DOI chapter:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI chapter:Dörfler, Walter: A biological view on neolithisation
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0354
Walter Dorfler
353
during the Final Mesolithic (cf. Muller this volume)
and are certainly an innovation that had strongly
improved the living and nutritional conditions of
the Mesolithic population. For the consumption of
cereals the Late Mesolithic invention of ceramics can
be understood as a predisposition or preadaptation.
The innovations mentioned made a significantly
larger population possible through higher area yields,
overcoming the winter food shortage, and increasing
supply security. Hinz and Muller (2015) estimate
a population density of 2.5 to 7.5 people / km2 for
Schleswig-Holstein for the time between 3,700 and
3,200 calBC. But the new larger population also cre-
ated new dependencies. Cattle epidemics and crop
failures created new risks that could only be buffered
to a limited extent by stockpiling. As a consequence,
boom and bust phases represent the human popula-
tion development in the following centuries (Feeser
et al. 2019). This path in general, however, was dif-
ficult, if not impossible, to reverse, since a return to
hunting and gathering would have presupposed sig-
nificantly smaller population numbers.
How could such a population growth have
worked out? According to Volk and Atkinson (2013)
population growth can have various causes. One
aspect is a reduced infant and child mortality rate.
However, this rate does not appear to have changed
significantly during the transition from hunting, gath-
ering and fishing to agriculture. According to them, in
hunters and gatherers as well as in historical agricul-
tural societies on average 26.9 % of babies die in the
first year of life, and 46.2 % of children before they
reach puberty. However, an improved nutritional situ-
ation can shorten the period between two births and
thus allow a higher number of births. A sedentary way
of life can favour the care for the offspring and thus
ensure higher chances of survival. Whether a woman
gives birth to four children, two of whom reach sexual
maturity and will have children themselves, or whether
she gives birth to eight children, four of whom in turn
produce offspring of their own is very important. In
one case the population remains stable, in the other
case it grows exponentially: if each woman gave birth
every second year between her 16th and 32th year of
life, which corresponds to an average generation pe-
riod of 24 years, the population would have increased
eightfold after 96 years.
Discussion
The above-mentioned value of 500 km2 for a home
range is derived from estimates by Piggott (1972, 67).
Based on the investigations at the British site Star Carr
and on the basis of ethnological analogies to historical
North American hunters and gatherers, he postulates
an average group size of 25 people. Based on model
calculations by Braidwood and Reed (1957), he con-
cludes that there is a population density of 13 people
per 100 square miles, corresponding to 0.05 people
per square kilometer. This results in an activity area
of 500 km2 for a group of 25 people. This area cor-
responds to a circle with a radius of 12.6 km or, in
the case of a coastal or shore settlement, a semicircle
with a radius of 17.8 km. With a diet based primarily
on red deer, he assumes a requirement of 50 animals
per year for a group of 25 people. With a postulated
game population of 6.6 animals per km2, which is
certainly a much too high starting value, he sees no
limitation in population size in the food procurement.
The calculations above show, however, that if the cor-
responding information is given, a comparable value
for the human population density is reached, but this
is already at the limit of the area’s carrying capacity
with a nutrition based to one third on game hunting.
Frequency of furred game in the bone
spectrum of Mesolithic sites
Friesack 4, a well-researched inland Mesolithic site,
will be used here for an evaluation. Extensive ar-
chaeozoological studies (Schmolcke 2016; 2019)
show that roe deer predominate in the number of
bones identified (between 29.3 % and 41.1 %) in the
prey. This affects all three phases from the middle
Preboreal to the Boreal. Red deer (23,2 °/o to 28,3 °/o)
ranks second in terms of bone numbers, followed by
wild boar (11 % to 17.2 %), elk (4.4 % to 6.9 %) and
aurochs (0.3 % to 1.9 %). This order changes when
the bone weight is taken as a basis, which would be
proportional to the meat weight if all parts of the
skeleton were preserved representatively. With values
between 32.2 % and 43.5 %, red deer comes first in
the bone weight. Due to its high body weight, the elk
follows with values between 20.2 °/o and 28.4 °/o. This
is followed by wild boar (14.1 % to 25.2 %), roe deer
(14.1 °/o to 16.6 °/o) and aurochs (2.4 °/o to 8.3 °/o). The
game population in the late Atlantic may not have
been identical to that in the early Holocene, but these
values will be compared below with the potential
population density of game. According to the above
model calculations, about 50 % of the calorie require-
ment could have been covered by elk. On the one
hand, this suggests that the population density data
for elk, which originate from modern Sweden, prob-
ably cannot be transferred to the middle Holocene
353
during the Final Mesolithic (cf. Muller this volume)
and are certainly an innovation that had strongly
improved the living and nutritional conditions of
the Mesolithic population. For the consumption of
cereals the Late Mesolithic invention of ceramics can
be understood as a predisposition or preadaptation.
The innovations mentioned made a significantly
larger population possible through higher area yields,
overcoming the winter food shortage, and increasing
supply security. Hinz and Muller (2015) estimate
a population density of 2.5 to 7.5 people / km2 for
Schleswig-Holstein for the time between 3,700 and
3,200 calBC. But the new larger population also cre-
ated new dependencies. Cattle epidemics and crop
failures created new risks that could only be buffered
to a limited extent by stockpiling. As a consequence,
boom and bust phases represent the human popula-
tion development in the following centuries (Feeser
et al. 2019). This path in general, however, was dif-
ficult, if not impossible, to reverse, since a return to
hunting and gathering would have presupposed sig-
nificantly smaller population numbers.
How could such a population growth have
worked out? According to Volk and Atkinson (2013)
population growth can have various causes. One
aspect is a reduced infant and child mortality rate.
However, this rate does not appear to have changed
significantly during the transition from hunting, gath-
ering and fishing to agriculture. According to them, in
hunters and gatherers as well as in historical agricul-
tural societies on average 26.9 % of babies die in the
first year of life, and 46.2 % of children before they
reach puberty. However, an improved nutritional situ-
ation can shorten the period between two births and
thus allow a higher number of births. A sedentary way
of life can favour the care for the offspring and thus
ensure higher chances of survival. Whether a woman
gives birth to four children, two of whom reach sexual
maturity and will have children themselves, or whether
she gives birth to eight children, four of whom in turn
produce offspring of their own is very important. In
one case the population remains stable, in the other
case it grows exponentially: if each woman gave birth
every second year between her 16th and 32th year of
life, which corresponds to an average generation pe-
riod of 24 years, the population would have increased
eightfold after 96 years.
Discussion
The above-mentioned value of 500 km2 for a home
range is derived from estimates by Piggott (1972, 67).
Based on the investigations at the British site Star Carr
and on the basis of ethnological analogies to historical
North American hunters and gatherers, he postulates
an average group size of 25 people. Based on model
calculations by Braidwood and Reed (1957), he con-
cludes that there is a population density of 13 people
per 100 square miles, corresponding to 0.05 people
per square kilometer. This results in an activity area
of 500 km2 for a group of 25 people. This area cor-
responds to a circle with a radius of 12.6 km or, in
the case of a coastal or shore settlement, a semicircle
with a radius of 17.8 km. With a diet based primarily
on red deer, he assumes a requirement of 50 animals
per year for a group of 25 people. With a postulated
game population of 6.6 animals per km2, which is
certainly a much too high starting value, he sees no
limitation in population size in the food procurement.
The calculations above show, however, that if the cor-
responding information is given, a comparable value
for the human population density is reached, but this
is already at the limit of the area’s carrying capacity
with a nutrition based to one third on game hunting.
Frequency of furred game in the bone
spectrum of Mesolithic sites
Friesack 4, a well-researched inland Mesolithic site,
will be used here for an evaluation. Extensive ar-
chaeozoological studies (Schmolcke 2016; 2019)
show that roe deer predominate in the number of
bones identified (between 29.3 % and 41.1 %) in the
prey. This affects all three phases from the middle
Preboreal to the Boreal. Red deer (23,2 °/o to 28,3 °/o)
ranks second in terms of bone numbers, followed by
wild boar (11 % to 17.2 %), elk (4.4 % to 6.9 %) and
aurochs (0.3 % to 1.9 %). This order changes when
the bone weight is taken as a basis, which would be
proportional to the meat weight if all parts of the
skeleton were preserved representatively. With values
between 32.2 % and 43.5 %, red deer comes first in
the bone weight. Due to its high body weight, the elk
follows with values between 20.2 °/o and 28.4 °/o. This
is followed by wild boar (14.1 % to 25.2 %), roe deer
(14.1 °/o to 16.6 °/o) and aurochs (2.4 °/o to 8.3 °/o). The
game population in the late Atlantic may not have
been identical to that in the early Holocene, but these
values will be compared below with the potential
population density of game. According to the above
model calculations, about 50 % of the calorie require-
ment could have been covered by elk. On the one
hand, this suggests that the population density data
for elk, which originate from modern Sweden, prob-
ably cannot be transferred to the middle Holocene