Dogs,divers, deer and diet. Stable isotope results from Star Carr and a response to Dark

We here respond to Dark's [Dark, P., 2003. Dogs, a crane (not duck) and diet at Star Carr: a response to Schulting and Richards. Journal of Archaeological Science 30, 1353–1356] criticisms of our previous paper [Schulting, R.J., Richards, M.P., 2002. Dogs, ducks, deer and diet: a reappraisal of the stable isotope evidence on early domestic dogs from the Vale of Pickering, north-east England. Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 327–333] in which we supported the previous interpretation of stable isotope data from the Seamer Carr dog [Clutton-Brock, J., Noe-Nygaard, N., 1990. New osteological and C-isotope evidence on Mesolithic dogs: companions to hunters and fishers at Star Carr, Seamer Carr and Kongemose. Journal of Archaeological Science 17, 643–653] as indicating a marine-influenced diet. Additional isotopic data are presented on fauna from Star Carr, most importantly from two piscivorous diving birds. These new data further support the original contention that marine protein is the most likely source of the elevated carbon and nitrogen isotope values seen in the Seamer Carr dog. In addition, cutmarks on the humerus of a Brent goose, and the presence of an additional element (right femur) attributable to the previously known adult dog from Star Carr, are noted for the first time. Two new AMS determinations are presented for Star Carr, placing an adult dog in the period 9680 ± 55 BP (9270–8840 cal BC) and a subadult dog somewhat later at 9342±41 BP (8735–8475 cal BC). Unlike Seamer Carr, both dogs show entirely terrestrial (non-marine) diets.     

Organic Loss in Drained Wetland Monuments: Managing the Carbon Footprint

Abstract

The recent installation of land drains at Star Carr, Yorkshire, UK, has been linked with loss of preservation quality in this important Mesolithic buried landscape, challenging the PARIS principle. Historically captured organic carbon, including organic artefacts, is being converted to soluble organic compounds and less soluble carbon gases. At the same time sulphur and nitrogen compounds are oxidized to species that are chemically destructive of artefacts and ecofacts. Two of the carbon products, CO₂ and methane, are ‘greenhouse gases’ whose environmental impact can be costed in terms of carbon equivalents, which can be set against an assessment of the gain in agricultural productivity of the land arising from drainage, at Star Carr being the improved cereal crop. Wetland studies elsewhere suggest that such decay processes could be slowed by restoring the historic soil environment, and even reversed to create carbon capture, enabling the farmer to claim carbon credits.     

A pilot study of “black chert” sourcing and implications for assessing hunter-gatherer mobility strategies in Northern England

Mesolithic hunter-gatherer logistic strategies and raw material procurement locales have been topics of considerable interest in northern England, accelerated by the early discoveries at Star Carr. Here we present the results of a pilot study investigating the potential for geochemically sourcing “black chert”, a material with similar qualities to flint but of inland limestone origin, using ICP-AES, ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS. Several geological sources of black chert are known, and it is commonly present at upland Mesolithic sites along the Pennine chain. Four geological sources were sampled and analysed, along with a small sample of black chert artefacts from two upland Pennine archaeological sites. The results demonstrate that the four sampled sources can be easily differentiated from one another chemically. This research reveals the potential to apply this approach at a larger scale; the archaeological sample together with the source results indicate that additional sources will need to be identified and sampled before such data can be applied to address current questions of the Mesolithic of northern England.     

NEW RADIOCARBON ACCELERATOR DATES ON ARTEFACTS FROM THE EARLY MESOLITHIC SITE OF STAR CARR,NORTH YORKSHIRE*

For the well‐known early Mesolithic site of Star Carr, dating of organic artefacts by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has been hampered by treatment of bone and antler recovered during the original excavations with preservatives. Some, untreated, artefacts were, however, collected after Clark's excavation in 1950. Four of these artefacts were AMS dated in 1995, but two of the dates were significantly younger than the others, and were questionable due to their low collagen yields. These suspect samples have now been re‐analysed, demonstrating that all four artefacts are of similar date. The significance of these dates for the chronology of Star Carr is discussed.     

Geochemical indicators of preservation status and site deterioration at Star Carr

This paper presents the results of a project aimed at investigating the deterioration of organic remains at the Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Analyses of pH, Electrical Conductivity and Redox Potential are reported from borehole transects across the unexcavated part of the site. A comparison of field and laboratory measurements is made, leading to the characterisation of different preservation zones and identification of ‘vulnerable’ sediments at the site. These data are augmented by geochemical analyses of contemporary borehole sequences and adjacent historic monoliths. Analysis of surface water and groundwater has also been undertaken to assist in the interpretation of the site hydrology and geochemistry. The relationship between ‘natural’ geology and preservation potential, and the evidence for a ‘halo’ preservation effect in virgin sediments adjacent to previous archaeology trenches is investigated.     

From Moments to Histories: A Social Archaeology of the Mesolithic?

This contribution will provide a critical overview of the other papers within this special issue of Journal of World Prehistory (Elliott and Little 2018), identifying key aspects of the discussion and assessing potentials and problems in the development of Mesolithic archaeology in Britain and Ireland as a whole since 2006 (Conneller and Warren in Mesolithic Britain and Ireland: New approaches, Stroud, Tempus, 2006a). Reflections will include how the contribution of very high-resolution analyses to Mesolithic archaeology has changed since 2006 and the scale of our interpretations. The review will also identify areas which appear to be falling from analytical focus, including the role of analogies in Mesolithic archaeology and the nature of power and social relationships in Mesolithic communities.     

A palaeoenvironmental context for Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic activity in the Colne Valley: Offsite records contemporary with occupation at Three Ways Wharf,Uxbridge

Abstract

Multi-proxy analyses from floodplain deposits in the Colne Valley, southern England, have provided a palaeoenvironmental context for the immediately adjacent Terminal Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic site of Three Ways Wharf. These deposits show the transition from an open cool environment to fully developed heterogeneous floodplain vegetation during the Early Mesolithic. Several distinct phases of burning are shown to have occurred that are chronologically contemporary with the local archaeological record. The floodplain itself is shown to have supported a number of rare Urwaldrelikt insect species implying human manipulation of the floodplain at this time must have been limited or episodic. By the Late Mesolithic a reed-sedge swamp had developed across much of the floodplain, within which repeated burning of the in situ vegetation took place. This indicates deliberate land management practices utilising fire, comparable with findings from other floodplain sequences in southern Britain. With similar sedimentary sequences known to exist across the Colne Valley, often closely associated with contemporary archaeology, the potential for placing the archaeological record within a spatially explicit palaeoenvironmental context is great.     

Mesolithic in South‐Eastern Norway

This article discusses the reliability of shore‐line displacement curves based on pollen analysis in the Oslo Fjord area. The conclusion is that only small parts of the curves ‐ in the late Atlantic period ‐ are fairly reliable for the purpose of dating Mesolithic coastal sites.

Twelve Mesolithic settlement sites from Østfold, south‐eastern Norway are classified morphologically. The author suggests a chronological lineal model with four succeeding phases: 1. The Fosna culture, 2. Late Boreal/early Atlantic group, 3. The N?stvet culture, 4. Late flint‐point using group. A connection between the Fosna culture and early Maglemose culture is claimed.

A study of the ecological adaptation in the four phases is based on topographical conditions, on the distribution and situation of settlement sites, and on animal bones from three Mesolithic sites in south‐eastern Norway. Hypotheses on seasonal migrations are suggested.     

Oleneostrovski mogilnik: Reconstructing the social and economic organization of prehistoric foragers in Northern Russia

Oleneostrovski mogilnik (Red Deer Island cemetery) in Karelia, USSR, is the largest known Mesolithic-age cemetery in the Boreal zone, containing the remains of at least 170 individual interments. An analysis of mortuary patterning, demographic structure, and regional interaction was performed in order to elucidate the nature of Boreal zone forager society during the late Mesolithic. These analyses suggest that the society which produced Oleneostrovski mogilnik was larger and more internally differentiated than previously believed, with a complex system of social differentiation that included hereditary social positions and economic ranking. It also participated in an extensive regional exchange network which moved exotic goods and raw materials over considerable distances. It is concluded that the climax of forager occupation in the Boreal zone occurred during late Mesolithic times, with a maximum density of population and maximum social complexity, and that more recent hunter-fisher-gatherer occupations represent only a pale reflection of this peak.     

Adult and juvenile aurochs, Bos primigenius Boj. from the maglemosian site of ulkestrup lyng Øst,Denmark

Bones of adult and juvenile aurochs (Bos primigenius Boj.) from the refuse of a Mesolithic settlement, Ulkestrup Lyng Øst (c. 6090 BC), are examined. The problem of estimating the ontogenetic age of the younger animals is dealt with in order to establish the time of the year at which they were killed and thereby the possible season of hunting.The age-determination is mainly based on tooth-wear, which is discussed in its relationship to physiological changes in the stomach, that are correlated with the dietary changes from milk to solid food. The subfossil mandibles are compared with modern material from domestic calves and with other Danish subfossil calves' mandibles.     

From riches to rags: organic deterioration at Star Carr

The 11,000-year old lake edge archaeological site of Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering of North Yorkshire is one of the most famous Mesolithic sites in Europe, and one of the earliest, dated to the period of climatic warming that immediately followed the final termination of the last ice age. One of the main reasons for this international importance is the richness of its organic artefacts, faunal assemblage and environmental data. However, recent investigations have demonstrated that these organic remains have severely deteriorated over the last 60 years due to the decay and acidification of the surrounding peat. This paper presents research into the effects on the bone (histological analysis using light and polarising microscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy, bulk collagen analysis, and amino acid analysis), antler (visual and metrical analysis, loss on ignition and Scanning Electron Microscopy) and wood (visual analysis, decay assessment tests and Scanning Electron Microscopy).     

Wear Analysis on Early Mesolithic Microliths from the Verrebroek Site,East Flanders,Belgium

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of recent wear analysis on a series of 467 microliths excavated at the early Mesolithic (8410–7930 cal B.C.) site of Verrebroek in Belgium. Based on both macro-fractures (bending fractures and spin-offs) and traces of microscopic linear impact a distinction could be made between non-geometric microliths used as tips and geometric microliths mainly used as barbs. During the Pre-boreal the latter occur in large numbers and in various forms (triangles, crescents) that are used in mutually exclusive ways. At the transition from the Pre-boreal to the Boreal, almost simultaneously with the disappearance of bone and antler points from the Mesolithic tool kit there is a considerable increase in microlith tips. In this paper several possible explanations for this change are discussed.     

Mesolithic hunting in Denmark illustrated by bone injuries caused by human weapons

Animal skeletons from eight Danish Mesolithic settlements and 14 isolated bog finds have been investigated for injuries caused by hunters. The injuries comprise arrow-pierced limb bones, ribs and vertebrae together with healed and unhealed injuries found on shoulder blades. Special attention has been drawn to the skull lesions on Sus scrofa L. Some pathological features in the shoulder blades of the same animal are also discussed for comparison. The sizes and shapes of the injuries in some cases give an indication of the types of weapons that have been used. The proportion of unhealed to healed fractures seems to change during time. This feature may be related to the change to an increasingly stationary mode of life of the hunters.     

Points in Time: The Mesolithic–Neolithic Transition and the Chronology of Late Rod Microliths in Britain

This paper presents the results of the Bayesian statistical modelling of radiocarbon dates associated with diagnostic late Mesolithic rod microliths from England and Wales. These date estimates are compared with results for the earliest evidence for Neolithic material culture and practices in Britain (Whittle et al. 2011; Griffiths 2011; 2014; forthcoming). The chronology of some rod microlith sites indicates a potential overlap between the earliest Neolithic and latest Mesolithic material culture and practices, in the first three centuries of the fourth millennium cal BC across England and Wales. The locations of late Mesolithic sites suggest regional processes of ‘neolithization’ may have occurred. In the region where we have the best chronological evidence for late Mesolithic sites – in Yorkshire – the location of the very latest Mesolithic sites suggests these lifeways may have persisted in landscapes which had been foci of hunter‐gatherer activity for hundreds of years, and which might have been understood as ‘ancestral’ or ‘persistent’ places.     

Approaches to Interpreting Mesolithic Mobility and Settlement in Britain and Ireland

The Mesolithic communities of northwest Europe have generally been considered inherently mobile, and all the material evidence associated with them has been interpreted accordingly. This has resulted in entrenched, theoretically polemical and largely hypothetical mobility models, focusing on seasonal rounds and extraction activities. However, recent reanalyses of the ethnographic sources, and discoveries of both substantial and ephemeral Mesolithic structures, as well as new data from recent innovative lithic and scientific analyses (including DNA, isotope research on human remains, and geochemical analyses of lithic artefacts), have forced us to rethink the rather static models of Mesolithic mobility strategies. This paper, examining Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement models from Britain and Ireland, is part of that reassessment. In particular, it assesses the impact of the multiple lines of consilience on our understanding of Mesolithic habitation of landscapes. These include the archaeological evidence and the efficacy of recent theoretical and methodological approaches that have been employed to interpret it.     

The mesolithic of Western Europe

Recent investigations of prefarming adaptations during the Mesolithic period in early Holocene Europe have led to significant revision of traditional views. A number of innovations and changes occur, particularly toward the end of the Mesolithic, that permit this time to be described as both dynamic and extraordinary. Permanent settlement and the use of domesticated animals, exchange, and, perhaps, cultivated plants and monumental tombs characterize a number of later Mesolithic adaptations. The transition to the Neolithic is now regarded as the result of in situ developments in most areas of Western Europe, as Mesolithic groups slowly adopted pottery, cultigens, and other characteristics of farming villagers. In this paper, questions regarding chronology, nomenclature, and the definition of terms are addressed initially. Changes in European environments at the close of the Pleistocene and during the early postglacial are considered in terms of major impacts on human adaptation. The central focus of this study is a survey of the Mesolithic in Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Recent research projects in these areas are discussed in terms of new approaches and results. An overview of developments in these countries is also presented, emphasizing the transitions from the Paleolithic and into the Neolithic. Concluding remarks address future directions in Mesolithic research.     

New Mesolithic Hunting Evidence from Bone Injuries at Danish Maglemosian Sites: Lundby Mose and Mullerup (Sjælland)

The recent re‐analysis of the Maglemosian faunal assemblages from Mullerup and Lundby Mose (Sjælland) has led to the discovery of new hunting injuries in the Danish Early Mesolithic. In total, including the two cases already published, two examples come from the Lundby Mose site, and seven from Mullerup, including embedded flint fragments and perforations. Such new data emphasise the need for meticulous re‐analysis of bone assemblages, relying on experimental work on projectile impacts, in order to increase the number of such discoveries. The link with weapons and hunting techniques and the question of the frequency of projectile impacts during the Danish Mesolithic are discussed, as well as their significance in terms of mobility of human groups, particularly in the case of healed wounds. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Living Mesolithic Time: Narratives,Chronologies and Organic Material Culture

British and Irish Mesolithic studies have long been characterized by a reliance on broad-scale lithic typologies, both to provide chronologies, and in discussion of ‘cultural’ groups. More recently, traditional narrative structures—period definitions of ‘Early’ and ‘Late’, or culture typologies—have been complemented by a host of other evidence. This has included new studies of site stratigraphy, evidence for seasonality, and material culture chaîne opératoire chronologies, which place a greater emphasis on both temporal precision and the lived experiences of Mesolithic peoples. This paper will consider how the study of organic artefacts forces these narrative scales into acute focus, and presents an opportunity to explore the challenges in synthesizing different forms of data. We discuss how the evidence from sites in Ireland and Britain allows for new approaches, and highlight some of the challenges that this evidence presents, not least the perennial issue of moving from site-specific data to broader narratives. While the nature of earlier prehistoric evidence makes this an especially obvious issue for Mesolithic studies, it is one which generally besets archaeology. We suggest that in order to move beyond this in earlier prehistoric studies specifically, we need to make better use of all evidence sources, however seemingly prosaic, including antiquarian collections in museums, and chance and casual finds. Only by including the raft of available data, and recognizing its utility beyond the sum of individual apparently uninspiring parts, can we begin to move from generalizing narratives to more nuanced archaeological understandings of past material worlds.     

Experimental studies of personal ornaments from the Iron Gates Mesolithic

Personal ornaments, especially those made from the shells of marine mollusks and animal teeth, have been recovered from many Mesolithic sites across Europe. This paper reviews the evidence of personal ornaments from the Mesolithic of the Iron Gates, where such finds were identified in five sites on the Romanian bank: the cave and rock shelter sites of Climente II and Cuina Turcului, and three open-air sites—Icoana, Ostrovul Banului, and Schela Cladovei. The ornaments from these sites were made from the shells of several gastropod taxa and at least one species of dentaliid scaphopod, as well as the pharyngeal teeth of cyprinids, the teeth of several species of terrestrial mammal, fish vertebrae, and pieces of antler and bone. Particular attention is given to taxonomic identification and questions of taphonomy, provenance, selection, manufacture, and use. Experiments were conducted in which several types of ornament were replicated. Archeological and experimental pieces (at various stages of production) were examined under a microscope, to establish the durability of the beads and estimate the length of time over which they were worn. Our results show that shells of Lithoglyphus and Theodoxus sp. were simply perforated and fixed in composed adornments, as were shells of Tritia neritea in the early part of the time range. In the later Mesolithic, T. neritea shells were processed in a different way and fixed to clothing in the manner of appliqués. No technological modification of the cyprinid teeth was observed; these were sewn individually onto clothing by means of a thread coated with an adhesive substance. The other categories of personal ornament were used mainly as pendants. Experimental use-wear analysis suggests that many ornaments were used over long periods, with broken or missing pieces replaced when necessary.