Eight new Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene AMS dates from the south-eastern Baltic

• Published in: Radiocarbon
• Main Authors: Philippsen, Bente, Ivanovaite, Livija, Makhotka, Kirill, Sauer, Florian Rudolf, Riede, Felix, Olsen, Jesper
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Antler axes; Early Mesolithic; Final Palaeolithic; barbed points; reindeer; REINDEER RANGIFER-TARANDUS; RADIOCARBON; REGION; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/eight-new-late-pleistoceneearly-holocene-ams-dates-from-the-southeastern-baltic(14b2fa6c-20d1-4a38-830f-29157a6d7957).html; https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2018.153; https://pure.au.dk/ws/files/142981071/eight_new_late_pleistocene_early_holocene_ams_dates_from_the_southeastern_baltic.pdf; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062827490&partnerID=8YFLogxK

Only a limited number of radiometric dates for the Final Palaeolithic and the first half of the Mesolithic are available from the south-eastern Baltic. This paper presents eight new Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene AMS radiocarbon ages of osseous artefacts housed at the Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Art. These artefacts include one piece of worked reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler, three axes of the so-called ‘Lyngby’ type, one bone point, one uniserial harpoon, one so-called bâton percé antler shaft, and one slotted bone. All the samples were successfully dated and yielded five Late Pleistocene and three Early Holocene ages, including the hitherto earliest age for human occupation in the Eastern Baltic. The dates include not only a surprisingly early date for a bone point (for this region), but also some dates that contradict expected ages based on the traditional typological assessment. Our study significantly adds to the still small number of existing absolutely dated artefacts from the region, as well as proposing new ways of viewing the Final Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic chronology in the south-eastern Baltic. Only a limited number of radiometric dates for the Final Palaeolithic and the first half of the Mesolithic are available from the southeastern Baltic. This paper presents eight new Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (14C AMS) ages of osseous artifacts housed at the Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Art. These artifacts include one piece of worked reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler, three axes of the so-called Lyngby type, one bone point, one uniserial harpoon, one so-called bâton percé antler shaft, and one slotted bone. All the samples were successfully dated and yielded five Late Pleistocene and three Early Holocene ages, including the hitherto earliest age for human occupation in the Eastern Baltic. The dates include not only a surprisingly early date for a bone point (for this region), but also some dates that contradict ...