Ahrensburg culture

The Ahrensburg culture or Ahrensburgian (11th to 10th millennia BCE) was a late
Upper Paleolithic nomadic hunter culture (or technocomplex) in north-central Europe during
the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaciation resulting in
deforestation and the formation of a tundra with bushy arctic white birch and rowan. The most
important prey was the wild reindeer. The earliest definite finds of arrow and bow date to this
culture, though these weapons might have been invented earlier. The Ahrensburgian was
preceded by the Hamburg and Federmesser cultures and superseded by mesolithic cultures
(Maglemosian). Ahrensburgian finds were made in southern and western Scandinavia, the
North German plain and western Poland. The Ahrensburgian area also included vast stretches
of land now at the bottom of the North and Baltic Sea, since during the Younger Dryas the
coastline took a much more northern course than today.
The culture is named after a tunnel valley near the village of Ahrensburg, 25 km (16 mi)
northeast of Hamburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, where Ahrensburg find
layers were excavated in Meiendorf, Stellmoor and Borneck. While these as well as the
majority of other find sites date to the Young Dryas, the Ahrensburgian find layer in Alt
Duvenstedt has been dated to the very late Allerd, thus possibly representing an early stage
of Ahrensburgian which might have corresponded to the Bromme culture in the north.
Artefacts with tanged points are found associated with both the Bromme and the Ahrensburg
cultures.

Contents

1 Origin

2 Stellmoor

3 Scandinavia, Hensbacka group

4 See also

5 References

Origin

An Ahrensburg arrowhead.
Ahrensburg 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 Blling and Allerd
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.[1]
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
Blling period, the brief Dryas II glaciation (lasting 300 years) and in the early warmer
Allerd 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 the Danish Isles after circa 12.300 calBC.
The "Backed Point" lithics of Federmesser culture are usually dated in the Allerd
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. Fish-hooks were discovered in Allerd
layers and emphasize 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 Allerd 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,[2]
although other sources hold early Bromme not to be very well defined in (late Allerd)
Northern Germany,[3] where it groups with Federmesser.
Ahrensburg culture is normally associated with the Younger Dryas glacialization and the Preboreal 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,[3]
strengthening proposals to a direct derivation from the Havelte stage of the Hamburg culture.
[4]
Some recent finds, such as the Hintersee 24 site in southern Landkreis VorpommernGreifswald, 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.[5] 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 the Federmesser 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 Slbjerg) 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.[6] This corresponds with the
notion that "tanged point cultures" such as "Brommian" or "Bromme-Lyngby" appear to be
based on the Magdalenian, during the Allerd and were closely associated with reindeer
hunting.[7]

Stellmoor
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 flint. 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.

Scandinavia, Hensbacka group

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.[8][9][10] 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.
[3]