Tag Archives: Mesolithic

Shaheinab Gouge

This is a typical “Shaheinab Gouge” (7 cm long), found somewhere the Sahara during the 1980ies. The site of Shaheinab was excavated 1949-1950 by A.J. Arkell for the Sudan Antiquities Service. Shaheinab is located between Jebel Aulia and the Sixth Cataract. … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tanged points of Northeren Europe at the end of the Pleictozene: The Brommean

The oldest taxonomic unit of the tanged point complex during the last Glacial in N/E Europe is the Brommean, which is known from a narrow zone following the young moraine area around the Baltic Ice Lake, from Denmark, northern Germany, northern … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Azilian / Federmesser from the Reinhausen Forest (Lower Saxonia)

After I moved from Vienna to Germany in 1974, I often visited Rock shelters in the Reinhausen Forest south of the City of Göttingen (Lower Saxony, Central Germany) together with my girlfriend. Being inspired by the numerous Abris in the Vezere valley, we began … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hunting Prey and collecting Hazelnuts in the European Mesolithic

Waterlogged peat prevents organic finds from oxidizing and has led to some of the best preservation conditions for organic material possible. Many “bog findings” were made during and between the wars in Denmark. The Danes just needed turf for fuel … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mesolithic Tranchet Axe (Oldesloe-Type) from Schleswig

  A tranchet axe is a lithic tool made by removing a flake, known, when using this method, as a tranchet flake, parallel to the final intended cutting edge of the tool which creates a single straight edge as wide … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Clearing dark Woods during the Neolithic of Central and North Europa

These are some heavy flint-axes from late Neolithic scandinavia, wich were used for wood-cleaning. Europe has some of the highest cropland area in the world. Forest clearing in Europe has been documented as far back as the Neolithic culture some … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Interpersonal Violence in Paleolithic and Mesolithic Societies

These are razor sharp microlithic arrowheads from the middle to late Ertebølle period. Such artifacts could not only be successfully used for hunting animals, but also for killing humans. Biological anthropologists argue for a continuity of an aggressive instinct from … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Late Mesolithic at Budel / NL

Late Mesolithic Microliths from Budel, a small village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. The raw material is flint and a very fine grained Quartzite (most probably Wommersom Quartzite, from a raw material procurement area 80 km away). With … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mesolithic Pics from Portugal

Pics, made from medium sized beach pebbles from the Douro River, near Vila Nova de Gaia / Portugal. Picks can be can be found at sites of virtually any pre- and protohistoric sites in Galicia and the Northern Atlantic Fassade … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thumbnail Scrapers

Thumbnail scrapers are, as the name suggests, very tiny. Usually they are retouched around the top and along the sides of the flake or a short blade. Although a limited number of such artifacts from Mesolithic sites have been recognized … Continue reading

Posted in Plaeolithics and Neolithics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment