Ahrensburg culture

The Ahrensburg culture (11th to 10th millennia BC) was a late Upper Paleolithic culture during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaciation. The culture is named after village of Ahrensburg, 25 km northeast of Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where wooded arrow shafts and clubs have been excavated. There archaeologists have found three important settlements:
*"Meiendorf" from the Elder Dryas, ca 10000 BC– ca 9700 BC (uncalibrated), with finds from the so-called "Hamburg culture".
*"Stellmoor" with a lower layer from the Hamburg culture, and an upper layer from the Ahrensburg culture.
*"Borneck" which also belongs to the Ahrensburg culture.The settlements were in proximity to the rim of the Ice, and the landscape was tundra with bushy arctic white birch and rowan. The most important prey was the wild reindeer, and the hunters ranged areas as large as 100 000 km².

Stellmoor was a seasonal settlement inhabited primarily during October, and bones from 650 reindeer have been found there. The hunting tool was bow and arrow. From Stellmoor there are also well-preserved arrow shafts of pine intended for the culture's characteristic "skaftunge" arrowheads of flintstone. 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 hide teepees.

The relationship between the Ahrensburg and the Hamburg cultures is uncertain. The settlement at Jels in Sønderjylland, probably belongs to the Hamburg culture. Another culture of reindeer hunters, the Bromme culture, is known from several settlements in Denmark and from the settlement at Segebro, near Malmö, Sweden's oldest known settlement.

The Bromme culture belongs to the warmer Allerød Age between the Older and the Younger Dryas, ca 9700 BC-9000 BC, with white birch forests. The Bromme culture and the Ahrensburg culture are similar in that tanged points are found in both assemblages, but here the similarities end - although "Lyngby points" are found in both assemblages.

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. The Hensbacka group on the west coast of Sweden exemplifies the cultural fragmentation process that took place within the Continental Ahrensburgian. [ "Why they came"; the colonization of the coast of western Sweden and its environmental context at the end of the last glaciation. Oxford journal of Archaeology, Vol.25 No.1, 2006. Schmitt, l. et al] [ Comparative points and relative thoughts: the relationship between the Ahrensburgian and Hensbacka assemblages. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, Vol.13 No.4, 1999. Schmitt, L.] 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.

Origin

Ahrenburg culture belongs to a Late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic (or Epipaleolithic) cultural complex that started with the glacial recession and the subsequent disintegration of Late Palaeolithic cultures between 15,000 and 10,000 calBC. 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 warm Bølling and Allerød events, but much of northern Eurasia remained inhabited during the Younger Dryas. During the Holocene 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. [The Pleistocene-Holocene transition in northern Eurasia: Environmental changes and human adaptations - P. M. Dolukhanov, 1997, Published by Elsevier Science Ltd [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VGS-3SWJKR2-T&_user=3961213&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F1997&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000061047&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=3961213&md5=f607d222e4b7c98d4dc8a2215e8928e6] ]

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 the Dryas I glaciation, at the beginning of the Meiendorf Interstadial around 12.700 calBC. 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 the Hamburgian, featured by "Shouldered Point" lithics, is a techno-complex closely related to the Creswellian and rooted in the Magdalenian. 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. The Hamburgian culture existed during the warm Bølling period, the brief Dryas II glaciation (lasting 300 years) and in the early warmer Allerød period.

A find-free zone in Northeast Germany suggests a natural barreer of unfavourable environmental conditions. [Gernot Tromnau, in ARCHAEOLOGIA BALTICA, 7, 2007, overview: [http://www.ku.lt/leidykla/leidiniai/archaeologia/2006/2.php] ] 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 the Danish Isles after circa 12.300 calBC.

The "Backed Point" lithics of Federmesser culture are usually dated in the Allerød Interstadial. Early Federmesser finds follows shortly or are contemporary to Havelte. The culture lasted approximately 1200 years from 11.900 to 10.700 calBC., and is located in Northern Germany and Poland to south Lithuania. Fishhooks were discovered in Allerød layers and emphasizes the importance of fishing in the Late Palaeolithic. A certain survival of late Upper Palaeolithic traditions similar to contemporary Azilian (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 of Allerød and the early cold Dryas III period. The "classical" Brommian complex is typified by simple and fast, but uneconomical, flint processing using unipolair 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, [THE FINAL PALAEOLITHIC CULTURES IN LITHUANIA - Egidijus Šatavičius, Archaeologia Lituana 2005 vol.6, summary: [http://www.leidykla.eu/fileadmin/Archeologia/Archeologia_6/Summary/The_Final_Palaeolithic_Cultures_in_Lithuania.pdf] ] although other sources hold early Bromme not to be very well defined in (late Allerød) Northern Germany,From the First Humans to the Mesolithic Hunters in the Northern German Lowlands, Current Results and Trends - THOMAS TERBERGER. From: Across the western Baltic, edited by: Keld Møller Hansen & Kristoffer Buck Pedersen, 2006, ISBN 87-983097-5-7, Sydsjællands Museums Publikationer Vol. 1 [http://www.uni-greifswald.de/~histor/~ufg/mitarbeiter/terberger/Terberger1_LoRes.pdf] ] were it groups with Federmesser.

Ahrensburg culture is normally associated with the Younger Dryas glacialization and the Pre-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, strengthening proposals to a direct derivation from the Havelte stage of the Hamburg culture. [BROMMIAN (LYNGBY) FINDS IN LITHUANIA -Egidijus Šatavičius, The Lithuanian Institute of History, 2006 [http://www.istorija.lt/la/satavicius2004en.html] ] Some recent finds, such as the Hintersee 24 site in Landkreis Uecker-Randow, 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, the Grensk culture in Bromme territory at the source of the Dnieper River was proposed to be the direct originator of Ahrensburgian culture. [Otte M. The northwestern European plain around 18,000 BP. in Soffer O, Gamble C (eds) The world at 18,000 BP London: Unwin Hyman, 1990, Vol 1, pp 54-68.] However, the exact typological chonology 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 the Federmesser, 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. [ Eriksen, B.V. Reconsidering the geochronological framework of Lateglacial hunter-gatherer colonization of southern Scandinavia. In: B.V. Eriksen & B. Bratlund (eds.): Recent studies in the Final Palaeolithic of the European plain. Proceedings of a U.I.S.P.P. Symposium. Stockholm, 14.-17. October 1999. Jutland Archaeological Society Publications Vol. 39. Højbjerg, pp. 25-41.] This corresponds with the notion that "tanged point cultures" such as "Brommian" or "Bromme-Lingby" appear to be based on the Magdalenian, during the Allerod and were closely associated with reindeer hunting. [ Kozlowski, J. and Bandit, H. 1984. The Paleohistory of Circumpolar Arctic Colonization. "Artic". 37 (4): 358-372]

Genetics

Genetic studies based on modern male Scandinavian DNA suggest the advent of Ahrensburg "culture" may be associated with two different Y-chromosome Haplogroups, each related to another possible geographic origin. Bearers of the
Hg R1a1 gene, are postulated in a study by Passarino and several other geneticists to have originally expanded and brought Ahrensburg "culture" from the Dniepr-Don Valley during the Ukrainian LGM refuge between 13 000 and 7 600 years ago.cite journal | last = Passarino | first = G | coauthors = Cavalleri GL, Lin AA, Cavalli-Sforza LL, Borresen-Dale AL, Underhill PA | title = Different genetic components in the Norwegian population revealed by the analysis of mtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms | url = http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/v10/n9/full/5200834a.html | journal = Eur. J. Hum. Genet. | year = 2002 | volume = 10 | issue = 9 | pages = 521–9 | pmid = 12173029 | doi = 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200834] On the other hand Dupuy and his colleagues proposed the ancestors of Scandinavian men from Haplogroup Hg P*(xR1a) or R1b (Y-DNA) to have brought Ahrensburg "culture" and stressed genetic similarity with Germany. [Dupuy, B. et al. 2006. Geographical heterogeneity of Y-chromosomal lineages in Norway. "Forensic Science International". 164: 10-19. [http://www.geocities.com/grpadm/Dupuy_2005_Geographical_heterogeneity_of_Y_chromosomal_lineages_in_Norway_FSI.pdf] ]

References

ee also

*Nationalencyklopedin
*Paleolithic Europe
*Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures