A sealed flint knapping site from the Younger Dryas in the Scheldt valley (Belgium): Bridging the gap in human occupation at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in W Europe

Crombé, Philippe; Sergant, Joris; Verbrugge, Arne; Graeve, Arne De; Cherretté, Bart; Mikkelsen, Jari; Cnudde, Veerle; Kock, Tim De; Huisman, Hans; Os, Bertil van; Strydonck, Mark Van; Boudin, Mathieu

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2014.07.021

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Remouchamps, Budel IV, Geldorp I) (see Weber et al , for details). Setting aside the similarity in projectile point morphology, flint technological analyses link the Ahrensburgian to the ABP (De Bie, 1999), perhaps suggesting its origin within the Federmessergruppen in the Benelux region, potentially signalled by sites such as Ruien ‘Rosalinde’ in the Belgian Scheldt valley (Crombé et al , ).…”

Section: The Lateglacial Colonization Of North‐west Europementioning

confidence: 99%

A Lateglacial archaeological site in the far north‐west of Europe at Rubha Port an t‐Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland: Ahrensburgian‐style artefacts, absolute dating and geoarchaeology

Mithen

Wicks

Pirie

et al. 2015

J Quaternary Science

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The exact pattern, process and timing of the human re-colonization of northern Europe after the end of the last Ice Age remain controversial. Recent research has provided increasingly early dates for at least pioneer explorations of latitudes above 54˚N in many regions, yet the far north-west of the European landmass, Scotland, has remained an unexplained exception to this pattern. Although the recently described Hamburgian artefacts from Howburn and an assemblage belonging to the arch-backed point complex from Kilmelfort Cave have established at least a sporadic human presence during earlier stages of the Lateglacial Interstadial, we currently lack evidence for Younger Dryas/Greenland Stadial 1 (GS-1) activity other than rare stray finds that have been claimed to be of Ahrensburgian affiliation but are difficult to interpret in isolation. We here report the discovery of chipped stone artefacts with technological and typological characteristics similar to those of the continental Ahrensburgian at a locality in western Scotland. A preliminary analysis of associated tephra, pollen and phytoliths, along with microstratigraphic analysis, suggest the artefacts represent one or more episodes of human activity that fall within the second half of GS-1 and the Preboreal period.

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Section: The Lateglacial Colonization Of North‐west Europementioning

confidence: 99%

A Lateglacial archaeological site in the far north‐west of Europe at Rubha Port an t‐Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland: Ahrensburgian‐style artefacts, absolute dating and geoarchaeology

Mithen

Wicks

Pirie

et al. 2015

J Quaternary Science

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“…For the Scheldt valley, the neighboring site of Ruien shows a lot of potential in this regard. Despite dating to the very start of the Younger Dryas, its lithic assemblage has a very 'Mesolithic' character, due to its almost exclusive focus on bladelet production and the use of direct percussion with a soft hammerstone (Crombé, Sergant, et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most important technological differences remaining involve the larger proportion of blades in Final Palaeolithic industries and the greater standardization of the blanks produced. Although even this is not necessarily always the case, as shown by the lithic industry of Ruien (Crombé, Sergant, et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formalized Reduction Sequences from the Site of Kerkhove, Belgium – New Perspectives on Early Mesolithic Flint Knapping

Vandendriessche

Crombé

2020

Lithic Technology

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The refitting of eight Early Mesolithic artefact clusters yielded a detailed image of the flint knapping methods applied at the site of Kerkhove (BE). Apart from apparent intra-site variability, the analysis revealed a greater investment in core-shaping than is traditionally present in Early Mesolithic assemblages, combined with a clear preference for bladelet production organized from alternatingly used, opposed striking platforms. Both elements, unprecedented to some extent in Northwestern Europe, indicate continuity between Early Mesolithic technological traditions and those of the preceding, Final-Palaeolithic period.

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“…The Scheldt basin in NW Belgium has been chosen as a study area because of its rich and varied prehistoric heritage (Crombé, , ; Crombé & Robinson, ; Crombé et al, ; Crombé, Sergant, Robinson, & De Reu, ). The oldest evidence of human presence dates back to the Middle Paleolithic, however, the vast majority of sites belong to the Final Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic; from ca.…”

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Scheldt basin in NW Belgium has been chosen as a study area because of its rich and varied prehistoric heritage (Crombé, 2005a(Crombé, , 2005bCrombé & Robinson, 2017;Crombé et al, 2014;Crombé, Sergant, Robinson, & De Reu, 2011 soil acidity, most of these sites yielded only stone artifacts, some of them heavily weathered by the formation of a patina, frost, and/or burning. These weathered artifacts have so far been mostly excluded from the use-wear studies performed at some of these sites, based on the assumption that weathering affected these traces in such a way that they are not or only partially preserved (Beugnier & Crombé, 2005Gueret, 2013;Tomasso, Rots, Perdaen, Crombez, & Meylemans, 2015).…”

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary characterization of flint raw material used on prehistoric sites in NW Belgium

et al. 2018

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This study aims at analyzing the mineralogical, chemical, and structural characteristics of flint raw material used for the production of prehistoric stone tools in NW Belgium. Understanding these characteristics is important to recognize their value for tool making and even tool use during prehistory. Due to its formation process, flint is defined by a wide variety of internal structures, chemical variations, and impurities. Moreover, alteration processes cause additional chemical and structural changes complicating the study of this material. Archaeological artifacts often display alteration features, mostly expressed as patination or burning, leading them to be regularly discarded from the functional analysis of lithic tools. By not incorporating these artifacts, our understanding of the investigated assemblage is biased. It is therefore important to investigate the influence of flint characteristics on its weathering behavior, and the impact of preservation of prehistoric use‐wear traces on flint artifacts. The characteristics of flint raw material and natural patination were studied using a combination of different techniques, such as macroscopic analysis, optical microscopy, X‐ray fluorescence, and high‐resolution X‐ray computed tomography. This resulted in a detailed description and distinction of the different flint variants used on prehistoric sites in NW Belgium and a good understanding of patination.

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A sealed flint knapping site from the Younger Dryas in the Scheldt valley (Belgium): Bridging the gap in human occupation at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in W Europe

Cited by 12 publications

References 37 publications

A Lateglacial archaeological site in the far north‐west of Europe at Rubha Port an t‐Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland: Ahrensburgian‐style artefacts, absolute dating and geoarchaeology

A Lateglacial archaeological site in the far north‐west of Europe at Rubha Port an t‐Seilich, Isle of Islay, western Scotland: Ahrensburgian‐style artefacts, absolute dating and geoarchaeology

Formalized Reduction Sequences from the Site of Kerkhove, Belgium – New Perspectives on Early Mesolithic Flint Knapping

Preliminary characterization of flint raw material used on prehistoric sites in NW Belgium

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