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| Geographical range | Europe |
|---|---|
| Period | LateUpper Palaeolithic |
| Dates | c. 12,900–11,700 BP |
| Type site | Ahrensburg |
| Preceded by | Magdalenian |
| Followed by | Maglemosian culture;Swiderian culture |
TheAhrensburg culture orAhrensburgian (c. 12,900 to 11,700BP[1]) was a lateUpper Paleolithic nomadichunterculture (or technocomplex) in north-centralEurope during theYounger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of theWeichsel glaciation resulting in deforestation and the formation of atundra with bushyarctic white birch androwan. The most important prey was the wildreindeer. The earliest definite finds ofarrow and bow date to this culture, though these weapons might have been invented earlier. The Ahrensburgian was preceded by theHamburg andFedermesser cultures and superseded by theMaglemosian andSwiderian cultures. Ahrensburgian finds were made in southern and westernScandinavia, theNorth German plain and westernPoland. The Ahrensburgian area also included vast stretches of land now at the bottom of theNorth andBaltic Sea, since during the Younger Dryas the coastline took a much more northern course than today.
The culture is named after atunnel valley near the town ofAhrensburg, 25 km (16 mi) northeast ofHamburg in the German state ofSchleswig-Holstein, where Ahrensburg find layers were excavated inMeiendorf,Stellmoor andBorneck. While these as well as the majority of other find sites date to the Young Dryas, the Ahrensburgian find layer inAlt Duvenstedt has been dated to the very lateAllerød, thus possibly representing an early stage of Ahrensburgian which might have corresponded to theBromme culture in the north. Artefacts with tanged points are found associated with both the Bromme and the Ahrensburg cultures.
The culture reached as far north as theIsles of Orkney in northern Scotland.[2]
The Ahrensburg culture belongs to a LatePaleolithic and earlyMesolithic (orEpipaleolithic) cultural complex that started with the glacial recession and the subsequent disintegration of Late Palaeolithic cultures between 15,000 and 10,000 BCE. The extinction of mammoth and other megafauna provided for an incentive to exploit other forms of subsistence that included maritime resources. Northward migrations coincided with the warmBølling andAllerød events, but much of northern Eurasia remained inhabited during theYounger Dryas. During theholocene climatic optimum, the increased biomass led to a marked intensification in foraging by all groups, the development of inter-group contacts, and ultimately, the initiation of agriculture.[3]
The different technolithic complexes are chronologically associated with the climatic chronozones. The re-colonisation of Northern Germany is connected to the onset of the late Glacial Interstadial between Weichsel and theDryas I glaciation, at the beginning of the Meiendorf Interstadial around 12,700 BCE. Palynological results demonstrate a close connection between the prominent temperature rise at the beginning of the Interstadial and the expansion of the hunter-gatherers into the northern Lowlands. The existence of a primary “pioneer phase” in the re-colonisation is contradicted by proof of e.g. an early Central European Magdalenian in Poland. Today it is commonly accepted that theHamburgian, featured by"Shouldered Point" lithics, is a techno-complex closely related to theCreswellian and rooted in theMagdalenian[citation needed]. Within the Hamburgian techno-complex, a younger dating is found for the Havelte phase, sometimes interpreted as a northwestern phenomenon, perhaps oriented towards the former coastline. TheHamburgian culture existed during the warmBølling period, the briefDryas II glaciation (lasting 300 years) and in the early warmer Allerød period.
However, the distribution of the Hamburgian east of the Oder River has been confirmed and Hamburgian culture can also be distinguished in Lithuania. Finds in Jutland indicates the expansion of early Hamburgian hunters and gatherers reached further north than previously expected. The Hamburgian sites with shouldered point lithics reach as far north as the Pomeranian ice margin. The younger Havelte phase has been proven for the area beyond the Pomeranian ice margin and on theDanish Isles after c. 12,300 BCE.
The "Backed Point" lithics ofFedermesser culture are usually dated in theAllerød Interstadial. Early Federmesser finds follows shortly or are contemporary to Havelte. The culture lasted approximately 1200 years from 11,900 to 10,700 BCE., and is located in Northern Germany and Poland to south Lithuania. Fish-hooks were discovered in Allerød layers and emphasize the importance of fishing in the Late Palaeolithic. A certain survival of late Upper Palaeolithic traditions similar to contemporaryAzilian (France, Spain) becomes apparent, such as the amber elk from Weitsche that can be considered as a link to the Mesolithic, amber animal sculptures.
Bromme culture sites are found in the entire southern and southeastern Baltic, and are dated to the second half ofAllerød and the early cold Dryas III period. The "classical"Brommian complex is typified by simple and fast, but uneconomical, flint processing using unipolar (single-platform) cores. A new development noticed in Lithuania introduced both massive and smaller"tanged Points". In Bromme culture this technology is proposed to be an innovation derived from tanged Havelte groups. As such, derivation of Bromme culture and even migration of its representatives from the territories of Denmark and northern Germany have been proposed,[4] although other sources hold early Bromme not to be very well defined in (late Allerød) Northern Germany,[5] where it groups with Federmesser.
Ahrensburg culture is normally associated with theYounger Dryas glacialization and thePre-boreal period. The traditional view of the Ahrensburg culture being a direct inheritor of the Bromme culture in the late Dryas period is contradicted by new information that the Ahrensburgian techno-complex probably already started before the Younger Dryas,[5] strengthening proposals to a direct derivation from the Havelte stage of the Hamburg culture.[6] Some recent finds, such as theHintersee 24 site in southernLandkreis Vorpommern-Greifswald, would contribute to the argument of an early Ahrensburgian in northern Germany. Alternatively, flint artefacts of Bromme tanged-point groups is considered to prelude the techno-complex of the Ahrensburg culture and would point to the provenience of Ahrensburg from Bromme culture. As such, theGrensk culture in Bromme territory at the source of the Dnieper River was proposed to be the direct originator of Ahrensburgian culture.[7] However, the exact typological chronology of this culture is still unclear. Though associated with the Bromme complex, Grensk culture has its roots more defined in the local Mammoth Hunters' culture.
Another possibility derives from the observation that on a regional scale, the Hamburgian culture is succeeded geographically as well as chronologically by theFedermesser culture, or Arch-Backed Piece Complex. The existence of a genuine Federmesser occupation in southern Scandinavia is highly controversial, and there is wide, though not unanimous, agreement that some Federmesser types constitute an integral part of the early Brommean artefact inventory. Still, Federmesser types are also often found in close association with Hamburgian assemblages (e.g. at Slotseng and Sølbjerg) and tentative, dating from northern Germany shows some degree of contemporaneity between the late Hamburgian Havelte sites and the Federmesser ones. Therefore, in southern Scandinavia the Federmesser may represent a brief transitory phase between the Hamburgian and the Brommean.[8] This corresponds with the notion that "tanged point cultures" such as "Brommian" or "Bromme-Lyngby" appear to be based on theMagdalenian, during theAllerød and were closely associated with reindeer hunting.[9]
Stellmoor was a seasonal settlement inhabited primarily during October, and bones from 650 reindeer have been found there. The hunting tool wasbow andarrow. From Stellmoor there are also well-preserved arrow shafts ofpine intended for the culture's characteristicskaftunge arrowheads offlint. A number of intact reindeer skeletons, with arrowheads in the chest, has been found, and they were probably sacrifices to higher powers. At the settlements, archaeologists have found circles of stone, which probably were the foundations of hideteepees.
The earliest reliable traces of habitation in the northern territories of Norway and western Sweden date to the transition period from the Younger Dryas to the Preboreal. More favourable living conditions, and past experience gained through seasonal rounds, prompted increased maritime resource exploitation in the northern territories. TheHensbacka group on the west coast of Sweden exemplifies the cultural fragmentation process that took place within the Continental Ahrensburgian.[10][11][12] Instead of new immigrations at the beginning of the Mesolithic, the discovery of deposited bones and new dating indicate that there was no (significant) break in settlement continuity. New knowledge provides aspects for a further autochthonous development, with a rapid climatic change stimulating a swift cultural change.[5]
| ThePaleolithic |
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| ↑Pliocene (beforeHomo) |
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| ↓Mesolithic |