-Holstein. The economy
was constantly based on highly specialised hunting,
fishing and foraging with a large marine component
(Schmolcke 2004; Glykou 2016). In contrast to this,
the whole of marine and terrestrial food stuff must
have been prepared without the use of ceramic con-
tainers before. The ERT-inventories reveal pots from
small drinking cups up to large cooking pots made
in various coil building techniques from the onset.
Only little technological progress emerged during
the younger ERT (Glykou 2016; Tranekjer 2015).
There is evidence that vessels were used for cook-
ing marine resources (Craig et al. 2011) or plant
food preparation (Saul et al. 2012) which show no
leftovers in the archaeological context.
Ertebolle pottery: pointed-bottomed
vessels and oblong bowls
Throughout Denmark, Scania, northwest Poland
and northern Germany the early indigenous pottery
consists of two predominant types: the pointed-based
vessels with slightly S-shaped profile and more or less
extended rim, and the oblong bowls or clay lamps.2
2 Huthen 1977; Prangsgaard 1992; 2013; Andersen 2011;
Van Diest 1981; Glykou 2016; Heron et al. 2012; Robson et al.
in prep; Galinski 2012; Kotula 2017.
As mentioned before, in Schleswig-Holstein both
types occur stratigraphically simultaneous (Hartz
2011) and display the same geographical distribu-
tion along the northern German coast. However, the
radiocarbon ages of lamps in some cases are several
hundred years older than expected from other kinds
of evidence. This age offset may be due to the marine
reservoir effect (Fischer / Heinemeier 2003) when
dating extant carbonised surface residues, probably
marine animal fat like seal tran, but further inves-
tigations will have to prove this for the material in
question (Robson et al. in prep). Since the emerg-
ing ERT, and throughout the younger ERT, pointed-
bottomed pottery in Schleswig-Holstein seems very
variable regarding shape, size and coil-building tech-
nique (Glykou 2010; 2016). This observation sup-
ports the impression that the knowledge of ceramic
manufacture was not a local invention but was in-
troduced from outside into the Ertebolle province in
Schleswig-Holstein as a fully developed package after
a period of routine production (see chapter below).
Coastal sites with Ertebolle inventories
Site context of Grube-Rosenhof LA 58
The site Grube-Rosenhof LA 58 is located in the
eastern part of the Oldenburger Graben valley and
was discovered in 1969; it was partially investigated
213
Fig. 2 Pointed-bottomed vessels. 1 Rude LA 2; 2 Wangels LA 505; 3 Grube-Rosenhof LA 58; 4 Neustadt LA 156.
younger ERT in Schleswig-Holstein. The economy
was constantly based on highly specialised hunting,
fishing and foraging with a large marine component
(Schmolcke 2004; Glykou 2016). In contrast to this,
the whole of marine and terrestrial food stuff must
have been prepared without the use of ceramic con-
tainers before. The ERT-inventories reveal pots from
small drinking cups up to large cooking pots made
in various coil building techniques from the onset.
Only little technological progress emerged during
the younger ERT (Glykou 2016; Tranekjer 2015).
There is evidence that vessels were used for cook-
ing marine resources (Craig et al. 2011) or plant
food preparation (Saul et al. 2012) which show no
leftovers in the archaeological context.
Ertebolle pottery: pointed-bottomed
vessels and oblong bowls
Throughout Denmark, Scania, northwest Poland
and northern Germany the early indigenous pottery
consists of two predominant types: the pointed-based
vessels with slightly S-shaped profile and more or less
extended rim, and the oblong bowls or clay lamps.2
2 Huthen 1977; Prangsgaard 1992; 2013; Andersen 2011;
Van Diest 1981; Glykou 2016; Heron et al. 2012; Robson et al.
in prep; Galinski 2012; Kotula 2017.
As mentioned before, in Schleswig-Holstein both
types occur stratigraphically simultaneous (Hartz
2011) and display the same geographical distribu-
tion along the northern German coast. However, the
radiocarbon ages of lamps in some cases are several
hundred years older than expected from other kinds
of evidence. This age offset may be due to the marine
reservoir effect (Fischer / Heinemeier 2003) when
dating extant carbonised surface residues, probably
marine animal fat like seal tran, but further inves-
tigations will have to prove this for the material in
question (Robson et al. in prep). Since the emerg-
ing ERT, and throughout the younger ERT, pointed-
bottomed pottery in Schleswig-Holstein seems very
variable regarding shape, size and coil-building tech-
nique (Glykou 2010; 2016). This observation sup-
ports the impression that the knowledge of ceramic
manufacture was not a local invention but was in-
troduced from outside into the Ertebolle province in
Schleswig-Holstein as a fully developed package after
a period of routine production (see chapter below).
Coastal sites with Ertebolle inventories
Site context of Grube-Rosenhof LA 58
The site Grube-Rosenhof LA 58 is located in the
eastern part of the Oldenburger Graben valley and
was discovered in 1969; it was partially investigated