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#0356
Walter Dorfler
355
ers, gatherers and fishermen: specialised hunting of
large mammals, specialised development of fresh
water resources, and a mixed economy with a high
proportion of gathering (Terberger et al. 2018, 81).
It remains open whether these strategies were re-
served for individual groups exclusively or whether
they only gradually changed in importance for the
seasonal cycle in the nutrition of a population. The
latter is proposed for the well-investigated Danish
Erbebolle inland area of Ringkloster, where bones
of marine vertebrates and oysters were regularly de-
tected (Rowley-Conwy 1998).
A clear separation into one or the other food
strategy would contradict the observed strategy of
the ‘one third proportion’ of hunting, collecting and
the use of limnic and marine resources, as it is found
in numerous ethnological examples and postulated
for the Mesolithic (Binford 2001). The strategies
seem to vary according to regional conditions and do
not follow any trend over time. Neolithic populations
differ significantly in the sharply decreasing share
of hunting and fishing in favour of plant-based food
sources (Terberger et al. 2018).
Summary
The model calculation of the possible game density in
the forest of the late Atlantic presented here showed
the potential share of game in the diet of hunters,
gatherers and fishermen from the Ertebolle era. It
was shown that a relatively small population of 0.11
people per km2 would already have reached the limits
of growth even with a balanced use of terrestrial and
aquatic resources. A significantly larger population
could thus only be realised with the acquirement of
new food resources. With the keeping of domestic
animals in the Neolithic since approx. 4,100 calBC
there was the possibility to feed them branches and
leaves, to create food stores for the winter, and to
use the domestic animals as a living stock to improve
one's own food supply. This ensured a significant
improvement in security of supply. A further step in
this development was the expansion of agriculture
in the form of larger fields from 3,700 calBC and
ploughing from 3,600 calBC at the latest. Grain as an
easily storable food was another way of overcoming
the winter food shortage and stabilising population
growth. The same area that was previously forested
and presented only a small usable biomass had by
then become a usable cultural landscape that could
feed significantly more people. As the Mesolithic
population size and growth might have been limited
by the availability of natural resources, the new sub-
sistence strategy widened the horizon of possibilities
and enabled a population growth that followed the
Darwinian rule of reproductive success. This process
was not reversible without a great loss of people.
REFERENCES
Bayerische Landesanstalt fur Landwirtschaft 2020:
Vergleich von Mast-, Schlachtleistung und Fleischqual-
itat von Absetzern aus der Mutterkuhhaltung (https://
www.lfl.bayern.de/itz/rind/041738/index.php, accessed
24.3.2020).
Binford 2001: L. R: Binford, Constructing Frames of Refer-
ence (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 2001).
Braidwood / Reed 1957: R. J. Braidwood / C. A. Reed, The
achievement and early consequences of food production.
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology
22, 1957,19-31.
Brostrom et al. 2008: A. Brostrom / A. B. Nielsen / M.-J. Gail-
lard / K. Hjelle / F. Mazier / H. Binney / J. Bunting /
R. Fyfe / V. Meltsov / A. Poska / S. Rasanen / W.
Soepboer / H. von Stedingk/ H. Suutari/ S. Sugita,
Pollen productivity estimates of key European plant
taxa for quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation: a
review. Vegetation. History Archaeobotany 17(5), 2008,
461-478.
Darwin 1859: C. Darwin, On the Origin of Species by means
of natural selection (reprint: Auckland 2009).
Dorfler 2012: W. Dorfler, Saiz als ein bestimmender Fak-
tor fiir das Bevolkerungswachstum und die Agrardko-
nomie vorgeschichtlicher Bauern. In: A. Stobbe / U.
Tegtmeier (eds.), Verzweigungen - Eine Wiirdigung fiir
A. J. Kalis und J. Meurers-Balke. Frankfurter Archaolo-
gische Schriften 18 (Bonn 2012) 91-103.
Dorfler 2017: W. Dorfler, Von der Dichte des naturnahen
Waldes und den „Flaschenhalsen“ der Wildpopulationen.
In: J. Lechterbeck / E. Fischer (eds.), Kontrapunkte -
Festschrift Manfred Rbsch. Universitatsforschungen zur
prahistorischen Archaologie 300 (Bonn 2017) 95-113.
Dorfler et al. 2012: W. Dorfler / I. Feeser / C. van den
Bogaard / S. Dreibrodt / H. Erlenkeuser / A. Klein-
mann / J. Merkt / J. Wiethold, A high-quality annu-
ally laminated sequence from Lake Belau, Northern
Germany: Revised chronology and its implications for
palynological and tephrochronological studies. The
Holocene 22/12, 2012, 1413-1426.
Ellenberg 1986: H. Ellenberg, Vegetation Mitteleuropas
mit den Alpen (Stuttgart 1986).
Feeser / Dorfler 2014:1. Feeser / W. Dorfler, The glade
effect: Vegetation openness and structure and their influ-
ences on arboreal pollen production and the reconstruc-
355
ers, gatherers and fishermen: specialised hunting of
large mammals, specialised development of fresh
water resources, and a mixed economy with a high
proportion of gathering (Terberger et al. 2018, 81).
It remains open whether these strategies were re-
served for individual groups exclusively or whether
they only gradually changed in importance for the
seasonal cycle in the nutrition of a population. The
latter is proposed for the well-investigated Danish
Erbebolle inland area of Ringkloster, where bones
of marine vertebrates and oysters were regularly de-
tected (Rowley-Conwy 1998).
A clear separation into one or the other food
strategy would contradict the observed strategy of
the ‘one third proportion’ of hunting, collecting and
the use of limnic and marine resources, as it is found
in numerous ethnological examples and postulated
for the Mesolithic (Binford 2001). The strategies
seem to vary according to regional conditions and do
not follow any trend over time. Neolithic populations
differ significantly in the sharply decreasing share
of hunting and fishing in favour of plant-based food
sources (Terberger et al. 2018).
Summary
The model calculation of the possible game density in
the forest of the late Atlantic presented here showed
the potential share of game in the diet of hunters,
gatherers and fishermen from the Ertebolle era. It
was shown that a relatively small population of 0.11
people per km2 would already have reached the limits
of growth even with a balanced use of terrestrial and
aquatic resources. A significantly larger population
could thus only be realised with the acquirement of
new food resources. With the keeping of domestic
animals in the Neolithic since approx. 4,100 calBC
there was the possibility to feed them branches and
leaves, to create food stores for the winter, and to
use the domestic animals as a living stock to improve
one's own food supply. This ensured a significant
improvement in security of supply. A further step in
this development was the expansion of agriculture
in the form of larger fields from 3,700 calBC and
ploughing from 3,600 calBC at the latest. Grain as an
easily storable food was another way of overcoming
the winter food shortage and stabilising population
growth. The same area that was previously forested
and presented only a small usable biomass had by
then become a usable cultural landscape that could
feed significantly more people. As the Mesolithic
population size and growth might have been limited
by the availability of natural resources, the new sub-
sistence strategy widened the horizon of possibilities
and enabled a population growth that followed the
Darwinian rule of reproductive success. This process
was not reversible without a great loss of people.
REFERENCES
Bayerische Landesanstalt fur Landwirtschaft 2020:
Vergleich von Mast-, Schlachtleistung und Fleischqual-
itat von Absetzern aus der Mutterkuhhaltung (https://
www.lfl.bayern.de/itz/rind/041738/index.php, accessed
24.3.2020).
Binford 2001: L. R: Binford, Constructing Frames of Refer-
ence (Berkeley/Los Angeles/London 2001).
Braidwood / Reed 1957: R. J. Braidwood / C. A. Reed, The
achievement and early consequences of food production.
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology
22, 1957,19-31.
Brostrom et al. 2008: A. Brostrom / A. B. Nielsen / M.-J. Gail-
lard / K. Hjelle / F. Mazier / H. Binney / J. Bunting /
R. Fyfe / V. Meltsov / A. Poska / S. Rasanen / W.
Soepboer / H. von Stedingk/ H. Suutari/ S. Sugita,
Pollen productivity estimates of key European plant
taxa for quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation: a
review. Vegetation. History Archaeobotany 17(5), 2008,
461-478.
Darwin 1859: C. Darwin, On the Origin of Species by means
of natural selection (reprint: Auckland 2009).
Dorfler 2012: W. Dorfler, Saiz als ein bestimmender Fak-
tor fiir das Bevolkerungswachstum und die Agrardko-
nomie vorgeschichtlicher Bauern. In: A. Stobbe / U.
Tegtmeier (eds.), Verzweigungen - Eine Wiirdigung fiir
A. J. Kalis und J. Meurers-Balke. Frankfurter Archaolo-
gische Schriften 18 (Bonn 2012) 91-103.
Dorfler 2017: W. Dorfler, Von der Dichte des naturnahen
Waldes und den „Flaschenhalsen“ der Wildpopulationen.
In: J. Lechterbeck / E. Fischer (eds.), Kontrapunkte -
Festschrift Manfred Rbsch. Universitatsforschungen zur
prahistorischen Archaologie 300 (Bonn 2017) 95-113.
Dorfler et al. 2012: W. Dorfler / I. Feeser / C. van den
Bogaard / S. Dreibrodt / H. Erlenkeuser / A. Klein-
mann / J. Merkt / J. Wiethold, A high-quality annu-
ally laminated sequence from Lake Belau, Northern
Germany: Revised chronology and its implications for
palynological and tephrochronological studies. The
Holocene 22/12, 2012, 1413-1426.
Ellenberg 1986: H. Ellenberg, Vegetation Mitteleuropas
mit den Alpen (Stuttgart 1986).
Feeser / Dorfler 2014:1. Feeser / W. Dorfler, The glade
effect: Vegetation openness and structure and their influ-
ences on arboreal pollen production and the reconstruc-