The Neolithic/Mesolithic Boundary(4) Climatic Instability Gives way to Stability

There are several books and papers out there.
I will tend to quote from the more recent reviews

Journal of World Prehistory 15(2001) 365-453
Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic Research in
Reunified Germany. Street et al. Has 20 pages of references.

Journal of World Prehistory 13(1999) 403-464
The Origins of the Neolithic Along the Atlantic
Coast of Continental Europe: A survey.

[Note: for those not interested in lithic industries
and spear points, these papers will tend to offer alot,
there is even a diagram showing were caribou tend to be hit]

At the end of the last LGM around 18500 years ago the
polar ice caps melted only slowly, the warming that
occurred allowed peoples to pass through areas but
the conditions were still considered hostile to most
plants and animals. Cold tolerant animals prevailed
on the lands between glaciers up to the vegetation lines.

I wasn't going into any detail about this period except
for the fact that it was mentioned in other posts and
some authors think that technological trends that
entered into the regions outside of the refuges had a
persistent effect. I am not qualified to address the
second. My opinion is that the post Lateglacial climate
had its most profound influences in the near and middle
east as I shall present later a mechanism of how these
influences override the local cultural evolution in the
south, but not in the north.
Page 372 in Street et al addresses the climate changes
from the pleniglacial. During the period to ~14,500 years
ice age (scale is not years bp but bc) climate persisted
as a modest remission from the LGM. This period is
followed by a period of unstable climate that is
highlighted by the younger dryas. This period breaks
at about 11,500 years ago. I am not going to dismiss
the work done by authors, but there is a philosophical
point to be made. As presented in other posts the transects
between different peoples and the almost near certainty
that the movements about england 8000 to 9000 years ago
are probably genetically more represented by the Welsh,
Irish, Cornish and Scottish than by peoples in the south,
that this movement into the region occurred during the
period where much of europe was, but sparsely, fully
reinhabited. Surely there is evidence of movements around
these ice free corridors during the late pliestocene may
have resulted in some genetic contributions. The
principle question is that with such instable climate
over a long period it is impossible to not when who moved
where. Reading the literature one finds archaeologist
are linking culture in one place to other places. For
instance Germany's late paleolithic and mesolithic
lithics can be linked to the east (A refuge mentioned
in 1st thread) other periods are linked to other cultures,
it is not clear that there is an identifyable genetic link
between modern germans and moldovia other than via
intermediates associated with LBK.
In addition is does appear that big scarey glaciers did
not stop people from hunting right up to the edge such that
we can pretty much gather that retreats have immediate
effects on H/G ranges. There are dates for materials in Wales,
France and Germany toward the late interstadial period, and
sites continue to be found during the younger dryas. However,
with a shift in technology it is unclear wether different
peoples moved in or tool technologies shifted toward different
prey.
But the critical issue is not how the H/Gs felt about
glaciers but how they felt about the harsh periods that caused
glaciers to advance. Street et al is worth the read because it
highlights how far dendochronology has progressed largely with
oaks 10500 years followed by pine chronologies. All of these
dating methods call for a transtion from the Younger Dryas to
Preboreal in the exact calender year 9640 B.C.
We can imagine Ug the late stone age hunter coming out
of his encampment in spring, scratching his testicles looking
around and removing his caribou coat and feeling the sudden
need to sweat while looking for an appropriate bathing hole,
Unfortunately Ug did not take is mates advise, shave and trim
his 3 foot long hair so thug, Ugs brother ended up sneaking
off with his mate into the unknown expanse to the norther. Yes
it is the year 9640 BC and time to begin the reconquest of
western europe.
The period between 9640 BC and the neolithic is roughly 4000
years and so it covers a relatively long period of time, in much
of europe, nothing is happening in the begining of the period.

1. Glacier remain over the NW and N expanses.
2. Production is relatively low, the animals that exist tended
to migrate over long distances and are widely dispersed.
3. In terms of edible grasses, europe is not a prime spot
4. And to make matters worse the things that tend to grow
first are the massive light blocking pinus species that really
screw up the soil for everything else.
5. During the peak of the Interstadial/Younger Dryas it is all
but impossible to define who ventured out and who returned, so
that we assume the re-expansion is dominated by migrations
up europes atlantic now submerged coast (as the molecular
suggests as much, and because there is not a plethora of
other evidence to suggest otherwise) so that observing this
repopulation is like devining the initial milliseconds of
the 'big bang'.
6. Very serious climate fluctuations have lead to a number
of extinctions. The ecology of the super mediterranean region
is in a state of acute disequilbrium.

There is a theory that the disequilbrium of europe and mans
migration northward is ultimately the cause of neolithization,
the fact of the matter is that humans are more adaptive, and dis
equilibrium and loss of species diversity favors the adaptive
opportunist. Such that there is an assumption that Neolithization
would be a forgone outcome in a semi-sedentary peoples given
a persistently warm climate and time. However this may be
nationalistic view rather than reality.

The mesolithic period begins over much of western europe
at the end of the Dryas. At this point our genetic analysis sets in
with the exception of the lightly populated regions of eastern france
weastern germany populationas increased. Without ancient DNA sampling
it would be difficult to assign sites to particular peoples. Our
repertoire of peoples includes contributions from mostly western
europeans, and it very possible that the S and western France
'refuge' over series of climate changes has forced ossillation
from this enclave. Otherwise there is evidence of gene flow
from the east although rather modest levels. One assumes that
at the end of the paleolithic Europe has been repopulated from
essentially one people, the closest sister group extant would
be the basque. It is impossible to assign the fate of the
late paleolithic groups in germany to this group, they may
have been relatives of todays modern arctic hunters (lapps,
yakuts, saami) that migrated out of the region with the herds.

The first concordance that is visible is the nordic/germanic
tool technologies seen in Denmark/S. Sweden and Germany. It
clearly brings a point that the western expansion has reached
the baltic by 8500 years ago, if earlier evidence is unconvincing
and displays the longevity of haplotypes that are used to mark
these populations. This Nordischer culture radiates from the
hamburg region and possibly can trace its origin back to the
interstadial period. The regions of northern france are also
active, belgium and northern france and in the Loire vally
and coastal region there is extensive shell middens and evidence
for semi-sedentary lifestyles. In western germany older sites
show an extensive number of knapped tools made from materials
50 to 200 km distance from the site hearths that were recycled
also indicating a semi-sedentary lifestyle. Similar patterns
of long range lithic resource gathering are evident elsewhere.

Part of the conversion to sedentary lifestyles is the climate,
there are two principle severe shortterm 'events' after the
Dryas, the acuteness of the ossications has subsided, this may
explain some of the more extensive and longer lived sites. Such
site may exist over many areas of germany for the mesolithic as
many of the sites have not been adequately dated, but new dating
strategies are advancing so these issues will be resolved, if
not already resolved.
There has been an unfavoristic treatment of southern Germany,
new papers have been published and the assumption is that the
poor soils of the region are not neccesarily devoid of paleolithic,
mesolithic or neolithic activities. Currently the Allgau and Lake
Constance region are published. Given the arguments in this group
about exploitation in the forested regions it is worthwhile to go
through the recent literature on Allgau site.

"Late paleolithic, mesolithic and early neolithic in the lower alpine
region betwen the rivers iller and Lech (South West Bavaria). Birgit
Gehlen.

In this section I will deal with the Mesolithic period in the
region Before I do that I want to remind that in switzerland we
are able to connect the 3 of 4 peak haplotypes to the western
haplotype nodes in NW europe, the 4th is bimodal but may be centrally
derived. So that we have in the north of germany a culture that is
linked to the nordic expansion, in the south the unapparent entry into
the swiss alpine region by western europeans.
Here is an example where the reoccupation of sub-alpine and
alpine regions can be traced back to the paleolithic, a total
of 12 Early and Mid mesolithic sites exist, and the range
of late mesolithic sites (10, Beuronian C phase) where some
sites appear older than the surrounding late mesolithic and some
younger. New sites appear as the regions enter the LBK Neolithic,
possibly suggesting some displacive migrations. For anyone who
is interested in the German Neolithic Stability issue this paper
is a must read. A conclusion is that the subalpine region of souther
germany is archaeologically undeveloped.

Other southern sites showed the presence of line fishing during the
boreal period (Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt 23:49-66). Since
the recent finds in germany are extensive the focus on the southern
germany will be late paleolithic. The model for the mesolithic for
bavaria has assumed the region ins apart of the Beuron-Coincy culture
that extended from the Paris to Moravia (street et al. p 408). However
the sarching produced a finding of a rich lithic sauverterrian site in
Bavaria, these sites produced dates of 6000 +/- 300 BC. This particular
information is important because it lends itself to interpretations of how
neolithic peoples arrived and interacted. Similar sites were found
in Southern France and Alpine Italy for the same period. Archaeological
studies in the Swabee region revealed that Reindeer did not disappear
from the holoregion as suggested but that some populations retreated
to higher elevations, and this attracted hunters from lowlands into
the regions. Regional studies revealed Beuronian A, B, and C lithics
suggesting lithic diversity in a small region datable to ~8000 BP
(6000 BC). Therefore another aspect of the southern german upland regions
is that general rules of archaeological placement based on surrounding
chronologies are not questionable, and the full breath of diversity
will be found with future research.

Eastern german mesolithic has revealed the potential of more semi-
sedentary or fully sedentary lifestyles at Juhnsdorf. Some initial
settlements were found associated with pine forest that later gave
way to oak forest. A site at Reichawalde revealede 150,000 artifacts
and can be dated to before the LBK by 100s of years (7926 BP). Some
of the highest precision and most delicated microliths are found
at this site suggesting a rapid progression through the late
mesolithic and link this site to polish and more eastern cultures.
Closer to Hamburg seasonal collection of hazelnuts probably facilitated
a movement toward sedentary lifestyle.

I am going to skip over the cantabarian, eastern iberian and portuguese
mesolithic, very interesting studies one can find summarized in the
Arias, 1999. The discussion of the french atlantic mesolithic begins on
page 420. I have other references on these if anyone wants them.

"
Thus our picture of the last hunter-gatherers along the French Atlantic
coast is based on two extraordinary sites,the cemeteries at Teviec and
Hoedic, in Birttany, with a few additions, concerning littl more than
settlement patterns and lithic industries from the rest of the region.
"

3 industries are present

1. Mesolithic at Brittany
2. Retzien Loire/Poitou marsh
3. Aquataine Mesolithic.

1. Mesolithic at Brittany
-Heavily reliant on fish, shellfish and sea mammals & birds.
-Stable isotope analysis reveals extensive reliance on the sea.
-Like the sites in portugal the presence of certain marine species
indicates a maritime capability.
-Also found were remains of boar, deer, and mustelidae.
-Burial practices appear to represent a long term association
with certain sites from 4500BC to 6000BC overlapping with the
eastern french early neolithic. Antler and oxen horn are found
amoung shell mound burials.
-There is evident in the burials of some social heirarchy within
the mesolithic of the region.
-?Presence of Megaliths in the mesolithic.

The end of the mesolithic and onset of the Neolithic in the region
is controvertable, there is possible evidence of cereals in the 6th Mil
BC but there is certainly some legume agriculture of mediterranean
derivation within the 5th century. It is clear that the mesolithic of
Breton had developed a disposition toward sedentalism and was developing
social complexity beyond that of H/G.


La Hoguette Culture. http://www.comp-archaeology.org/LaHoguette.htm

The culture is found in the central western regions of france, it
is associated with sheep and goats but not cattle, and there are
indications that the pottery style is older than LKBN in certain parts
of france, the pottery evolved from an older pottery style described as
cardial that was found in the southern meditteranean and stretched around
southern portugal and eventually to the south western extent of the
cantabarian mountains. The culture and the neolithic that is associated
withit appears to have come from the central mediterranean, where the
neolithic dates to much older period.
Unlike the LKB the occurance in Switzerland Germany and western france
appears to have variable elements, as seen in studies on southern germany.
The Culture appears in central western france about 5500 BC. Some consider
this culture to have brought legumes and triticeae cultivars to brittany
rather than LBK.

Questions about the late mesolithic, can the neolithic be finely defined
and if not what constitutes the gaps.

One of the issues of neolithization process has been discussed, the opening
up of forest and planting or promoting the growth of grasses for
consumption and as wild and ferral animal food. This strategy, known
as garden hunting promotes the conversion of forest into grassland by
increasingly attacting animals into a local. As had been discussed the
culling of forest would eventually lead to decarbonization of the floor
and eventually loss of nutrients, the practice of attracking wild or feral
animals to feeding areas is a means of concentrating nutrients and at
the same time recovering potentially poor soils for other purposes.
This is discussed in http://www.princton.edu/~bogucki/mosaic.html

This opens up the possibility that different subsets of neolithic culture
were introduced to the region or specific aspects were adapted to
optimize regional exploitation with minimal negative impact or input of
energy. The increased presense of the late mesolithic and early neolithic
is not restricted to LBK and as we are seeing certainly not restricted
to the loess either, the principle issue is how far extensive are these
secondary neolithic and suboptimal sites are, and reviews reveal that
sampling bias is at fault for some overgeneralization of the process.
There is certainly a core LBK that is introduced, dealt with
in the transition and this core advance is certainly dramatic in
its central character.

At this point in the process I need to reintroduce the problem. It
was claimed not more than a few days ago that there is no evidence of
a mass migration. I have to say at this point there is evidence of a
mass migration that migration appears to have occurred in the holocene
it appears to have originated from 1 or (2 or more) mediterranean peoples.
Based on the claims of LBK and the ability to assign the LBK boundary to an
inflection of Western derived haplotypes, we are stuck with something
of an enigma because while the belief is that LBK propogated from the
Danube as a dominant culture, the peoples from that region are far
less diverse than is evident in the franco/germanic populations
of todays and neither is significant geneflow indicated.
This hypothesis could be mistaken if some serially propogated
geneflow from the west reached the central danube as part of
the mesolithic cultures recognized from the paris basin to the eastern
europe. In such a process a complex stream of genes could flow back
and forth without recognition. It is immaterial at this point
whether this conclusion is right or wrong, because the more important
event appears to precede LBK, and that precedant was most certainly
genetic and altered the culture and genetics of region.

As stated previous, the pathways of the mesolithic appear
to follow semisedentary lifestyles plausible along the western and northern
coast lines of europe, inland sites in the western lowlands are less
evident, whereas alot of focus has been placed on germanic boreal period
the focus has eventually reached into the subalpine and alpine regions
strongly suggest classic H/G existed but the genetic relationships are not
evidently different from a common founding population, as the culture can
be linked to the norse which can be linked to the NW europeans and is
proximal to the swiss who can be linked to western and southwestern
europeans. This process we can describe the origins of western europeans
from a putative refuge in the region of SW france whose final phases of
expansion and contraction solidified early holocene dominance of the
region. It is not neccesary to define the northern or eastern boundaries of
the refuge, just that the process of expansion and contraction created a
more or less genetically homogenous (not homozygoes, but well intermixed)
population that is readily identified from its closest extant relative
group, the basque, shows contributions in addition to those found in iberia
of eastern groups, who possibly contributed before the LGM or during the
interstadial periods before the younger dryas. Some elements in europe
suggest some migration after the dryas from the north east.
The hypothesis based on the LBK/Genetic overlay is that a people
moved in from the south and followed an isoquant, which probably resulted
in a shift in habitation of late mesolithics to the coast, this
migration is indicated by the appearance of mediterranean pottery in
western france at a point were NW is reaching or did reach neolithization
in one or more aspects, before this people reached the paris basin in a
process that will characterize france. The principle issue is what people
are we talking about, is this a mesolithic people or a cryptoneolithic
people. The second issue confounds the idea that LBK is not a genetic
migration making the point more or less technical.

So it would appear that the exact timing of how the neolithic
unfolds in the east and south has some role in determining
the genetic makeup in the north and west. All the pieces
are on the chess board except the Kings, and to figure the
game we need to know where they are to be placed. The clock is now
roled back to 6000 B.C. and we need to look at some specific
early instances of neolithization.

The summary of the Mesolithization process is that peoples
who lived during the western european Pleniglacial and Younger Dryas
had as a multifaceted group, of probably singular origin adapted
to the complex climate by adapting H/G lifestyles that were mobile
enough to follow herds but also retreat from inhospitable climate
spikes. At 9640 BC this situation markedly changes but culture lags.
Obviously there was an association of belief with the potential
catastrophe that persisted in H/G until all sense of the
instability was finally lost from these cultures. The manipulation
of the enviroment associated with increasing sedentary lifestyles
saw a progression toward the neolithic; however we know from the genetics
that spontaneos shift was rare and at least classically defined
neolithic require a major reliance on agrarian and/or pastoral habits.
Before this shift occurs at most sites cultural movements from outside
take place and might be associated with genetic movements.

So the question is asked, if climate stability during the holocene
led to the increasingly sedantary existances in NW europe, should it not be
the case that places distal (SE) from the most profound effects of the
climate shifts preceded these sites to the north and west, and
where are these sites and what do they have to say about the
mesolithic boundary. Particularly if we are to conclude that some sites
had persistent genetic diversity as a result of migrations and robust
populations.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: LBK and Bulgarian Early Neolithic crop and weed
    ... And the mesolithics and the early neolithics lived side by side, ... effects both in the areas left and in the new settlement sites? ... primed the E.Frances and Germanies for Neolithization. ... these regions at the same time the IG/Danube culture expanded north? ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: LBK and Bulgarian Early Neolithic crop and weed
    ... at least here in Northern Germany. ... Isn't that a different, Polish associated pre-Nordic culture. ... mesolithics and mesolithics passed side by side and in different ecological ... I would say that the best evidence for a migration from the SE is the fact ...
    (sci.archaeology)
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