“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” – Mesolithic Colonisation Processes and Landscape Usage of the Inner-Alpine Region Kleinwalsertal (Prov. Vorarlberg, Western Austria)

Abstract

The region Kleinwalsertal (Vorarlberg, Austria) represents one of the numerous little-known archaeological areas of the Austrian Alps. Here, over 90 sites were found since the 1980s, including surficial flint scatters as well as excavated sites, mainly attributable to the Mesolithic. Because of its high number of archaeological sites, the Kleinwalsertal is a singular micro-region in the context of the Mesolithic of Western Austria. It is the intention of this article to examine the archaeological landscape Kleinwalsertal and the usage of this habitat during the Boreal and Older Atlantic (11500–7000 BP). To obtain a most complete picture, the sites and their material culture were studied via various methodological approaches. The synthesis of the data aims to answer questions regarding the actual function of the sites as well as landscape usage and mobility patterns throughout the Mesolithic in the study area and its adjacent regions. In addition, the position of the Kleinwalsertal between the Mesolithic traditions of Southern Germany, Switzerland, and Northern Italy is examined. Contacts between these regions are known, yet little is clear about the chronological framework and the ways in which these “borderlands” were occupied. To contribute to international research on this issue, basic and comparable data on the Mesolithic of western Austria are generated. They indicate that the Kleinwalsertal was part of a human network with far-reaching connections, embodying influences from the north, south, and south-west. Thus, it becomes evident that during the Mesolithic there were indeed no mountains high enough to hamper human mobility and possibly contacts.