Articles

A site of the Tjonger tradition along the Schipsloot at Een (gemeente of Norg, province of Drenthe, the Netherlands)

Authors

  • P. Houtsma
  • J.J. Roodenberg
  • J. Schilstra

Abstract

(p. 73)

In this article an Upper Palaeolithic site at Een (province of Drenthe, the Netherlands) is described. In the course of an excavation the first and third authors collected a total number of 8785 flint artefacts and several larger stones (including pieces of granite), that must have been brought to the spot by Palaeolithic hunters. An overview of the flint material can be found under 5.1 and 5.2.1. From a cultural point of view the site clearly belongs to the so-called Federmesser tradition, or (according to the currently accepted nomenclature in the Netherlands) the Tjonger tradition. Characteristic elements include: considerable numbers of Tjonger points among the points, backed blades, and large quantities of (usually short) scrapers (46.6 % of the tools). Some conspicuous components of the material include two Creswellian points, and six points resembling shouldered points, that are reminiscent of the Hamburgian tradition.

Stratigraphically the finds occur at the boundary between 2 layers of coversand, that are to be regarded as Younger Cover sand I and Younger Cover sand II, respectively. The “layer of Usselo”, that one would expect to find at this level, was not visible.

During the excavation ten basin-shaped depressions were found, that must have originated in a periglacial environment during the first part of the Late Dryas (see Casparie & ter Wee, this volume), as well as a number of frost cracks. It is clear that most of these basins originated (relatively soon) after the occupation. In the case of one basin, however, artefacts occurred both at the bottom of the basin and in the undisturbed culture level above the basin. This means that either this basin originated durin'g the occupation period (which must in that case be dated in the first part of the Late Dryas), or that there were (at least) 2 occupation phases, of which in any case the latter must have the dating mentioned.

Published

1981-12-15

Issue

Section

Articles