Lundby Moses
Lundby Mose and Sværgborg Mose are neighboring wetlands in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark and are known for their many post-glacial living spaces and, since 1999, for six elk bone depots .
The majority of the findings is derived from the classic Maglemosefundstellen (9000-6400 v. Chr.) Lundby I-III and Sværgborgbopladsen. At the time they were used, aurochs , elk and deer were common game. Hundreds of harpoons show that fish, probably pike , were also hunted.
A completely new type of find in Lundby Mose and in this cultural milieu are elk bones deposited like a depot , which were excavated and dated to around 9,200 BC. Were dated. The elk bones of one or more animals (in depots 1-4) have cut marks and almost all of them have been split in order to obtain the marrow. The bones were probably sacrificed and taken to the lake, which was lying here at the time and is now moored. Since they were found close together, the assumption is that the bones were bundled. Depot 5 was different: Here the broken bones of elk, horse, roe deer and red deer lay close together. A complete upper body and three long bones were found of the elk, one of which showed signs of processing. The upper body of the elk and the long bones seem to be a meat and raw material depot that was later to be recovered. This is also supported by the location of this landfill close to the former bank. The sixth dump is also different: intact bones of an elk were scattered over a few square meters. Presumably pieces of meat were deliberately put down.
There are hardly any artifacts in the elk bone dumps . In Depot 1 there was a cross-ax made of elk antlers, which has parallels to early Mesolithic sites in northern Germany and represents a key form of the Maglemose culture. A find from Depot 3 is impressive. The fragment of an arrowhead was stuck in the sternum of the elk. Therefore it is difficult to determine the type; it is probably a microlith retouched at the top. Similar projectiles were discovered in the aurochs near Vig , which had been shot by early Mesolithic hunters in the preboreal but then sank in the moor. Some flint blades were found in Depot 5 .
The pollen analyzes and 14C dates place depot 6 and the hatchet from depot 1 at the beginning of the Holocene , namely in the time before the short preboreal cold setback around 9200 BC. BC Lundby Mose not only represents the oldest Maglemose site in Denmark, the findings are also older than well-known (early Mesolithic) sites such as Duvensee in Schleswig-Holstein , Friesack in Brandenburg and Star Carr in England . The deposited elk bones also show that the elk had replaced reindeer as the main game soon after the end of the Younger Dryas period and that Denmark was not a deserted area at the transition to the post-ice age. The next Maglemose settlement in Lundby Mose is more than 100 m from the ice hole where the elk finds. So far it has not been possible to establish a connection between living space and landfills. The dead pond was away from the settlement and was probably not visible from there.
literature
- Chris Scarre (Ed.): The Human Past. World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies. Thames & Hudson, London 2005, ISBN 0-500-28531-4 .
Coordinates: 56 ° 58 ′ 20.4 " N , 9 ° 59 ′ 42.8" E