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How Fishy was the Inland Mesolithic? New Data from Friesack, Brandenburg, Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2018

John Meadows ,
Harry K Robson ,
Daniel Groß ,
Charlotte Hegge ,
Harald Lübke ,
Ulrich Schmölcke ,
Thomas Terberger  and
Bernhard Gramsch
John Meadows*
Affiliation:
Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany Leibniz-Laboratory for AMS Dating and Isotope Research, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Max-Eyth-Str. 11-13, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Harry K Robson
Affiliation:
Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany BioArCh Laboratory, University of York, Wentworth Way, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
Daniel Groß
Affiliation:
Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany
Charlotte Hegge
Affiliation:
Institute for Natural Resource Conservation, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Harald Lübke
Affiliation:
Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany
Ulrich Schmölcke
Affiliation:
Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schloss Gottorf, 24837 Schleswig, Germany
Thomas Terberger
Affiliation:
Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage, Hannover, Germany
Bernhard Gramsch
Affiliation:
Retired; formerly Brandenburg State Office for Preservation of Monuments and State Archaeological Museum, Potsdam, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: jmeadows@leibniz.uni-kiel.de.
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Abstract

Recent studies have shown that faunal assemblages from Mesolithic sites in inland Northern Europe contain more fish remains than previously thought, but the archaeological and archaeozoological record does not reveal the dietary importance of aquatic species to hunter-gatherer-fishers, even at a societal level. For example, the function of bone points, as hunting weapons or fishing equipment, has long been debated. Moreover, traditional methods provide no indication of variable subsistence practices within a population. For these reasons, paleodietary studies using stable isotope analyses of human remains have become routine. We present radiocarbon (14C) and stable isotope data from nine prehistoric human bones from the Early Mesolithic-Early Neolithic site of Friesack 4, and isotopic data for local terrestrial mammals (elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, aurochs, beaver) and freshwater fish (European eel, European perch). The reference data allow individual paleodiets to be reconstructed. Using paleodiet estimates of fish consumption, and modern values for local freshwater reservoir effects, we also calibrate human 14C ages taking into account dietary reservoir effects. Although the number of individuals is small, it is possible to infer a decline in the dietary importance of fish from the Preboreal to the Boreal Mesolithic, and an increase in aquatic resource consumption in the Early Neolithic.

Keywords

freshwater reservoir effectMesolithicNeolithicpaleodietstable isotopes
Type
Regional Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 60 , Special Issue 5: 2nd Radiocarbon in the Environment Conference, Debrecen, Hungary, July 3–7, 2017 Part 2 of 2 and Radiocarbon & Diet 2 International Conference Aarhus, Denmark, June 20–23, 2017 , October 2018 , pp. 1621 - 1636
Copyright
© 2018 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

1

current address: Wielandstr. 21, 14471 Potsdam, Germany.

Selected Papers from the 2nd International Radiocarbon and Diet Conference: Aquatic Food Resources and Reservoir Effects, 20–23 June 2017, Aarhus, Denmark

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