No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper leverages multivariate statistics to explore the composition of 54 Mesolithic assemblages located in south-eastern Norway. To provide analytical control pertaining to factors such as variable excavation practices, systems for artefact categorisation and raw-material availability, the sites chosen for analysis have all been excavated relatively recently and have a constrained geographical distribution. The assemblages were explored following two strains of analysis. The first of these entailed the use of artefact categories that are established within Norwegian Mesolithic archaeology, while the other involved drawing on measures that have been linked directly to land-use and mobility patterns associated with lithic assemblages more widely. The findings pertaining to the established artefact categories largely reflect the temporal development previously reported in Norwegian Mesolithic research, which has been based on more subjectively driven methods. Furthermore, the chronological trends associated with variables taken from the so-called Whole Assemblage Behavioural Indicators (e.g. Clark and Barton 2017), originally devised for characterising Palaeolithic assemblages in terms of associated mobility patterns, also align with the development previously proposed in the literature. This provides an initial indication that these measures are applicable in a Norwegian Mesolithic setting as well, setting the stage for a more targeted and rigorous model evaluation outside this exploratory setting. Furthermore, this finding supports the notion that these measures can offer a powerful comparative tool in the analysis of lithic assemblages more generally.

As a result of glacio-isostatic rebound, large regions of Fennoscandia have undergone a process of relative sea-level fall following the retreat of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. Furthermore, coastal Stone Age sites in the region appear to have been predominantly located on or close to the shoreline when they were in use. Based on their altitude relative to the present-day sea-level, this can be combined with a reconstruction of past relative sea-level change to assign an approximate date to when the sites were in use. This method, called shoreline dating, has been used in the region since the early 1900s (e.g. Brøgger, 1905) and is still widely applied today (e.g. Manninen et al., 2021;Solheim & Persson, 2018).