A S ITE OF TH E H A MBU R G T R A D ITION WITH A CON STR U CTED
H E A R TH N EA R OLD E H OLTWOLD E
( P ROVI N C E O F F R I ESLAND, THE N ET H E RL ANDS); FI RST R E PORT
Dick S tapert
CONT ENTS
I . INTROD UCTION
2. T H E INVEST I GAT I ON
J. T H E GEOG R A P H ICAL SITUATION
4. T H E STRATIGRAP H Y
4. I . Oldeholtwolde
4.2. Oldeholtpa
4.3. A few summarizing remarks
5. T H E H EARTH AND OT H E R CONFIGURATIONS OF STONES
6. DISCUSS ION OF T H E TWO CI4-DATINGS
7. TYPOLOGY OF T H E POINTS
8. DISCUSSION
9. S U M M A RY
1 0. REFERENCES
53
54
D. STAPERT
I I N T R OD U CTION
Nea r Oldeholtwolde i n the valley of t he river
Tj o nger a si te of the Hamburg tra dition was
e x ca vated in 1 980 and 1 98 1 by the B. AJ. The
e x ca vation provide d i m po rtant data, n ota bly
con cerning t he dati ng. From a stratigraphi­
cal poi nt of v iew the site can be dated t o
j ust before the begin n i n g o f t h e Allercpd
i ntersta dial (see unde r 4.1 . ) . Moreover a large
con st ructed hea rt h was found, i n which
(relative ly little) charcoal was present. This
provi de d the o pport unity of e stabli sh i ng a
CI4-dating, the first i n the Netherlan ds for a
site of the Hamburg tra dit io n (see under 5 .
a n d 6 . ).
This first report will con centrate mainly on
t he sit ua t io n in t he landscape, t he strati graphy,
t he hea rt h , a n d t he C 1 4-da t ings. Wit h regard
to the flint material that was found, in this
report only a few points a re i llustrate d a s they
a ppea r to support the proposed dating.
Many person s and i n stitut i o n s have been of
a ssistance a t vari o us stages, both with t he
work at the site, a n d later with the analysis of
t he data i n the i n st itute. I t i s i m pra cticable to
name them all here, b ut several of them m ust
not remain un ment ioned. I n the fi rst pla ce
J . Boschker ( Frisian Museum), who not
o n ly discovere d the site and prevented
its destruct ion, but a l so di d a lot of work
during the e x cavations; also the Government
Serv i ce for Land and Water Use, that gave
all ne cessary coo peration for t he proje ct
(e specia lly i n the pe rson of E .1. Winter) , a n d
t h a t provi de d it, moreover, with a substantial
subsidy . I hereby wish t o offer my grateful
thanks to all those peo ple (several dozen) who
a re not mentioned h e re b y name who helped
in one way o r another to make the e x cavation
a success.
For their help i n the prepa ration of this
a rt i cle I a m furtherm o re i n debted to the
following person s: G. Delge r, H . R . Roel i n k,
J .M. S mit a n d W.J . Dij kema (B. AJ. ) for
the drawi ngs; F. W. E . Colly (B. A. I . ) a n d D .
Visser (Fri sian Museum) for the photos;
G . J . Boekschoten (Geologi ca l I n stitute, G ro­
n i nge n), B. van Geel ( H ugo de Vries Labora­
tory, Amsterdam), J .N . Lanting (B. A. I.), J . L.
Smit ( B. A. I. ) and M. W. ter Wee ( R . G . D . :
Geological �urvey o f the Netherla nds, north­
ern dist ri ct) fo r critica lly reading the text;
H i llie Klaasse ns ( B.A. I .) for typing the manu­
script ; Sheila M. va n Gelder-Ottway for the
translat ion into Engli sh .
Fig. I. Map of the Netherlands showing the location of
t he site at Oldeholtwolde. (Drawing 1. M . Smit, B.A.I.).
2. T HE I NVES T I G AT I ON
Wit hin the framework of t he Midde n-Tj onger
land real lo cation project work was com­
mence d o n a parcel of lan d at Olde ho lt­
wol de (mun i ci pality of Weststelli ngwerf), where
shortly before an o ld farmhouse had been de­
molished, to make it suitable for agri cult ura l
use . Foundations and tree trunks we re dug
o ut and the terra i n was levelle d to a ce rtain
degree. In the course of this work , that wa s
done by ma chine, in the fi rst week of April
1 980 fli nt a rtefacts a ppea re d, that were
noticed by J . Boschker, the field assi stant of
the Frisian Muse um i n Lee uwa rde n . H e
recognized t h e material a s belo nging t o the
Hamb urg tra dition, tempora ri ly put a st op to
the work in con cert with the G overnment
Service for La nd a n d Wa ter U se a n d wa rned
the B. A. I. D uri ng a re co n n a i ssa n ce it
a ppea red that the fin ds (in sofa r as they had
not a lrea dy been removed b y the mach i ne)
were pre sent i n an un di st urbe d po sition un de r
t.
ca rry o ut an excavation. Th i s commenced on
April 2 1 st 1 980, and continue d i n t he first
"
A site of the Hamburg tradition
55
I
Fig. 2. Sketch-map of the cadastral
situation around the site at Olde­
holtwolde as it was before the land
reallocation project was effected.
Black rectangle: excavation site.
Based on the Topographical Map
of the Netherlands, sheet 1 6 B .
( Drawing G . D.elger,
instance u ntil Ma y 1 4t h , 1 980.
During this i nitial campa ign mainly that
pa rt of the terrain that had been distur bed by
t he mach ine was dug out, while a long profile
wa s c reated in w h i c h t he s t ra t ig ra ph y
could b e studied. The hearth described below
was fou nd , but o nly a smal l part of it
waS excavated . The excavation was stopped
beca use of the problems caused by wind ­
blown sand , notably t he deterioration i n t he
q uality of t he observations . It was decided t o
continue e xca vating in t h e a utumn u nder a
tent . Mea nwhile the terrain was cove red ove r
with chicken-wire a nd sand . The second
e xca vation campaign ( u nder a tent) lasted
200 m
L.-�_-'--�_--"
fro m September 1 st u nt i l December 1 6t h ,
1 980. Duri ng this campaign t h e central pa rt of
t he site, with t he hearth, was e xcavated for t he
most pa rt. The t hi rd a nd last ca m paign took
place from April 2 1 s t u nt i l May 2 1 s t , 198 1 .
D u ri ng this period t he rema ining pa rt o f the
site was excavated . In addition, t o t he east of
the site a s e a rc h was made fo r other
concent rations, by means of a series of t rial
pits (see fig. 1 3) , but without a ny success. To
t he north of the site the terrain was deeply
distu rbed in connection with the demolition
of the fa rmhouse, a nd from t he mead ow to
t he west of the site a laye r of sand had already
been d ug away pre viously, so the chances of
V>
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trl
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....,
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3cm
I
�� � recons!.�ctE�.core from Oldeholtwolde. This piece has 108 components. The cor� has been fashioned out of a slab-like piece of flint; core preparation'
is clearly demonstrated in the composition. (Refitting by ).s. Knst; photo F.W.E. Colly, B.A.I.).
A site of the Hamburg tradition
preservation there of Upper Pa leolithic finds
a re fai r ly small.
A tota l a rea of 133 m2 (apa rt from the trial
pits in the mea dow t o the east of t he site
and several profile trenches outside the
concentrat ion) wa s systema t' ically excavated
over a pe ri o d·of about 23 weeks (see fig . 28).
The di sturba nce in t he ea ste rn corner of the
e xcavated terrain was ca used by an earth­
moving machine: this dist u rbance caused t he
destruction of pa rt of the central a rea of the
concentration. From t he loose soil of this spot
a nu mbe r of flints we re obta ine d by mea ns of
sievi ng, but probably not eve rything was
found t hat had been s hifted by the mac h i ne .
Along t h e southe rn r i m o f the e xcavation
terra in t here runs an old fi lled -in ditch that is
also indica ted on the cad astral ma p (fig. 2). I n
addition, in t he western half of the te rrain a
maj o r dist urbance is i ndicated. This is where
a tree was prese nt , but fortunately o nly a
small pa 9t of t he peripheral zone of the
concentration has been disturbed o n accou nt
of this, The ot her disturbances i ndicated i n fig.
28 a re mostly s ha l low and a re located outside
the central pa rt of the concentration.
Exca vation was d o ne i n the usual way pe r
sq u a re metre, each square metre being named
acco rdi ng to the coordi nates of its north
poi nt . The X-li ne of t h e mea suri ng system
ru ns from the %
poi nt to the S W , t he V-l i ne
to t he S E . As a gene ra l rule the work was
do ne using trowels. A ll fi nds made ( i ncluding
fli nt splinte rs, a nd fragments of charcoal
larger than c. 3 m m) were individua lly num­
bered a nd st ored in small plast ic bags. A
total nu m be r of c . 6700 finds were reco rde d.
I n the field the fo llowing da ta were noted o n
punch-card forms for each recorded find:
X-coordi nate, Y-coordinate, he ight (all i n
cm), whether o r not disturbed (roots, mole
tunnels), laye r or soil horizo n, horizontal,
ve rtical o r slopi ng pos ition (in the latte r case it
w a s noted i n w hic h compass di rection the
object was slopi ng, divided into 4 sectors),
date .
All exca vated soil was sieved pe r square
metre (mesh wid t h 4 mm), topsoil and soil of
u ndisturbe d o rigi n being t reated separately.
A number of profiles were drawn a nd
photographe d (see fig . 1 0) . As a general ru le
t he pre pa re d sufaces we re d ra w n a nd
photographed at seve ral levels. Within t he
cent ra l pa rt of t he site, with the hearth,
drawings a nd photos we re made a t c . 10
57
levels o n a ve rage, while i n a ddition stereo­
ph otos were taken of the stone constructions.
A ll stones larger than c . 2 cm were i ndicated
in the drawings. After the e xcavation all the
'
finds (e xcept for t he spl i nters, charcoal
pa rticles, a nd such l i ke) were numbe red with
ink, and the following da ta we re recorded :
sort of material, whether or not burnt, whether
or not broken ( i n t he case of the fli nts it was
noted whethe r distal, medial or proxi mal
fragments we re concerne d) , techno logica l a nd
typo logical classification of the fli nt tools,
length , breadth a nd thickness (fo r the flints
length a nd b readt h were mea sured as the s i des
of a circumscribing recta ngle that a re res­
pecti vely, para llel to and at right a ngels to
the striking direct ion; for t he stones the max.
length of the specimen is used as longit udi nal
a xis of the circumscribing rectangle), w hether
or not the 'work i ng edges' a re da maged , t he
presence of cortex a nd/ or old frost-split
surfaces on t he dorsal faces of t he flints
(categories of 25%).
All data collected we re subsequent ly read
i nto a computer file by means of t he term i nal
present at t he B. A . I . The a na lysis of these
da ta, notably t he i nvestigation of spatial
patte rns within t he excavated material, is
being carried out by J. L . Smit as pa rt of his
ad vance d studies in prehistory.
Two o t h e r s t u de nt s of pre h i s t o ry i n
G ro ni ngen, J . S . Krist a nd A . L . Za ndbergen,
are occ upi ed , respect ive ly, with fitt ing to­
gether the fl i nt artefacts (for an example of
a reconstructed core see fig . 3), and with
fi tting together the' broken stones (for an
e xam pl e see fig. 4) . ThL' gL'ol ogy of the region
a round the site is bei ng studied by M. W . ter
Wee, who in t h is connect ion has made a
series of borings transversely through the
Tjo nger va lley in the vic i nity of the site. The
C l 4 - de t e rm i na t i o ns w e re m a de i n t he
C 1 4-la boratory i n G ro ningen under the
s upervision of W . G . Mo ok. The charcoa l
fragments that were col lected will be i de nt­
ified, as fa r as possible, by W .A . Cas parie
( B. A . I . ) . A pollen a na lysis of a Late G lacial
peat layer fou nd close to the site (see u nder
4. \. ) was carried out by S . Bottema ( B. A . I . ) .
Ingel ise L. M . Stuijts ( B. A . I .) i dent ified a num­
ber 'of wood fragments that were collected
from the same peat layer (see u nder 4 . \. ) .
The pet rological ident ificat ion o f t he stones
fou nd will ,be made by G . J . Boekschoten.
It is also intended that the t races of use o n
58
D. STAPERT
Fig: 4. One ofthe reconstructed sandstone slabs ( Dala-sandstone) from Oldeholtwolde. This is one of the few examples of 2
slabs (splitted along a natural bedding plane) fitting on top of each other. The composition has 41 components, and
weights c. 2564 grams. ( Refitting by A.L. Zandbergen; photo F. W.E. Colly, B.A.I.). Scale in cm.
A site of the Hamburg tradition
o
1cm
....
' -___....l'
Fig. 5. A piece ( two views) of red ochre' from
Oldeholtwolde. There are several rubbed surfaces
present with subparallel scratches. (Photo F. W . E . Colly,
B.A. I.).
59
the fli nt artefacts will be the object of stu dy,
by E. H . Moss ( L o ndon).
Apart from h undreds of small p ieces of
charcoal an d a few p ieces of ochre (fig. 5 ) , the
finds consist of 1 0,413 flint artefacts and 1 ,126
s tones.
The t o tal weigh t of all the stones is 46,3 20
gr, a nd that of all the flints c . 4,052 gr,
together somewhat more than 50 kilos. S ince
we are missing a part of the material originally
present , tha t can be estimated as ma x. 1 / 6,
there must have been brought to the site a
tota l weight of c. 60 kilos of stones a n d flin ts.
Accordi ng to the first count ( before the
refitting work), there a re of the to tal of 10,413
Fig: 6 One of the dense accumulations of small flint artefacts. This concentration (with a d iameter of c. 22 cm), was
present about I m southwest of the hearth -t here were several more in a wide circle around the hearth. In the middle of
this concentration there is an empty space; here there probably once lay an object of organic material, t hat eventually
decayed altogether. (Photo F. W,E. Colly, B,A.!'). Scale in cm.
60
D. STAPERT
Fig. 7. Sand-depth map of the region around the site at Oldeholtwolde, composed within the framework of the land
reallocation project Midden-Tjonger. Based on data of Makken & Rutten ( 1 97 1 ). ( Drawing W .]. Dijkema, B.A. I .).
Legend: I . sand at the surface; 2. depth of mineral subsoil (usually sand, sometimes boulder clay) at 1 5-40 cm below the
surface (at the top there is peat); 3. depth of the mineral subsoil at 40-80 cm below the surface; 4. depth of the
mineral subsoil at 80- 1 20 cm below the surface; 5. depth of the mineral subsoil at 1 20-200 cm below the surface; 6.
depth of the mineral subsoil at more than 200 cm below the surface; 7. not mapped; 8. the site.
flint artefacts only 1 ,668 l arge r t han 1 . 5 cm, of
whi ch 339 were cl assifie d as 'tools'. Among
t he remaining c . 8745 'splinters' of flint
(smalle r t han 1 . 5 cm), t he re are 1 36 fragments
o f tools (b roken-off bore r-tips o r b urin-edges,
fragments of points, etc.). More t han 3550
pie ces present are smaller t han 0. 5 cm. These
'micro -s plinters ' presumably have o rigi n ated
l argely as a pro duct of tool-retouching. Many
s pl i n t e rs an d o t he r waste pro ducts of
flintwo rking were fo und l ying close together,
in se veral s mall 'co n ce ntrations', mostly 20 a
30 cm i n di ameter (fig. 6), t hat are i nter­
preted as dumps of seated flintworkers.
Sin ce t he refitting wil l result i n many
broke n tools being fitte d, it is not yet possible
to give a type-list with freque n cies. This wil l be
presente d 10 a future arti cle by Krist, Smit,
Zan d'be rgen an d myself.
It is interesting to note as a prelimi nary
res ult of t he refitting work, t hat a number of
tools do not fit togethe r wit h any othe r pie ce.
A site of the Hamburg tradition
61
Fig. 8 Contour map, constructed on the basis of the Hoogtepuntenkaart van Nederland ( Relief M ap) I : 1 0,000, sheet
1 6B north. Areas lower than I m -N. A. P. ( Dutch Datum Level) a re stippled. An asterisk indicates the site. (Drawing D.
StapertjJ. M . Smit, B . A . !.).
This applies for i n stance to all of the p o i n ts,
which the refore m u st have been carried to the
site from elsewhere ( see for o ther examples of
t he same phenomenon: Leroi-Gourhan &
Brezillon, 1972) .
3 . T H E G EOG R AP H I CA L S IT U AT I ON
The site lies o n the western fri nge of the
Frie s/ Drents p l ateau , in the val ley of the
Tj onge r th at i s about 3 km w i de here. T he site
lies along the Ot tersweg between M i l dam and
Ol deholtwolde (figs. I, 2); the coordi n ate s o n
the Topographical M ap o f the Netherlan ds
( shee t 16B) are: 547. 70 / 196.84. The valley of
t he Tj o nger was originally covere d over with
peat here. Thus the area aro u n d the site is
called ' Veenp o l de r onder Ter I dzard e n
Ol deholtwolde' (Peat polder below Te r I dzard
and Oldeholtwolde), an d from map s of the
first half of the nineteenth century (e.g.
Eekhof, 1840) it appe ars t h at.at this spot peat­
digging was carried out in the p ast .
From a san d-de p th m ap (fig. 7) made
within the framework of the lan d reallocation
project by the Soil Survey Institute of
Wageningen ( M akken & Rutte n , 1 9 7 1 ) it is
evident that within t he valley of the Tj o nger
two mai n stream c h annels are prese n t here.
The southern o ne m u st be regarded as t he
ori g i n al ( Late G l acial) course of the Tj onger,
while the northern one i s a si de -channel of the
former, that meets up with the main chan­
nel about 3 km to t he west of the site.
Immediately to t he east of the si te a smaller
62
D. STAPERT
Fig. 9. The occurrence of boulder­
clay in the region around the site
at Oldeholtwolde. Based on data
of M a k ken & Rutten ( 1 971).
(Drawing W.J. Dij kema, B . A. !.).
Legend: I . boulder-clay practi­
cally at the surface; 2. depth of
boulder-clay at 40-80 cm below
the surface; 3. depth of boulder­
clay at 80-120 cm below the
surface (in a few cases boring sites
are concerned where boulder-clay
was found at depths between
120- 1 50 cm below the surface); 4.
the site.
side-channel is also p resent, so it can be said
that the s i te is located o n a 'peninsula'. This
patte rn is also clea rly visible o n a contour map ·
of the regi on (fig. 8), made after the Hoogte­
punlenkaart (Relief Map) of the Netherla n ds
( l : 10,000, s heet 16B-N) .
From the bor ings made by the R . G . D . it
c a n a l s o be de duced t h a t t he southern channel
is the principal one, bei ng a bout 1 8 m dee p ,
while t h e nort hern one is only c . 5 m deep.
Within these stream channels t he bou l der clay
( Drente Formation, seco n d half of t he Saalian)
has been almost completely ero de d away;
t hey are filled up wit h (from bottom to. top)
brook deposits of t he Twente Formation
(containing coarse material towards the bot­
tom) , Late G lacial cover-san ds (also of the
Twente Formation) and peat (dating from the
La te G lacial and the H olocene) (Ter Wee,
pe rs. comm.). Furt hermore it is evident from
the borings that the channel pattern as shown
in figs. 7 and 8 dates mainly from the Late
Glacial. The southern main channel , for
instance, was almost twice as wide earlier i n
the Weichselian , but during the Late Glacia l ,
mainly during t h e Earl y D ryas, i t became
partly filled up with cover-sand, with the
result that the H oloce ne stream cha n nel is
conspicuously narrower. The site lies at tht:
foot of a slope of a relatively low cuver -san d
r i dg e , a l o n g t h e r i m o f t h e L a t e
Glacial/ Ho locene stream channel, but well
within the originally wider channel i n which
t he bou l de r clay has bee n erode d away. H ere
t he cover-san d lies on top of Pleistocene
brook dep osits.
On a map (ba sed on da ta of Makken &
Rutten, 1 97 1 ) the bo ring-points are i n dicated
where bou l der clay was fou n d within 1 . 2- 1 . 5 m
below the surface (fig. 9). Outs ide these a reas
t he bou l de r clay will have bee n largely or
completely erode d away. As there is n o
bo ulde r clay p resent at the loca tion o f t h e site,
the U pper Paleolithic hu nters must have
brought the flint a n d stones t hat a re present at
the site fro m elsewhere, proba bly over a
distance of 0 . 5 k m , but certainly over a
distance of several hundre d metres.
In view of this situation the spot appears to
be a somewhat disadvantageous one, so it is
important to i n dicate the specific features of
the location in the landscape that may have
i n duce d the people of the Hamburg tradition
to choose this spot.
From the sand-depth map (fig. 7) it is
evident that the valley floor of the Tj onger,
outside the main stream channels, consists of
smaller channels, low cove r-sa nd ridges a n d
p ingo ' remnants. A s a general rule t h e transi­
tion from a cover-sa n d ridge to o ne of the
main stream chan nels is gradual. On ly i n a
few p laces is the slope relatively s teep a n d the
A site of the Hamburg tradition
t ransi tion m o re abrupt, so that what we see on
the map is a bo rder betwee n units ' I and 5 ,
without any i nterme di ate u nits . Th e site i s
located i n precisely such a situ ation, along the
edge of a Late G l aci al / H ol o cene stream
channel , at the foo t of the slope of a cover­
san d ridge . · In my opinion th is is the
essentially important fact with regard to the
environmental situation. A possible reason for
this locati o n cou l d be that the people of the
H am bu rg tradition were o ccu p i ed here with
fishing, among othe r t hi ngs . Seeing t h at
organic m ateri al h as not been p reserved at the
site, this cou l d perhaps o nly be ascertai ne d
archeologi call y by mak i ng an analysis of the
traces of use on fli nt artefacts .
Oth e r e xp l anati o n s are also p oss i bl e ,
however, such as the av ai l abi lity o f ( drinking)
water and/ or brushwood (for fue l), or the
h u nti ng of rei ndeer at a cross i ng place , or a
combination of these. Wh atever the e xpla­
n ation may be , it is i n any case i nterest­
i ng to note t h at t his site is lo cate d alo ng the
bank of a stream channel, at a point where
there is a rel atively abrupt transition to a
cover-s and ridge. A comp arable situ ation is
also known for other sites of the H am bu rg
t radition, for example Sassenhein in the
p rovince of Groningen ( B. A . I. excavation,
1 982) .
4. T H E STRATI G R A P H Y
4. 1 . Ol deholtwol de
In m any p l aces at the site the so-called ' L ayer
of Usselo' was fou n d i n the cover-s and, j ust
(max. a few deci metres) below the topsoi l .
Usually only t h e A 2-horizon was clearly
visible , over a t h i ck ness of c. 1 0 cm . This fossil
p o dsol soil with p arti cles of charco al dates
fro m the A l l e np d i nte rs tadi al ( Van de r
H am me n, 1 95 1 ) . C 1 4-dat i ngs of the charcoal
in this soil u s u ally give figures of aro u nd
1 1 ,000 - 1 0 ;800 B.P. ( Lanting & Mook, 1 977).
Above this soil, where p resent, t he re w as a
thin l ayer of relatively coarse and no t
distinctly l ayere d cover-san d. Below the
'Layer of U ssel o ' finer cover-sand was fou nd
to be present , that was distinctly l ayered (with
p arallel l ayers), and i n addi tio n characterized
by the p resence of thin l o amy bands, that
cou l d sometimes be trace d over a dist ance of
more than 5 m . These l o amy bands increased
63
in n u m ber and t h i ck ness with i ncre asing
de pt h .
Accordi ng to Ter Wee (pers . comm.) the
u pper cov er-s and is Younger Cover-sand 1 1 ,
dep osited du ring the Late D ryas (the l ast
1 000 years of the Wei chseli an). At the site
t his l ayer is generally only a few de cimetres
t h i ck , an d is sometimes absent al together.
A ccording to Ter Wee the cover-s and u n der
the ' Layer of Usselo' is Younger Cover-s and I,
de posited during the Early Dryas-the short
stadial be tween t he B<:/>l l i ng and Alle r <:/>d
i nterstadials (see also Van-der H ammen, 1 95 1 ;
Van der H ammen et aI., 1 967; Ter Wee , 1 966;
1 979) .
The e xcav at e d fi n ds h ave t'. ve r t i cal
distribution of several de cimetres, u p to about
0.5 m , as a result of t he activities of various
burrowing animals (moles etc. ) and roots
( bioturbation). H oweve r, it w as usual l y q u i te
well p ossible to establish the positi o n of the
o rigin al find l aye r, for example from the
p resence of l arge flat sto nes (see u nder 5 . ) that
cou l d no t have been moved very far out of
positi o n . The find level was p resent on
average c. 20 cm below the 'Layer of U sselo '.
This me ans that the people of the H am burg
tradition lived here while the Younger Cover­
san d I w as still bei ng dep osited -for o n
average c . 30 cm o f this sand is p resent above
the fin d leve l . I n view of t he total t h i ck ness of
t he Younger Cover-sand I ( c. 2 m) we can say
that the archeol ogi cal m aterial can be date d
s tratigrap h i cally to shortly before the end of
the Eady D ryas . A ccordi ng to most authors
(e.g. Mangerud et al., 1 974; Lanting & Mo ok,
1 977) this st adial lasted for o nly about 200
years ( 1 2,000- 1 1 ,800 B. P . ) . A ssuming th at the
rate of sedimentation remained approxi mately
constant dur i ng this period, it is con ceivable
th at the H amburg people bivouacked here c.
30 years before t he e n d of this period, i. e.
almost at the begi nning of t he Allercpd
interstadial . This would be assu m i ng that the
period of cover-san d deposition corresponds
t o the duration of t he Ear ly Dryas stadial,
which is not certai n .
F Igure 1 2 s hows a profile o f t h e site, that
h as been o btai ne d by combining t he e xca­
v ation p rofiles I an d 6, an d p rofile B i n a
t re nch immediately to t he south of the
e xcavati o n area (see the m ap , fig. 10) . I n the
deepest p art of p rofile B the follow i ng
s tr atigrap h y is visible (from bottom to top):
yellow san d, brown peat, yellow san d, black
D. STAPERT
64
15
N
x
10
y
I
HEARTH
C
14 SAMPLE
_--.-"¥'I-_ ICHARCOAlI
I
Sm
/'
-=- � -""'8rainage
.t.
-
--CA. BANK OF
RIVER
DURING THE AlLER0D
tNTERSTAD1Al
r
ditch
Fig. 1 0. Sketch-map
of the excavation
area, showing the
profiles that were
drawn. (Drawing D .
Stapert / J . M . Smit,
B.AJ.).
Fig. I I . Photo of the most eastern part of profile 2 (see fig. 1 0). This profile borders on to that part of the site that was
d isturbed by a machine in April 1 980. Below the thin topsoil the 'Layer of Usselo' is visible as a pale band. Underneath it
cover-sand with thin loamy bands is present ( Younger Cover-sand I). In this sand, at an average depth of c. 20 cm"below
the 'Layer of Usselo', the H amburg artefacts were found . The measuring staff is I m long. ( Photo D. Stapert, B . A. I.).
A site of the Hamburg tradition
65
already before the deposition of the brown
pe at.
At this spot also seve ral particles of
charcoal were found bel ow the brown peat
l ayer, in profile B. It seems probable that these
originate d from the hearth at the site (vi si ble
in profile 1 i n fig . 12) , possi bly having bee n
transporte d here by the wind. The profile
tre nches A an d B were otherwise archeo­
l ogically sterile.
From both profile A an d profile B pieces of
w ood we re collected from the brown peat
l aye r in M ay 198 1. These were studied by
Ingel ise L . M . S tuij ts. Out of the total of 24
fragments 17 we re found to consist of Salix
an d 7 of Betula . Stuijts says in he r con cl usion :
'The spe cies of w ood foun d an d the rel atively
thick trunk fragments do not exclude a
dating in the Alle rcJ>d. The l ocal vegetati on
w as probably w ooded peat-bog. This m ore or
less e xcl ude s a dating older than Allercpd'.
peat, topsoil . T he brown peat laye r be tween
the two sand l ayers m ust date from the Late .
G l aci al , and was found n ot only in profile B
but also in profile A , i n two ditch profile s to
the we st and east of the site , and in several
trial pits i n the m eadow to the e ast of the
eastern ditch. In figure 13 all these obser­
vati ons are i n di cated, an d the distri buti on
of the brown peat l aye r is outlined.
In the two ditch profile s the 'Layer of
Usselo' passes more or less distin ctly into this
brown peat l ayer. In the profile , however, this
transition cann ot be seen.
In profile B under the brown peat l ayer a
l i ne has bee n drawn , that was visi ble i n the
profile as a discordant level i n the sand; he re
we are probably concerned (above this l i ne)
w ith sand of fluviatile origin that strongly
re sembles however the cover-san d unde r the
'Layer of Ussel o' higher up the slope. This
i n di cates that here the bank zone was prese n t
011
011
011
011
011
011
011
ou
Ou
Ou
110
.
,
I
OH
011
01S
OU
On
Oil
011
°
-
A
.0
.
Dc
011
Ou
I
:
/.
I:: ..
<:.
I
/ .
0'
0'
/
/:
I
".
I
I
I
0.
I
Fig. 1 3. Sketch-map, showing
the distribution area of the
brown Allenpd peat, and the
location of profile D where
samples were taken for the
pollen analysis (see fig. 1 6).
(Drawing D. Stapert j J . M . Smit,
B.A.!.). Legend: A. exposures
(profile trenches, ditch profiles
and trial pits) without Aller<t>d
peat; B. exposures with Aller<t>d
peat; C. estimated distribution
area of the Aller<t>d peat based on
all observations in the field.
./
°
I
.•:s:�
0•
'' h'
\ �
,
J
"""..
�-
.
.I
�
j
° ;'
/'
.
� ::
.
.
.
. . .. :
:
:: :�l
t . .
.
. ' ... .
:
°
/
:
.
.
.
. ..
.
.
.
.
•
.
•
. .. ....
.
.
.
.
. . ;;
1/
,
, '
.
.
.
r ·
.
"
'1
I ·
I
.
.
.
.
.
I
I
I
D. STAPERT
66
50
in cm.
below
HA P
100
<l= C 14 SAMPLE 2
200
PROFILE A
Fig. 1 4. Drawing of that part of profile A (see fig. 1 0)
where a C 1 4-samp\e was taken from the lowermost I cm
of the brown Allenpd peat. Legend as for fig. 1 6.
( Drawing D. StapertjJ. M . Smit, B . A .I.).
I n profile A ( b road ly s peaking compa rable
with profile B) a C 1 4-sa mple was take n from
the lowe rmost I cm of t he b rown peat layer.
For the stratigraphy a t this spot see fig. 1 4.
The C 1 4-determina tion gave t he following
result: I l ,340± 1 00 B. P. ( G rN- 1 1 . 264). This
d ating confirms the genera l picture obtained
on t he basis of the stratigraphical obser­
vat ions, a nd also the conclusion of S t uijts.
The deposition of the peat layer began here
during the second half of t he AlIer<t>d i nter­
stadial, a t least in places relatively close to the
river-bank of that time.
I n the d i tch east of the site (see fi g. 1 3) frost
fiss ures were observed , coming o ut of the
uppermost sand layer, that pe net rate d own
thro ugh the brown peat layer (fi g. 1 5). I n
profile 0 (fi g. 16) o ne o f the se frost fissures is
illus tra ted ; at t h is s pot samples for pollen
analysis were taken (now being studied by S.
Bottema). Th e b rown peat layer is s l i ghtly
th icker here tha n i n the profi les A and B that
a re situated closer to the fo rmer rive r-ba nk ,
and the topmost sand layer is t hinne r. Here in
the brown peat coa rse re mains of plants are
present (Carex: S . Bo ttema, pers. comm . ) ,
while no wood re mains were observed here.
Apa rt from the frost fissures t he brown peat
layer also a ppea rs t o be locally deformed t o
some extent by cryot urbation, that und o ubted ­
ly also occurred d uring t he Late Dryas .
I n the middle o f t he brown peat layer a
vague disco l o ur i ng was observed in profile 0
t ha t is perhaps a dessication level (i nd icated
in fi g. 1 6) .
A s is evident from t he drawing, the
lowermost part of the black Holocene pea t
has t o some extent been subj ec ted to folding
i n the fil l i ng of the frost fissure . This ind icates
that the frost fissure was still active d uring
t he t ime when t his material was being de­
posited (Preboreal : S . Bottema, pers . comm. ).
H i gher up the slope, at the site, some (th i n)
frost cracks were present (as visible in e.g.
fig. 2 1 ), b ut no frost fissures . This probably
is connected wit h a difference in moist ure.
The frost fissures a nd frost cracks from the
Late Uryas at Oldeholtwolde are by no
means unique . Van der Ta k-Sc h neider ( 1 968)
gave a survey of s uch phe nomena from t he
Late
Dryas
in the Net herlands. She
described several frost fiss ures with a max.
wid t h of c . 20 c m , and several frost cracks
with a max. width of 3 mm. Dylik and
Maa rleveld ( 1 967) gave t he fol lowing classi­
ficat ion: frost cra cks-max. width up t o 10 cm,
uniform width, small polygons (down t o
smaller t han 1 m); frost fissures-max. width
more than 1 0 cm, rapid decrease in width with
increasing depth, larger polygons (7 m or more).
A t Oldeholtwolde both types occur: frost
fissures ( ma x. width c. 20 cm) in the ditch
profiles, in t hose places where the AlIer<t>d pea t
laye r is thicker than c. 40 c m , a nd frost cracks
h ighe r up the slope (at t he site for example), in
t he cove r-sand .
These �elatively small frost fissures a nd
frost c racks a re not necessa rily indicati ve of
the presence of a cont i nuo us pe rmafrost
d uring t he Lat e D ryas (Maa rleveld, 1 976),
as is the case with t he (bi gger) frost wed ges
( Dylik & Maa rleveld , 1 9 67). Van der Ta k­
Schneider ( 1 968) is also not certain whether
t he frost fiss ures from t he Late Dryas
co uld be i ndicative of t he presence of a
d isco nt inuous permafrost at t ha t time. Zo ller
( 1 982) describes , however, a frost wed ge
( max. width 40-50 cm) near Giessel horst
(Ammerland , Western Germany), dat i ng from
t he I'-ate D ryas. I n t he fi ll ing of the frost
wed ge some Uppe r Paleolithic a rtefacts were
fo und , that were also present outside the frost
wedge immediately on top of t he 'Layer of
A site of the Hamburg tradition
67
Fig. 1 5. Frost fissure, visible in the ditch profile to the east of the site (profile D , see fig. 1 3). Samples tor pollen analysis
were taken approximately where the measuring-staff is placed (see fig. 1 6). (Photo D. V isser, Frisian Museum).
100
s
PROFILE
D
N
Altitude
III cm
below
NAP
(Dutch
Ordnance
Level!.
150
200
I
--.r
�
POLLEN-DIAGRAM
2
3
5
6
Fig. 1 6. Drawing of profile D. ( Drawing D . StapertfJ . M . Smit, B. A.I.). Legend: I. topsoil; 2 / 3 . H olocene peat,
coloured black; 4. Younger Cover-sand II; 5. Allerct>d peat, coloured b rown; 6. possible desiccation level in the middle of
the Allerct>d peat; 7. Younger Cover-sand I.
D. STAPERT
68
0
NW
SE
r-�==�=---------------------�������
ALTIT UDE IN CM
BELOW NA P
(DUTCH ORDNANCE LEVEL)
'1
c.15 m
50
-c.l00 m
o
50
11
IV
100
--
100
III
150
•
FINDSPOT
150
o
200
/
r-
/
----
(';;ROOK DEPOSITS)
250 �----�----� 2!50
2
3
5
6
7
�
8
. Fig. 1 7. Schematic overall profile (SE-NW) of the site and its surroundings, in which all stratigraphical observations are
included. ( Drawing D. St�pert/J.M. Smit, B.A . I.). Legend: 1 . topsoil; 2. Holocene peat; 3. Younger Cover-sand 11; 4.
frost fissures and frost cracks; 5. A2-and B-horizons of the 'Layer of Usselo'; 6. Allenpd peat; 7. Younger Cover-sand I;
8. flat stones in the hearth at the site.
Usselo ', a nd which t he refore cannot be
younger than the end of the A l l e r<t> d
i nte rstad ial. They pro ba bly bel o ng to the
Creswellian tradition.
The frost fiss ures a nd frost c racks d o i n a ny
case a ppea r to be i ndica tive of rapid falls i n
te mperat ure , a nd o f t he a bsence o f snow cover
of a ny significant thickness d uring the winters
( Dylik & Maa rleve l d, 1 967).
G o i ng from the location of profile 0 dee per
i nto t he valley (t owa rds the sout h ) the
uppermost sand layer becomes i nc reasi ngly
thinner, until it is o nl y o ne gra i n t h ick. I n this
d i rection the' brown peat la yer becomes
i nc reasingly thicker ( up to a t least J m thick),
as d oes the black H ol ocene peat .
Figure 1 7 gives a schematic overview of all
the stratigra phic data col lected at and a round
t he site . To s umma rize , it can be said t hat at
t his locality a low cover-sa nd rid ge is present
consisting of Yo unger Cover-sa nd I; on its
sout he rn flank a thin layer of Yo unger Cover­
sand I l has been deposited . The two
sand layers a re separated higher up the
slope by the 'Layer of Usselo', a nd deepe r
(within the stream channel) by a brown peat
layer dating fro m the Aller<t>d i nterstadial .
The fli nt concent ration i s situated less t han 10
m away from t he fringe of the a rea where t he
browl! Aller<t> d peat layer is present (see fig .
1 3) . I t can be assumed t h a t a t t h e time of t h e
Upper Paleolithic occupation (i.e. several
h und red yea rs befo re the pea t formation) the
bank of the stream channel was situat ed
A site of the Hamburf( tradition
approximately at the same s pot. Strati­
graphically the site can almost certainly be
dated i n t he last part of t he Early D ryas
stadial, j ust before t he b eginning of t he
Allercpd i nt erstadial.
4.2. Old eholtpa
A t Old eholtpa, at a d istanc e of c. 3 k m to
t he S E of the site (To po graphical Map s heet
16B: 545 . 5/ 19 8 . 7) , a n i nt eresting exposure.
(discovered b y J. Bosc hk er) was stud i ed i n
November 1980. Here w e a re concerned with a
profile i n a remnant of a cover-sand rid ge, t he
stratigraphy of w hich is d escribed b ri efly here
b elow for the purpos e of co mparison with t he
data obtained at Old eholtwold e. The cleaned
part of the profile s howed t he following s uc ­
cession (from t o p t o botto m, t he fi gures
given signify t hickness):
100 cm
218 c m
12 cm
20 cm
L
Topsoil, a nd d isturbed soil ( only
t he low est part i s visible i n the
photo: fig. 18) .
R elatively coars e y ellow sand . I n
view o f t he stratigraphy t his layer
i n its ent i rety must be Y o unger
Cover-sand n. A t the top locally
remnants of t he B- ho rizon of t he
Holocene pod sol a re visible. A t
7 8 c m from t he bottom a t hi n
b leached zone i s visible, marked
by a brown i nfiltration band t ha t
is c onnected w i t h t he Holocene
podsol. This probably s ignifi es
a bri ef static phase i n the
d eposition of this sand. D uring
t his static phase s o me vegetation
must have d eveloped a t t his s pot,
in view of t he presence of t races
of roots i mmediately b elow t his
level. The lowermost 16 cm of
t his layer is dark-brown in col­
o ur, as a res ult of iron infiltra­
tion from a bov e; t his band marks
t he t ransition to t he:
'Layer of Usselo', light grey level
with particles of charcoal. T his
A 2-horizon of a fossil soil ( no B­
hori z o n is visible) is d eveloped i n
t he same fine sand a s immediately
b elow:
Fine yellowish sand with thin
loa my b a nds. I .n view of t he total
s uccessi o n this must be Y o unger
25 c m
50 c m
50 c m
> 10 c m
69
Cover-sand I . The bottom of this
layer is a ga i n marked by a b rown
i nfilt ration band , t hat is most
pro b a b ly c onnec t ed w i t h t he
Holocene podsol at t he t o p of t he
profile.
Loamy fine sand with bands of
loam, greenis h grey in colo ur. In
t his sand a nd t he s a nd below i t
t hi n frost cracks are visible, that
extend upwards as far as t he
abov e- ment i o ned brow n i nfil­
t ration band, where t hey stop.
The botto m of t his greenish layer
is formed by a light grey bleach­
ed z o ne c. 2 cm thic k .
Loa my fine sand w i t h bands of
loam, y ellowish- grey in colo ur.
This layer a nd t he o ne a bove i t
must consist o f Older Cover­
sand ; both layers a re very loa my
compared t o t he sand layers
above t hem.
Bould er-clay, marked ly d istort ed
as a result of c ryoturbation,
bluish-grey i n colo ur (only the
topmost part is visible in t he
photo).
Fine sand , grey. This i s probably
sand b elonging to the E i nd hoven
Formation.
The t hi n sand layer with loa my band s
i mmediately b elow t he "Layer of Usselo"
strongly resembles t he sand with loamy b a nds
t ha t is pres ent a t Oldeholtwolde i mmediately
b elow t he 'Layer of Usselo'. Here i t is much
more t hi nly developed , however, while t he
uppermo st ( c o a rs er) cover-sand i s much
t hicker. I n t he profile at Old eholtpa, b elow
t he sand with t he loamy band s v ery loamy
sand is present, partly of a greenis h colo ur,
t ha t most probably c a n b e regarded as Old er
Cover-sa nd , a nd t hat d o es not occur at
Oldeholtwolde. This mak es i t probable t ha t
t he sand i mmediately b elow t he 'Layer of
Usselo' is i nd eed Yo unger Cover-sa nd I, so the
Bq>lling 'level' must be present w here t he
bro w n i nfiltrati o n band occurs a t its base.
Thus the b leached zone i n t he. mid d le of t he
Old er Cover-sand presumably has nothing to
d o with t he B<t>lling i nt erstadial. As a general
rule o ne s ho uld t herefore be v ery caut i o us
with t he strati graphical i nt erpretation of
bleached zones in cover-sand as 'B<t>lling level'.
70
D. STAPERT
Fig. 18. Photo of the profile at Oldeholtpa. The measuring-staff is subdivided in decimetres. For a description see the text
under 4.2. (Photo F.W.E. Colly. B .A.I.).
A site of the Hamburg tradition .
The p rofile at Oldeholtpa confirms in my
opinion that the san d with thin loamy bands at
Oldeholtwolde (in which t he artefacts o ccur)
is i n deed Y o un ger Cover-sand I . To t he sout h
o f t h e river Vecht , for example at t he
H amburg site of L utten berg, an d at the classi c
p rofile near U ssel o (both i n t he p rovi n ce of
,
Overij ssel ) the Y o un ger Cover-san d I s eems t o
b e relati vely co ars er. Older Cover-san d 1 1 i n
that regio n som .
Youn ger Cover-:-s and I i n the north, w i t h t h i n
l o amy bands.
4 . 3 . A few summarizin g remarks
As stated abo ve the Youn ger Cover-s and I is
pl aced in the Early D ry as st adial (between t he
Bcj>lling an d' All ercj>d i n t erst adi als) . This stadial
is dated b etween c. 12,000 and 11,800 B.P. and
was thus only of relatively s hort duration.
The E arly Dryas st adial and t he Bcj>lling
interstadial are as a general rule difficult to
ascertain (Watts, 1980), Neverth el ess t h ey
p robably exist as climatologi cal phas es. Man­
gerud (1970; 1980), for example, h as b een
able to det ermine a smal l t emporary expan­
sion of the i ce-sheet in West ern No rway, j ust
before c. 12,000 B. P. Also in E n gl an d and
Northern G ermany t h e Early D ry as h as b een
determined with a reasonable degree of
cert ainty (Watts, 1980). But further south i n
Europe this stadial usually canno t be ascer­
t ained unequivocally. Also Coope (Coope
& Pennington, 1977; Coope & Joachim,
1980), o n t h e b asis of research o n L at e
G lacial b eet l e remains, sees n o o ccasion for
ascertaining t he E arly D ryas as a colder
p eriod. (In 1975 Coo p e also took samples from
t he p rofile at Uss el o , where Van der H ammen
(1951) demonstrated t he Bcj>lling interstadial;
however, the res ults of this i n vestigation are
not yet known).
I n fact Coope com es to the conclusion t h at
i n the first hal f o f t he 'Wi n dermere Interstadial'
to Bcj>lling + Early
(roughl y equivalent
Dryas+Allercj>d in t he Netherlands), also
durin g the E arly Dryas, at St. Bees (N.W.
En gl and) for instan ce, s umm ers were act uall y
warmer than at p res ent . Th at i n s o m e p laces
there was n everthel ess n o expansion of Betula
h e att ribut es to the circumst an ce that the w arm
summers went togeth er with 'freely draining
soils of low o rgan i c content', i,e. con ditions of
excessive drought .
H is i deas are s upport ed b y Van G eel &
Kolstrup (1978). I n t heir opinion, in a n um-
71
b er of poll en diagrams (e.g. Uterin gs veen:
Cleveri n ga et al., 1977; D e Borchert: Van G eel
et al . , 1980/1981; Belgium: Verbruggen , 1979)
there are i n di cations t h at suggest that the
s um mers rem ain ed rel ati vely warm durin g
(i.a. ) the Early D ry as, while t h e p roportio n of
t ree-pollen nevertheless decl i n ed. I n t h ei r
opinion this i s a result o f dry summ ers, and
col d winters with little snow cover duri n g this
p h ase, thus rather continental con ditions
instead of a tun dra situation.
Kolstrup (1982) p ublished 2 n ew L at e
Glacial pollen di agrams for D enm ark (i n this
importan t articl e t here is also a discussion
of other i n di cations regardin g t h e cli m at e) .
H er con cl usion con cerning t h e Early Dryas
is as fol l ows: rel ati vely w arm summers, fairly
s evere wint ers, an d excessive drought. Sh e
emphasizes the differences that m ust have
exist ed at that time b etween t he veget ation i n
flat regi o ns with little s now-co ver i n t h e
wint er, an d p l aces i n depressions (such as
p i n go rem n ants) w here wetter con ditions m ay
h ave p revail ed an d where there w as relatively
m o re s now-co ver in t h e winters (s ee also
Kolstrup & H eyse, 1980).
I n t his resp ect it is p robably sign ificant that
the p ro visional pollen diagram of the Allercj>d
p eat l ayer at Oldeholtwolde (si tuated in a flat
vall ey-bottom) p artl y more closely resemb l es
'plenigl acial' diagrams than Allercj>d diagrams
obtai ned from s ampl es from the fillings of
pingo remnants (S. Bottema, p ers. com m . ) .
As far as the Northern Netherlands are
con cerned it s eems cl ear that duri n g the Early
D ry as in any cas e a l ayer of Youn ger Cover­
s an d (I) was deposited, that is sometimes m o re
t han 2 m thick . Con ditions w ere n evertheless
clearly l ess extrem e than durin g t h e L at e
D ryas, consi derin g, for example, the absence
(as far as I am aware) of (l arger) frost fissures
dating from the Early D ryas.
All in all , in my opinion it can be assumed
with a reasonable degree of certainty from a
geologi cal vi ewpoint that the Upp er Pal eo­
lithic o ccup ation at Oldeholtwolde took p l ace
duri n g the fi nal p has e o f t h e deposition of
Youn ger Co ver-s an d I. This means that the
fin ds can b e dated geo l o gi cally, with m ore or
l ess �he sam e degree of certainty, to j us t b efore
t he b eginning of the Allercj>d i n t erstadial, at
l east if it can be assumed that the deposition
of Y o un ger Cover-s and I ceased at t he
b egi nning o f t h e Allercpd i nt ers t adial (which is
n ot absolutely certai n - it is quite possible that
D. STAPERT
72
'quadrant method', s o t hat a cross of p rofiles
t hrough t his structure could be s tudied.
D uring the excavation efforts w ere m ade t o
p repare t he s urface w it hin the hearth region in
such a w ay t hat t he relief is defined by t he
l ower s urfaces of adj acent st ones.
I n t his w ay one obtains the m os t accurate
reconstruction p ossib l e of t he t op ography of
t he original s urface at t he t im e of occup ation,
and any p its t hat m ay have b een p resent are
t hus reveal ed.
cover-s and w as stil l being dep os it ed cl urin g
t he first p art of the All ercj.>d interstadial ,
t;sp eciall y in t his flat region) .
5 . TH E H EARTH AND OTH E R
CONFIG URATIONS O F STONES
Approximately in t he m iddle of t he find
concentration a l arge constructed hearth w as
found, t hat w as excavated according t o t he
5
7/-=-_+--- ----------.!.---;'.,-'�-....:
�<-: -.:.:,
' ----,---�
. 6/5
8/5 r-
__________
..
. .:
8/6
6/6
.. � .
f"-t
.
. '--../ .
.
'/
�.'
.
:','
' ,'I
. "
.
.
7
8/7 '--------'
�---------�---'-�7.".
/
1---
Im
---+
.
.
-=-----=---------------.:
I
6/7
Fig. i 9. Drawing of the hearth that was present iri the middle of the find concentration. The stones are indicated, as well
as (schematic ally) the charcoal (this was present as a general rule under the stones). The stippled object is not a stone,
but most probably a partly charred, originally organic object (e.g. bone or antler). (Drawing D . Stapert/ J M Smit
B. A.!.).
.
.
A site of the Hamburg tradition
73
Fig. 2 0 . Photo showi ng a n overall view o f the north quadrant o f the hearth after preparation. The east quadrant has
already been dug away. In the profile (on the left) a few stones of the south quadrant are visible. Immediately below the
topsoil the A2-horizon of the 'Layer of Usselo' is locally visible. (Photo F. W.E. Colly, B . A . I.).
The hearth consists of a more or less heart­
shap ed configuration of flat stones i n a
shallow depressi o n with a diameter of abo ut
1 .5 m (fig. 19). T h e slope of the depression w as
relatively st eep i n t h e west ern h alf of t h e
h earth, an d m o re gentle i n t h e remaining p art
(figs. 24, 27). I n t h e m i ddle of the h earth a
smal l pit w as p resent, m ax . c. 1 0 cm deeper
than t h e surround, c. 35 X 50 cm in size,
of which the w al l s an d bottom were l i n ed
with clos e-s et, flat stones (fi gs . 20-23) . Thes e
stone slabs (mean t h i ck n ess c. 2 cm) i n cl ude
both l arger stones (1 3-24 cm) an d s m al l er
fragments of o ri gi n ally l arger stones. M an y
ston es, also o utside the hearth, show traces o f
b urn i n g that consist of black p at ch es (caus ed
by charrin g) ; distinct red col orations w ere
. observed h ardly o r not at all .
As a general rule charco al w as found only
under the flat stones. Immediately b elow the
stones within t h e central p i t charcoal w as
pres ent in t h e form of b ranch-like streaks
(figs. 25, 26). This is most probably i n di cati v e
of the b urni n g of b rushwood. This is i n
accordance with t h e geologi cal dat i n g (see
under 4. 1 .), that points to the p robable absen ce
of t rees in the surroun di n gs at the time of
o ccup ation.
Perhaps also bones were used as fuel . I n this
connectio n the following fin d may b e of
importan ce. Within the h eart h , j ust o utside
the central pit an obj ect was fo un d (n o . 3508,
stippled fig. 1 9) that is most p robably o rgani c.
Th is el on gated, tri an gular obj ect (m ax . length
c. 8 cm) app eared durin g t h e excavation as a
fairly h ard, black s urface. Apart from this it
h ad no s ubst an ce: i n t ern ally it consisted
m erely of s and. P robably it w as ori gi n ally a
bone o r antler fragment, of which the surface
b ecame (p artly) charred i n the fir e. I t is n o
lon ger possible to observe any bone- o r antler­
structure (A.T. Clason, B. A. I . , p ers . comm . ) .
I t is also possible o f course that we are only
co ncerned with fo o d refuse, rat h er than
74
D. STAPERT
Fig. 2 1 . Photo of the north quadrant of the hearth. It can clearly be seen that the hearth lies in a shallow depression.
(Photo F.W.E. Colly, B . AJ.).
fuel , that ended up i n the h earth by accident .
( At Pin cevent m ost b on es are foun d n ear,
but outsi de, t h e hearths: L eroi-G ourhan &
Bre zi l l on, 1 972).
From the bran ch-l i k e charcoal concen­
trati on under t h e ston es in the cent ral pit
a C 1 4-sampl e w as tak en. This was don e in
vi ew of the fact that above the hea rth the
' Layer of U ss el o' was l ocally p resent (with
natural charcoal p art i cl es dating from the
end of the Al I enp d i n t erstadial), and that
recent roots and mole t un n els were p res ent
everywhere, so both All ef(p d ch arcoal and
m ore recent charcoal coul d h ave b een
transp orted downw ards . The ch arcoal un der
the p it-lin i n g of ston e slabs app eared to h ave
b een b est p rotected from contaminat i on of a
l at er date. Unfortunately t h e charcoal mainly
consisted of fin el y divi ded m at erial, with only
a few smal l dis cret e l umps. M oreover a t ot al
amount of only 3 . 5 gram w as p resent, h ardly
::n ough for a dating. T h e C 1 4 dating p rovi de d
the fol l owing result: G rN - I 0. 274: 1 1 ,540±270
B. P. This dat i n g falls approximat ely 260 years
after the b eginning of the Allercj.>d interst adial,
which t h us seems to be somewhat t oo y oung,
in view of t h e stratigraphi cal data (see under
4. I . ) . Th e stan dard deviati on is rath er l arge,
h owever, as a result of the fact that t h e sam p l e
was rat her s m al l (for a further dis cussion
concerning the dating s ee un der 6 . ) .
Outsi de t h e central p i t of the hearth
s om ewhat l arger p ieces of charcoal w ere
present, s cattered here and t here. I t is
inten ded that t h es e will first be i dentified, as
far as p ossible (by W. A. Casp arie), aft er
which a s econ d C 1 4-sample will be constitut ed
out of the i dentified fragments.
Un der the 'fl oor' of flat ston es within t h e
central p it a few smal l fragments of ston es
were' found that were complet ely charred
black , m uch b l acker than the st ones that m ade
up the lining of the pit. This i n dicates that
these fragments ( un doubtedly split off b y
A site of the Hamburg tradition
75
Fig. 22. The north quadrant of the hearth. The light-coloured streak (slightly above the middle of the photo) is a frost
crack. (Photo F.W.E. Colly, B.AJ.).
h eat) have l ai n i n t h e hearth for a m uch longer
time than the ot her stones. I n this con n ecti o n
it must b e real ized that the excavation reveals
a s ituation at one point i n t ime, i. e. the heart h
as it � as used for the l ast time, j ust before its
us ers dep art ed . It is even conceivable that on
the l ast day b efore the site was abandoned t h e
hearth w as used (p artly) f o r p urposes other
than us u al duri n g the p eri od of o ccup ation .
It s eems clear that t h e h earth w as cl eaned
o ut regul arly, p ossibly every day, an d i n t h is
way the stones used that had been b ro k en up
too m uch by the heat became s catt ered
aroun d the h eart h an d were not used agai n .
Th is explains t h e p h enomenon that also
stones foun d several m etres away from the
hearth show bl ack p at ches that must have
ori gi n ated at some time in t h e hearth .
Moreo ver it h as b ecome evi dent , as a result o f
fitting to get her ston e fragm ents, that many o f
them o ri gi n ally b el o n ged t o large slabs (max.
38 cm). In the co urs e of time thes e slabs must
have b eco m e in creasingly more fragm ented.
This indicat es that the site was cert ai n l y not
used fo r a very limited p eriod . Th e o ccup ation
must have lasted for a suffi ciently long time
for this fragm entation to have gradu ally tak en
place (see also : Lero i-Gourhan & Brezillon,
1 972). In my opinion we should be thinking of
a period of occup ation in terms of at least
several weeks. It is intended to make an
attempt to quantify this p rocess, by m eans of
experi ments.
C harcoal con centrations were p resent not
'
only und er th e ston es in the cent ral pit but
also els ewh er'e within the heart h . Immediately
to the west of the central pit there is another
rel ati vely low-lyi n g sp ace about 20 cm across
that is enclosed by stones. I n this sp ace, thus
not under any sto n es, a dark p atch of charcoal
is present. It s eems likely that here at an
earl i er stage a small pit was p resent that w as
l i n ed with fl at stones, but that thes e ston es
were later used in the adj acent pit already
descri bed. C h arco al concentrations also occur
elsewhere, but thes e are much smaller. Th ey
76
D . STAPERT
Fig. 23. The central pit in the middle of the hearth. The stones are for the most part still covered with a loamy brown­
coloured (iron-containing) layer, associated with the Holocene podsol (that has now disappeared). Near the lower limit
of the pit a (flint) blade is visible that is not burnt. (Photo F. W.E. Colly, B . AJ.).
could also p artly be the result of the re gu l ar
cleaning�out of the hearth stones. Also outside
t he hearth a little ch arco al w as often fou n d
close to stones t h at m u s t h ave o nce l ain i n the
hearth i n view of t he presence of blac k p atches
on them.
Many stones, besi des, as well as many flint
artefacts, became fragmented at a l ater date
(most probably during the Late Dryas) by frost
splitting. These fractures are no t i n dicated i n
fig. 1 9 .
Fig. 27 shows a sche m at ic E-W section
through t he hearth . Clearly visible are t he
central pit an d the rel at i ve ly steep slope
outside i t o n t he west s i de . On the eastern rim
of the central pit a low 'bank' appears to be
p resent. This probably consists of s an d that
was scraped o ut of the central pit. The
p resence of a pit c an also p artly be e xp l ained,
however, if o ne assu mes t h at t he hearth w as
frequently cleaned o u t. No distinct concen-
trated 'dumps' of charcoal were fou n d, an d
no as h at all. I t must be assumed provi ­
sio nally t h at these were presen t outside the
e xcavate d area.
I t is m ost rem arkable that within t he hearth
o nly slab-shaped stones were present. The few
ro u n d stones t h at were fo u n d during the
e xcavation (ou tside the hearth) appe ar to have
been use d m ainly as h ammer stones. The flat
stones are on average c. 2 cm thick an d mostly
consist of D al a-san dstone, although other
types of rock, such as granites, also occur. The
s l abs were often split along natural beddi n g
p l anes, probably by t h e inhabitants of the
site-in almost all cases not at th is spot but
p resu mably at the p l ace where t hey were
collected.
Flat stones such as t hese do not appear 'to
be suitable for use as 'cooking stones': for this
p urpose s m aller round stones would h ave
bee n generally used (see e.g. Batchelor, 1 979;
A site of the Hamburg tradition
77
Fig. 24. Photo o f the west quadrant o f t h e hearth, taken i n the evening, as a result o f which the relatively steep slope of
the depression in which the hearth lies shows up well. The excavated surface was prepared in such a way that the
undersides of adjacent stones were used t6 define the relief. The measuring staff is I m long. (Photo F.W.E. Colly,
B. A . l . ) .
Fig. 2 5 . Photo o f the branch-like
charcoal streaks immediately
below the stones on the bottom of
the central pit in the hearth. This
charcoal was used for the C 1 4dating. (Photo F. W.E. Colly,
B.A. I . ) .
78
D. STAPERT
6/5
7/5
7/6
�5m
o
!��
-=
�
__
�
d-�
�
__
�
=__!
Leroi-Go urhan & Brezillon, 1 972). Moreover
it seems unlikely that such fl at stones we re
used for 'keeping' the heat (e.g. at n i ght) - for
this p urpose too roun d stones are more
suitab le (see Perles, 1 977); flat stones rather
lose their heat rel at ively quickly. In my
opinion it is clear that the fl at stones were
heated intentionally. Ch arcoal is p resent only
under the stones, an d not above them , as is
evident from a n um ber of drawings an d
photograp hs of cleaned s urfaces above the
stones in the cent ral p art of the hearth.
The most obvi o us fun ctio n of the he art h in
m y opinion is that the heated sto nes were used
for ro asting meat - perh aps rei n deer meat, but
possibly also fis h . I t i s i n t e n de d t h at
e xperiments will be carrie d o ut to ascert ain
whether the function s uggested is in fact
possible in p ract i ce . I n this respect it is
interesting to note here t h at, in his treatise on
the material cult ure of the I gl ulik Eskimo,
Mathiassen ( 1 928 : p . 204) w rote: ' . . . . . . on rare
occasion caribou meat is b aked by l aying a
6/6
Fig. 26. Drawing of the charcoal
immediately below the stones on
the bottom of the central pit i n the
hearth and in the surroundings.
The �harcoal is indicated with
three shades, according to the
i ntensity of the black coloration.
(Drawing D . Stapertj J . M . Smit,
B.A. I.).
slice of meat with a l ump of fat or blubber
between two fl at stones, un der which a fi re is
l i ghted '.
This type of he arth is fairly rare (see Bordes,
1 972; Perles, ( 977). H earths with a central pit
an d stones are in themselves q uite common,
but usually the stones form a more o r less
distinct ri n g aro un d t he central pit in which
the ch arco al is p resent (see e.g. the hearths of
P i n ceve n t : Lero i -G o urhan & Brezillon, 1 972).
I t is k nown t h at the Eskimos i n the cent ral
p art of North Al aska (notably t he Nunamiut)
also h ave he arths with stones. As a gene ral
rule t he se are sit uated in the m i ddle of the
winter dwellings . H e re too the stones usually
form a disti n ct rin g aro un d the cent ral p art of
t he heart h .
Unfortunately t he re are n o t very m any
det ailed des cript i o ns of Nun ami ut he art h s .
Corbin ( 1 975; ( 976) des cribes t h e cent ral
hearths i n the winter houses (ivrulit : moss
h o use) of the Nunamiut as follows : 'First a
smal l roun d p avement of smal l , flat stones (c.
A site of the Hamburg tradition
50
SW
5470
5471
5650
3684
3785
378 1
3784
,02 0
3665
79
3660
3664
ALTITUDE IN CM
BELOW NAP
t8}�
50
60
60
70
70
- -\ -
80
80
90
90
100
100
110
110
120
-+---------------------------,�--------------------------,_------------+_ 1 20
------ I M --------� I
SECTION y= 6.23
X=8
X=7
X=6
Fig. 27. Schematic cross-section (W-E) through the hearth. The Oat stones and the charcoal under them are indicated.
The inclination of the large stone immediately to the east of the central pit suggests the presence of a low 'bank' at this
spot. ( Drawing D . Stapert/ J. M. Smit, B . A . I . ).
6-8" in dia) was const ructed in the c enter of
the h o use. Th e willow floori n g was l aid dow n ,
an d then five to seven very l arge rocks are set
into p l ac e, p artial l y o verlap p i n g the pavement
and the flo o ri n g. Th ese l arge rocks t end to
h ave o n e bro ad, fl at s urface w hich is faced
inwards, acting as a reflector'. H all ( 1 97 1 ;
1 976) also describes p avem ents un der a few
hearths, altho ugh he h as nothing to say abo ut
their function. P erhaps t h ey served to iso l at e
the fire from melt-wat er. I n that cas e the
abs ence of s uch a p avement ( as at Oldeholt­
wolde) could i n dicat e that occup ation di d not
tak e plac e durin g the wint er.
i n the case of h ea rths o utside the dwel l i n g
structures (e.g. next t o s um mer t en ts) no stone
rin g is p resent as a general rule. Th e p ri mary
function of t h e stone rin g is app arently t o
contai n t h e fire, in other wor ds to ensure that
the fire cannot s pread b eyond t h e h earth,
wh ere a flo o r-co verin g may b e p res ent of
reeds, willow twigs or such like, that could
catch fire (b esi des the stones somet i m es
app ear to functi o n as h eat reflectors). If this
were a general situation, then one c o ul d
postul at e the theo ry that h earths with a ston e
rin g usual l y l ay within dwel l i n g structures
(notably i n winter hous es), whil e h earths
without a . stone rin g usually l ay o utside
(not ably in s um m er settlements). Neverthel ess
at Pincevent, for example, there are no
dis t i n c t , arc h eo l o gi c al l y vis i b l e dw el l i n gs
p resen t , an d occup ation t h ere p robably di d
not tak e plac e durin g winter (Leroi-Go urhan
& Brezill on, 1 972).
Seein g that wit h the heart h at Oldeho lt­
wolde there is n o distinct stone ring pres ent,
i n m y opinion the p res ence of a dwelling
structure aro un d it n eed not b e postul at ed.
On the other h and it is not impossible that
when the fire was b ei n g stoked the stones did
i n deed lie in a rin g aro und it, and that they
were only l ater l ai d on top of the hot embers.
As far as other sites of t h e H amburg
t radition are concerned, reference can be
made to a large ( do ub l e) h earth in a pit,
with stones, at Querenstede (pro visionally
published by Zoller, 1 963 ; 1 98 1 ) . T h e ch arcoal
fro m this h earth t urned o ut to be uns ui t able
for a C l4-dating ( J . N. L anting, p ers . comm.).
At the site of Olb rachcice 8 in P o l an d too a
h earth w as found. The c harcoal from this
hearth ( about 8 gram) di d provi de a goo d
C I4-dating: L o d- I I I 1 2, 685±235 B. P. (Bur­
duki ewicz, 1 98 I a). Fo r a n umber of other
p ublished H amburg sites in G ermany h earths
are known, b ut t hese are usually smal l h earths
without any distinct structure consisting of
stones . Seein g that at vario us H am b urg sites
i n t h e Netherlands similar h earths h ave also
b een found, that on the b asis of Cl4-datin gs
evi dently date from the M esolithic (e.g.
L uttenberg: s ee L anting & M o o k , 1 977), in
my opinion one m ust be very cautious in
simp'ly att ributing any s uch h earths to the
H am b ur g t raditio n. I dentification of t h e
c harcoal and carrying o ut C 1 4-dating of s uch
h earths are to be recommen ded.
At the Oldeholtwolde site almost I m N of
t h e · h earth a small rin g of stones was foun d
80
_
D . STAPERT
(see fig. 28). This had a diameter of c. 30 cm,
while the enclosed sp ace (diameter c. t o cm)
was empty. I nitial ly we t ho ught that this w as
possibly a 'post-hole', i.e. for a tent-post that
was p laced on the gro und and s upported all
around at the base by stones. 'Post-holes' of
this kind are known for example at G b n ­
nersdorf (Bosinski, 1 979). From t h e reconstructions of the o rigi n al stone slabs and
from the p resen ce of bl ack p at ches, h owever,
it appe ars that all of the stones from this
rin g l ay at some time in the h e arth . Therefore
this cannot be a p rim ary structure , unless one
assumes that a tent w as set up o n ly some time
after the construction of t he heart h , which
seems unlikely. For the meant ime i t is
t herefore ass umed that t h e rin g w as a
structure of hot stones. I ts function remains
essential l y unknown, b ut m ay well i nvolve
activities connected with the p rep aration of
food .
As m e n t i oned p re v i o us l y , o ut s i d e t h e
hearth m an y s cattered stones are also p resent,
of varying size , up to about 4.5 m away from
t h e h e art h . I n my o p i n i o n t he s p at i al
distri buti o n of these stones (see fig. 28) gives
no reason for specul ations con ce rn i n g possi­
ble tent structures . The distribut ion seems
to be essenti ally random. At the most one
can point o ut a n umber of spots that h ave
remained rel atively empty; one of the most
conspicuous of t hese empty spots is situated
i m med i ately sout h of the heart h . I t seems
likely that for some re aso n or other these
spots were avoided when refuse w as being
d umped . They m ay h ave been slee p i ng-places,
for example, o r p l aces where other activities
o ccurred and where the p resen ce of (large)
stones would h ave been a n uisan ce .
Apart from t h e ran d om distri b ution there
are two other reasons why t he stones are
p robably not 'structural e le me nts'. The first is
the fact that most of the stones show b urn­
marks , and are fragments of o ri gi nally l arger
slabs that l ay i n the heart h . This d oes not
apply to all t he stones, however, for a few of
t he l arger o nes are neither burnt not frag­
mented. The second re aso n is that under a
n umbe r of the stones, also under a few l arge r
stones without b l ack p at ches, fli nt to'ols were
p resent, so the stones could not h ave been
lyi n g in a prim ary p os i t i o n . H o wever, this is
no absolute argument either, as the stones
could have been moved when a tent, if such
was i ndeed p resent, was being d ismantled .
Another possibility is that the H amburg
people h ad t he habit of keeping tools under
stones, as do some Eskimos (pers. comm. J. L.
Smit).
To re cap , in my opinion there i s n o good
re ason for p ostul ating a tent structure o r
some t h i n g s i m i l ar o n t he basis of t he
distribution of the stones. I n my view such
hypotheses i n the literature h ave been p ut
forward too hastily in a n umber of cases. The
o ccurrence of empty spots is interestin g,
however, and m ust be further i nvest i gated, for
e x ample by the analysis of the spatial
distri b ution of vari o us catego ries of flint
artefacts (currently being undertaken by J . L.
Smit).
Finally it m ust also be mentioned here that
c. 5 m to the N E of the he art h described above
a small circular con ce ntration of charco al
(diameter c. 35 cm) was found, clearly o ut­
side the fi nd con centration. This p robably
rep resents a Mesolithi c hearth, in view of the
p resence of l arger l umps of charcoal (t his
ch arco al is to be identified and d ated ).
6. D I SC U S S I ON OF TH E TWO
C 1 4-DAT I N G S
At the moment two C 1 4-d atings for Oldeh o lt­
wolde are av ailable:
S ample I (charcoal from the hearth): G rN 1 0. 274 1 1 , 540±270 B. P .
Sample 2 (lowermost I cm b rown peat):
G rN - I 1 . 264 1 1 ,340± 1 00 B. P.
In fi g. 29 both C 14-datings are i nd i cated with
1 and 2 stand ard deviati ons. The Late G l a­
cial chronozones and their limits are taken
fro m Mangerud et al . ( 1 974) ; essentially
they correspond to the d ata for Usselo
(s ummarized in: L anti n g & Mo ok, 1 977). The
B<t>lIing chronozone (B<t>lIing s./ ) comprises
the biostrati graphical (pollen-) zones l a
( E arl iest D ryas) and I b ( B<t>lling s.s. ) . Pollen­
zone l b can be d ated from 1 2, 300/ 1 2,400 to
1 2,000 B. P .
One of t he p roblems i n determining the
ch ronology of the Late Glacial is the re l atively
sh ort d uration of some zones, notably the
Early Dryas, for which re ason C 1 4-d at i n gs
wit h ' a rel atively b i g stand ard deviation are
often d ifficult to interp ret. They h ave too little
p ower of resolution (see Lowy & G ray, 1 980).
The C 14-d ating of s ample I (from the
A site of the Hamburg tradition
CHRONOliiNfS
BD UN OAR IfS
lollor Mongorud I
1 0. 0 0 0 B P
YOUNGfR
ORYAS
A l l ERe o
OLDER
ORYAS
,+
+2
1 1 . 000
1 1. 8 0 0
1 1. 0 0 0
BeLLING
1-------+-
1 3. 0 0 0
Fig. 29. T h e C l 4-datings for Oldeholtwolde. 1. Charcoal
from the hearth; 2. Lowermost I cm of the Allerq,d peat
in profile A. Both I and 2 standard deviations are
indicated. ( Drawing D. Stapert/ J . M . Smit, B . A . ! ' ) .
heart h) is a good ex ample of t his . There is a
68% probability t h at the real C 14-age l i es
between 1 1 ,8 1 0 and 1 1 ,270 B. P. This t i m e
range spans the last part of the Early Dryas
and two-t hirds of the Al ler<t>d interstad i al . I f
2 standard deviations are t ak en into con­
sid eration then the situation becomes even
more problematical: even the last p art of t h e
B<t>lling interst ad i al t h en becom es p ossible.
Wit h s ample 2 this problem is of m uch l ess
importan ce, b ecaus e t h e stand ard d ev i ation is
m uch smal l er . It s eems certai n that this
sample d at es fro m t h e s econd h alf of the
All er<t>d inters t ad i al , also when 2 stan d ard
d eviations are t ak en into consider ation.
Sample 1 m ust b e older than s ample 2 , i n
view of t h e strat i gr ap h i cal position o f the t w o
sampl es with r esp ect to each other. I n that
respect we are p r esented with a consisten t
pict ure, and t h us it can at l east b e con cl ud ed
that the h earth canno t b e youn ger than c. t h e
m i d d l e of the Aller<t>d interstadial .
Apart from the b i g stand ard d eviation t h e
d ating f o r s ample 1 is l ess rel i ab l e t h an that
for sampl e 2 also for another reason. Sample I
consisted of charco al col lected from a spot
with a d i ameter of abo ut 1 0 cm over a d ep t h
of 5 to 1 0 cm under the stones on the bottom
of the central pit i n the middle of the h earth.
Altho ugh t h e position under t h e stones
appeared to offer reasonable protecti o n
81
agai nst co n t am i n at i o n w i t h m o r e r ecent
charcoal fro m h i gh er up, this still cannot b e
guarant eed w i t h absolut e certai nty. Over t h e
entire ex cavation area many mole t un n els
w ere observed , while many roots w er e pres ent
as well, also around the h earth . These roots
h ave pen etrat ed b etween and und er the
s to n es, p r es um ab l y b ecaus e m o i s t ur e is
retained there l o n ger. Therefore the possibility
can n ot be ex clud ed that some more r ecent
charcoal h as n ev erthel ess end ed up under the
stones .
This could no t have amo unted to v ery
m uch, however; for instan ce, a rel atively small
q uantity of charco al from t h e ' La y er o f
Usselo' (Lat e All er<t>d)-this w as pres ent at c.
30 cm above t h e h earth-would result in only a
minor d eviation. To exp l ai n aw ay a d at e of
this age app arently 250 years too y o un g
b ecaus e o f con t am i n ation with Late Aller<t>d
charcoal , one w o ul d n eed c. 25% charcoal
fro m t h e ' L ayer of Ussel o ' in t h e s ampl e (l.N.
Lanting, p ers. com m . ) !
As already expl ai n ed above under 4 . 1 ., o n
the basis o f the strat i graphical d at a it i s m ost
p robab l e t h at the H amburg site d at es from
j ust before t h e b eginning of t h e Aller<t>d
i nt erstad i al . If we accept this d ating then it
is not strictly n ecessary to ass um e con­
t amination of s ampl e 1 with more r ecent
m at erial , in view of t h e wide s t andard
d eviation: the d ating is not in contrad i ction
with the stratigr aphical d ata.
For the m eantime it s eems t herefore most
advis able in my opinion t o att ach m ost
i mportan ce to the stratigr aphical d ata. Th e
following reasons can b e giv en for this:
1 . The b i g standard d eviation of t h e C 1 4d ating;
2. Th e improbability of cover-sand d epo­
sition unti l almost h alfway through the
Aller<t>d interstad i al (howev er, if the l andscape
remained fairly treeless d ur i n g the first p art of
t h e Al l er<t>d - s ee und e r 4 . 3 . - t h i s is l ess
i mprobable);
3. Th e impro bability of the ass umption that
the H amb urg site is contemporan eo us with
and even youn ger than a n umber of Feder­
messer sites .
Another reason that can be m entioned h ere
is t h e good quality of the fl int us ed . As a
gen eral rul e this is ch aract eris t i c of H ambur g
sites, in contrast to t h e mat erial from m any
Federmesser sites. A reasonable exp l an ation
for this d ifference could b e that it is easier to
D. STAPERT
82
1 2-4 9 5 9
1 2-5 2 0 6
o
o
o
2
1
1 2-5 6 1. 1
1 2 -3 4 8 2
1 2 -2 5 20
*
o
o
3
0
1\
0
1 2-4 9 2 5
6
1 2 -1 9 5 5
o
J
1 2-5 5 7 5
1 2.3 - 4 6
o
o
7
1 2-1953
9
1 2 -3 0 4 9
1 2.6 -3 ( 1 0/1 )
2 cm
A site of the Hamburg tradition
coll ect goo d flint if the l an ds cape is n ot
completely covered with veget atio n . This thus
seems to ind icate a dating for the H am burg
sit e before the l an ds cape b ecame covered by
vegetation during the Allerct>d interstadial.
To recap, in all p robab il ity the s ite can b e
dated to relatively s o o n (p erhaps s everal
decenn ia) before the b eginnin g of the Allerct>d
interstadial, or-less probable-in the beginnin g
of t h e same. This s it e is then o n e o f t h e first
H amburg s it es t h at can b e dated w it h
reas o n ab l e cert ainty in t h e Early Dryas. The
H amburg s it es in G ermany and Po l an d are
currently dated in the Bct>l I in g int erstadial s. l.
( Bokelmann, 1 979; Burdukiewicz, 1 98 1 b; see
also Lanting & M ook, 1 977).
There are vario us other s it es in the n o rt h ern
half of the N etherlan ds that on the basis of
strat igraph ical dat a m ust also p robably b e
dated i n the Early D ry as. Such s it es include
Texel (Stap ert, 1 98 1 ) an d L uttenberg (see
Lantin g & Mook, 1 977).
I t therefore s eems almost certain to m e that
there exists n o 'gap ' in t im e b etween t h e
appearan ce of t h e H am b urg tradit ion an d that
of t h e Federmesser t radit ion. Th is is possibly
supported by arguments of a typological
n ature, that are p resented here below. Besides,
in my opin ion t h ere are no soun d in dications
at p resent to suggest that the two tradit ions
o verlapped in t im e.
7. TYPOLOGY OF TH E POINTS
Within the cc;m fin es of this first report it is not
possible to give a det ail ed account of the fl int
mat erial excavated; this wil l be do ne in a l at er
art icle. Th e b asic int en t ion here is to briefly
dis cuss a n umber of p o ints. Typolo gicall y
these can p erhaps shed s o m e interestin g l ight
on the above-mentio ned dating of the site. I n
this conn ect ion also some relevant ideas from
the l it erature will b e b riefly dis cussed (un der
8.).
83
Th e 9 p o ints that are ill ustrated in fig. 30
are not all the p o ints from the s it e, b ut a
selection. Th e points an d p o int fragm ents that
are not ill ustrated mostly b el o n g to t h e
category of 'norm al ' shoul dered po ints.
A microlithic point w as also fo un d (in the
loose topsoil), moreo ver, that most p robably
dat es from the Mesolith ic.
Th e points ill ustrated show a few sp ecial
feat ures. N umbers I , 2 and 5 co ul d b e
described as rel atively l o n g (an d elegant)
t an ged p o ints, which are no t complet ely
typical , however, as the t an gs tap er to a p o int
an d are not con cavely backed. (Th e fracture
of no. 2 has been caused by s econ dary frost­
spl itting) . N o . 4 (burnt), however, is a m o re
typ ical example of a tan ged p o int, but is
relatively short comp ared with t h e other
sp ecim ens. N o . 3 was b roken in an cient t im es,
possibly when it was b ein g m ade. It is
rem ark abl e that the b asal fragm ent was p artly
retouched (ventrally) o n ce again close to t h e
fracture; the int entio n of this is not clear (an
analysis of t h e t races of use on t h e artefacts
from Oldeholtwolde h as not yet tak en p l ace).
Otherwise this sp ecim en can be des cribed as a
l o n g atypical tan ged p oin t (of the sam e type as
nos. I , 2 and 5).
Esp ecial ly noteworthy are p o ints 6 to 9
in cl us ive, as thes e are n eit her shoul dered
points nor tanged points, but types of points
that are well known in the N etherlan ds from
the Federmesser tradit ion (the fractures of
nos. 6 and 7 have b een caused by s econ dary
frost-splittin g). N o . 6 is a point of which the
l eft edge h as been reto uched complet ely;
about halfway alo n g this edge a s l ight n ick is
vis ib l e, on account of wh ich t h e p o int is
somewhat rem iniscent of a shoul dered p oint.
At the base (of which a small p art is m issin g,
as well as from the top) two small notch es
h ave been made along t h e opposit e edge
( ventrally), that p resumably w ere int ended to
facil it ate shaftin g.
N o . 7 can be des cribed as a fairly typ ical
Fig. 30. A few points from Oldeholtwolde. Retouching is indicated by a slightly thicker.outline. A closed circle indicates
the position of the point of percussion, an open circle the direction of the point of percussion that is no longer present.
An asterisk above the tool indicates that it is burnt. An arrow indicates the striking direction of a 'burin spal!'. Nos. 2, 6
and 7 show secondary fractures (frost-splitting most probably dating from the Late Dryas). No. 3 may have broken
already at the time when it was being worked; the basal part of this point was partly retouched again after the fracture
occurrred. I , 2, 3, 5. atypical tanged points; 4. tanged point; 6. backed point with a slight nick c. halfway along the
retouched edge; opposite the retouched edge 2 small notches have been made near the base; 7. Gravette poirit with the
negative of a 'burin spall' near the top (probably caused by its being used as a projectile); 8, 9. Gravette/Tjonger
points.
.
(Drawing D. Stapertj J . M . Smit, B . A . l . ) .
84
D . STAPERT
G ravett e point. I t appears that a b urin spal l
has been st ruck off the top. This is possibly
connected with the point bei n g used as a
proj ect ile; 'burin facets' of this k i n d o n points
occur freq uently (s ee e.g. Odell, 1 978; Barton
& Bergm an, 1 982). Only an an al ysis of any
traces of us e that may be p res ent coul d provi de
an answer to the q uestion whether this is a
( us ed) point, or a burin, made o ut of a
( possibly previously used) point. No. 8 is a
fin ely finished off an d complet e Gravette
point . Finally, n o . 9 is fragm ent ary but c an
nevert hel ess be described with reasonab l e
cert ainty as a small Tj on ger point.
Typologically the points numbered 6-9
b elong to the group of bac k ed points, an d
as s uch are more characteristic of the
Federmesser tradition than of the H am burg
tradit i o n .
8 . D I SCUSSION
Th e H amb urg t radition i s s ubdi vi ded by
vario us authors into groups , that are as ­
sumed to h ave chron ological s i gn ificance
(Schwabedissen, 1 937; 1 95 1 ; Bohmers, 1 947;
R ust, 1 9 5 1 ; 1 95 8 ; 1 962; Trom n au, 1 9 75;
Burduki ewicz, 1 9 8 I b) .
Schwabedissen has distinguished an o l der
and a youn ger gro up, with the youn ger group
being characterized abo ve all by the occur­
rence of tan ged points an d bl ade endscrap­
ers wit hout retouched edges.
Also Bohmers h as divided the H amburg
tradition into two groups, H ambur g I an d 1 1 ,
of which the group that he regards as the
youn ger ( l l ) is also cal l ed the ' H avel t e gro up '
after a site n ear H avelte ( H ol t i n gerzan d),
where fin e specimens of rel ati vely long an d
typical tan ged points occur. Th e o l der group
of Bohm ers ( I ) suppos edly shows a q uanti­
tative predomin ance of Zinken , and t h e
youn ger group o n e of b l ade en dscrap ers.
R ust has also distinguished an o l der an d a
younger group, the Komplexe van MeiendOlf
an d Poggen wisch respectively. Th e group that
is the younger in his opinion (Po ggenwisch)
is s uppos edly ch aracterized mainly by the
occurrence of shoul dered points with extra
small notches n ear the bas e opposite t h e
shoul der; another s uppos edly ch aracteristic
feature of this gro up is that the blade
en dscrapers us ually h ave no retouched edges,
in contrast to the o l der gro up.
Tromnau s ees in addition t o t h e three
p revi o us l y p o s t ul at ed gro ups ( M ei en dorf,
Po ggenwisch , Havel t e) yet a fourth gro up,
t h at he c al l s t h e Telt wisch- Grupp e , o n
account of m at erial exc avat ed by him at t h e
s i t e o f Tel twisch I . Th e occurrence o f so-called
Gravettetypen are s upposed to be ch arac­
t eristic of this group, while t an ged points
are abs ent.
Accordi n g to Tromnau the four groups that
h e distinguishes can b e p ut in chronological
o rder as fol l o ws : M ei en do rf, Poggenwisch ,
Teltwisch, H avel t e. H e admits, however, that
there are h ardly any sci entifically est ablished
datings availabl e to s upport this hypothesis
(the h earths that he fo un d at the site of
Teltwisch I are i n his opinion youn ger than
the H amburg tradition ; however, no C 1 4det erminations were don e). The chronological
o rder of the 4 groups is therefore spec ul ative,
and b ased m ai n ly on an 'intuitive' ass essmen t
of the typ o l o gy . I n Tromn au's working area
(the Ahrensburger Tunneltaf) the Teftwisch­
Gruppe is suppos edly the youn gest (see his
table 4), o n the basis of the occurrence of the
Gravettetypen ; in his opinion i t is p ossible
that this group dates ( p artly) from t h e E arly
D ryas .
Burduki ewicz s ees great similariti es b e­
tw een t h e H am b urg t radi t i o n an d t h e
( E n glish) C reswellian ; h e i ncludes both groups
t � get her in t h e 'Shoul dered P o i nt T echno­
complex'. With 25 sites of the two gro ups
he carried o ut a t axonom ic analysis, that
res ulted i n a cluster-di agram, i n which t h e
degree of m ut ual rel atedness of the sites is
presented (obtained by m eans of a factor
analysis?). Th e dat a us ed were freq uencies of
tools p er type-cl ass, altho ugh n o det ails are
m entioned of the p rocedure followed. T h e
E n glish C resw ellian sites were foun d t o cluster
together in o n e gro up . Th e H am b urg sites
c l ustered i n t hree groups. Th es e groups differ
q uite considerably from the other s ubdi visions
described above. M oreover Burduki ewicz's
i deas concerning the chronology are rather
different from the views of for exam p l e
Tromnau. H is group I l l , which includes t h e
sites of H avelte- H oltingerz and, Teltwisch I
and D ei mern 42, is in his opinion the o l dest.
Accordi n g to Tromn au t h es e sites b elong
p recisely to his youn gest groups . The y o un gest
gro up of Burduki ewicz(l) includes the sites of
M ei en do rf, Stellmoor, an d Olb rachciGe 8,
while accordi n g to Tromnau M ei en do rf an d
A site of the Hamburg tradition
Stellmoor bel o n g p re cisely to t he o l dest
group. Moreover the C 1 4-dating for Olbrach­
ci ce 8 fal ls in the first half of t he B</> lling
interstadial s. l. , so t here w o ul d seem to be
goo d re ason rat her for regardi n g the group
in which t his site o ccurs as o ne of t he
older ones. The tools foun d at t he site of
Ol b rachci ce 8 i n cl ude d back e d p o i n t s
( Federmesser) and short scrapers, that are
b o t h m o re t y p i cal o f t he Federm esser
tradition that can be dated for the greater part
in the Al ler</> d interstadial . Thus it is rat her
curio us that the site of Teltwis ch I , that is also
characterize d by t he o ccurren ce of backed
points (but not o r hardly of short scrapers)
beco mes i n cl ude d in t he group t hat accordin g
t o Burdukiewicz i s t he o l dest.
I n my opinion t he m ai n p roblem wit h
Burdukiewi cz's subdivision is that i t i s based on
quantitative data, n amely p roportions of tool
classes (alt ho ugh from his article it is not
comp letely clear how the s ubdi vis ion ori­
gi nated), whi ch is somethin g completely
differen t from a classification of sites on t he
ba sis of typol o gi cal characteristi cs. To my
mind a cluster an alysis o n t he basis of
quantitative dat a can hardly le ad to a t heory
con cerning t he chronologi cal s uccession of
vario us sites; it is more p robable t hat s uch
dat a contain info rm ation about any func­
tional differen ces t hat m ay e xist between t he
s ites .
To return to t he results of t he e xcavation at
Ol deholtwolde , at least t he following remarks
can be m ade:
I . Bot h tan ge d p o i nts (albeit to some e xtent
of an atypical form) an d backed points
(Gravette p oints, Tj o n ge r p oi nts) are p resent.
2. There are n o short s crapers p resent, b ut
mainly bl ade en dscrapers with o ne o r two
retouched e dges.
We can thus establish t he fact t hat tan ge d
points an d b acke d points can i n any case
o ccur at l ate H am b urg sites. I n my opinion
t his does not necess aril y mean t hat t hey could
not also o ccur at t he o l der sites. This applies
notably in t he case of backed points, as
seems t o qe clear from t he C 1 4-dating for
0 1 brachci ce 8. I n t his connection it must be
pointed o ut t hat backe d p o i nts are not only
characteristic of t he Federmesser tradition,
but t hat t hey also can o ccur i n the Mag­
dalen i an . I n t his respect it is rather more
diffi cult to unde rstan d the p resence of s ho rt
scrapers at Olbrachci ce 8 .
85
A n interes ting p oint i s that at Ol deholt­
wolde blade ends crapers with retouche d
edges are p resent, cont rary to e xpect ations
in t his respect of Schwabedissen, Rust an d
Tromnau fo r young sites.
To s umm arize, t he following p oi nts can be
est ablished:
- Tange d p o ints o ccur at l ate sites;
- Back e d p oints too o ccur at l ate sites, b ut
p robably also at o l de r o nes (in view of t he site
Olb rachcice 8);
- Sho rt s crapers are not necessarily p resent
at l ate sites;
- Blade s crapers with retouched edges o ccur
no t only at p ossibly o l der sites;
- Tanged points and backed p o ints are not
mut ually e xcl usi ve .
All t hi n gs considered, in my opinion t here is
goo d reason to con cl ude t hat t he abo ve­
des cribed subdi visions of t he H amburg tradition
are not very useful. Especially t he different
i de as t hat have been p ub li s he d abo ut
t he p ossible chronologi cal o rder of vario us
sites are based hardly at all o n facts, b ut
mai n ly o n spe culati ve typologi cal e val uations.
Purely typologi cal arguments e asily lead to
hypotheses abo ut a p ossible "e vo l ution", b ut
in fact for t he meantime we know too little
about t he caus ative p ro cesses to be able to
interp ret e xactly w hi ch de velop me nts are
refle ct e d i n t he t y p o lo gi cal i nfo rm at i o n
avai l able. Moreover, for t he m o s t p art t hese
t heories have n ot been teste d s cientifically.
Chronologi cal interp retations of differen ces in
p roportions of vario us types of t o o ls between
vario us sites seem to be b ase d on e ve n weaker
gro un ds t heoreti cally, an d in my opinion can
best be avoide d alt o gether.
As for possible connections between t he
H amburg tradition an d other Upper Paleo­
lithi c traditions in Europe, I completely agree
wit h Burdukiewicz ( 1 98 1 b) t hat t hese must
be looked for in the L ate Magdalenian
(IV-V I ) . I n Northern Fran ce a n umber of
L ate Magdalenian sites are known with
"H amburg elements" s uch as sho ul de red
points and Zinken (La Pierre-aux Fees:
All ain, 1 974; Marsangy: Schmi de r, 1 979;
1 98 1 ; see also: Schmi de r, 1 97 1 ; Bosinski,
1 9 7 8 ) . The most con s p i cuous differen ce
between most of t he L ate Magdaleni an sites
and t hose of t he H am b urg t radition is t he
p re s e n ce of re l at i vely l arge n um b e rs of
lamelles a dos at t he Magdalenian sites (e.g.
Pince vent section 36 abo ut 60%: Leroi-
86
D . STAPERT
Gourhan & Brezillon, 1 972); thes e are vir­
t ual ly absent (so far) with the H ambur g
t r adit io n (fo r the typolo gical differ en c es
b etween the Magdalenian and t h e H amburg
tradit ion see also: Bohmers, 1 960) .
Bokelmann ( 1 979) gives an o verview of
what is currently known about the H am b ur g
tradit io n . As far as the chronological posit ion
is concerned it seems most p robab l e t o h im
that the H amburg tradit ion can b e dated in
the B<t>l l in g interstadial s.l. (th at l asted for c .
1 000 years) . I n my opinion it can n o w be
established that people of the H ambur g
tradit ion l ived on t h e Northwest E uropean
plain al so during the Early Dryas, so ther e is no
longer a "gap" between the app earance of
the H amburg an d Federmesser tradit ions.
Th is means, besides, that we m ust consider the
possibil ity that the way of l ife of t h e H ambur g
h unters was different durin g t h es e t w o zon es
of the Lat e Glacial, namely an int erstadial an d
a stadial (during which co ver-san d w as
deposit ed). This could have cons equences for
sp eCUl at ions co ncerning the seasons in which
the. H ambur g occupation took p l ace in this
regIOn.
The mo del o utlin ed by Bokelmann s eems to
me to be somewhat premat ure, for a n umber
of reasons. With reference to t h e conclusions
of Stur dy ( 1 975) regarding the s easonal
interpretation of reindeer ant l ers from the
Ahrensburg-Ievel of Stellmoor (assum in g that
they are correct), I am not convinced that it
can s imply be assumed that thes e are also
app l icable to the H amburg t radit ion . To my
m in d it woul d be advisable to first of all m ak e
a sim ilar analysis of the reindeer antlers from
the H amburg l evels.
Another point is the rel iability of int er­
preting seasonality on the basis of the in­
vest igat ion of antlers. For example, Sp iess
( 1 979 : p. 1 0 1 ) comes to the conclus ion that
' . . . antl ers are almost us el ess as in dicators of
seasonal ity of h unting . . . '. To det ermine the
·
seaso n in wh ich a rein deer died he recom­
mends microscopic invest igat ion of thin sec­
tions of teeth.
As fo r Bo kelmann's model: occupation
during aut um n , winter an d sprin g in
Schleswig-Holstein, and dur in g summer in the
N etherlan ds, this seems to m e to be too
simple. H owever, there are some indications
to suggest that in any case in the N etherlands
occup at ion occurred at l east during the
summ er s eason.
a) As far as s it es t h at can b e dat ed in the
Early Dryas are concerned, it can be assumed
that occupation dur ing the winter season is
rather improbab l e. The co ver-sand deposit ion
during (i.a. ) this p er io d is regarded by some
geologists as t h e result of s now-storms, that
probably occurred mainly durin g the w inter
(t h is app l ies esp ecial l y to co ver-san ds with
l o am y b an ds ; s ee e . g. E del m an , 1 9 5 1 ;
Wiggers , 1 973; in the Arctic region storms
occur mainl y in the w inter, s ee e.g. French,
1 976: chap t er 1 0) .
b ) I n the Netherlan ds at l east two types o f
Hamburg settlem ents occur, namely lar ger
o n es (with several thousan ds of flint artefacts)
and smal l er o n es (with several h un dr eds of
flint art efacts) - two unp ublished sit es of the
second type h ave b een excavat ed by the B. AJ .
at D iever an d N org, that w il l event ually be
p ublished in Palaeohistoria . Th e occurrence
of such s m al l s it es seems to b e in dicative of
summer occup at io n , cons iderin g what is
known of Eskimos (s ee e.g. Mauss, 1 979).
For the m eantime, however, on the basis of
the scarce dat a that are avail able it s eems
premature to m e to develo p any det ailed
mo dels of the mode de vie of t h e H amburg
h unters.
9 . S UMMARY
I n this article a few provis ional results are
given of the in vest igat ion of the H ambur g
.
findspot at Ol deholtwolde . Th is s it e was
excavat ed in 1 980 an d 1 9 8 1 (o ver a total
p erio d of abo ut 23 weeks). Th e findspot lies in
the vall ey of the r iver Tj onger, at the foot of
the slope of a fairly low cover-san d r idge
alo n g the ban k of the main stream channel in
the valley, at a spot where the transit io n from
sand ridge to stream chan n el is r el at ively
abrupt . This l ast-mentioned fact is p ossibly
one of the m ost important characteristics of
the s it e as r egards t h e local isat ion in the
landscap e, an d coul d indicate the possibility
that the H am b urg people were h ere occup ied,
amo n g other thin gs , with catch in g fis h .
F urthermore t h e s ite l ies on a k in d of
"pen insula" in the vall ey pl ain of the Tj onger
(see figs . 7, 8); the area is s ur roun ded by
stream chan n els on the south, west, north an d
partly also o n the east .
At the s it e location there is no boul der-c lay
pres ent. Th e H amburg p eople must have
A site of the Hamburg tradition
brought the fli nt a nd stones t hey used over a
d istance of several h u nd red metres.
Strat igraphically the finds occur at an
average depth of c . 20 cm below the "Layer of
Ussel o", that was fou n d in p a rts of t he
excavation a rea j ust below the tops oil. The
finds were present near the top of a layer of
cover-sand with thin loamy bands that must
be rega rded as Y o unger Cover-sand I . This
layer (that is locally c. 2 m t h ick) was
d e p o s i ted d ur i ng t h e Ea rly D ryas s t ad i a ! . On
the basis of the strat igrap hical situat ion the
fi nds can be dated to relatively soon (a few
dece n n ia?) before the beginning of the Allercf> d
i nterstad ial.
I n the stream channel i mmediately to the
sou th of the site the ' La yer of U ssel o ' merges
into a b rown peat layer. I n the perip heral zone
t he peat layer contains wood remains (trunk
fragments) of Salix and Betula , while further
away from the bank abundant rema ins of
Carex a re mainly p resent. A C 1 4-dating of the
lowermost I cm of the peat layer (sample
taken at a spot c . 3 m south of the fringe of its
a rea of extent : fig . 1 0) gave the result:
I I , 340± 1 00 B . P . ( G r N- I I . 264), so it can be
said that the peat layer fo rmed d uring the
second half of the A l lercf>d i nterstadia l .
Above the peat layer, and t h e 'Layer of
Usselo', a thin layer of Younger Cover-sand 11
is locally p resent, that becomes i ncreasingly
thi n ner towards the south (in t he s tream
channel). Coming out of this sand layer a re
frost fissu res penetrating t hrough t he brown
peat layer (figs . I S , 1 6) ; these must have
originated d u ring the La t e D ryas .
For the p u rpose of comparison with the
s t ra t igra p h ic a l d a t a of O l d e h o l t wo l d e , a
profile at Oldeholtpa is briefly d iscusse d .
Here, u nder t h e ' Layer of Usselo', cover-sand
with thin loamy bands is also p resent, a nd
below it extremely l oamy cover-sand , that
most probably m ust be regarded as Older
Cover-sand . This s upp orts the chro nostra­
tigraphical i nterpretatio n of the p rofile at
Oldeholtwolde.
I n the middle of the find concentrati o n a
constructed hearth (diameter c . I . S m) was
fou nd (figs . 1 9-27). This consisted of a heart­
shaped co nfiguration of flat stones (average
thickness c. 2 cm) in a shallow depression. I n
the centre a n holl owed-out pit (d iameter c .
3 S X SO cm, depth c . 1 0 c m ) was present, o f
which t h e bottom a nd s ides were paved with
closely set, flat stones. Cha rcoal (probably
87
mostly from burnt brushwood) was present
under the stones. A C 1 4-sample of the
charcoal from the central pit gave the dati ng:
1 1 , 540±270 B. P (GrN- 1 O. 274). Outside the
heart h, too, many scattered stones were
p resent. I n view of the p resence of . black
patches of charring on them most of t hese m ust
have once lain i n the hearth. In my opinion there
are no good ind ications of a 'tent struct ure' o r
anything similar to be found in t h e distribution
of the stones .
A mong t h e points, i n addition t o the
shouldered p oints that are normal for the
Hamburg tradition also t anged p oints and
G ravette/ Tj o nger points are p resent. These
appear to support a late dating of the site: i n
this regio n Tj o nger p o ints a re especially
typical for t he Federmesser tradition that can
be d ated mainly in t he A l lercf>d i nterstad ial.
In my opinion i t can be c o ncluded with a
reasonable degree of certainty that the site at
Oldeholtwolde d ates fro m the final phase o f
the Early D ryas stadial. There is some reas on
to assume that this s ite d oes no t represent a
winter camp.
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Figs. 12 and 28 are to be found in the fold at the back
of this volume.