Federmesser mobility patterns in the Western Meuse area, Limburg, the Netherlands: the case studies of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman I

The archaeology of the late Paleolithic in the Netherlands studies human behavior during the termination of the last glacial period. These studies focus mostly on lithic material due to preservative conditions. One of the ‘groups’ defined on the basis of this lithic material is the Federmesser-group, or Azilien. This tradition is generally dated to the Allerød warm period (11.800-10.800 BP). This thesis focuses on Federmesser-mobility patterns in the western Meuse area of Limburg, the Netherlands. Specifically, the sites of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman will be addressed. Here we show that Heythuysen-de Fransman may actually have a different chronological position than was previously assumed. Based on assemblage size, a differentiation was made between Meuse sites and Peelhorst sites, interpreting the sites on the peelhorst as Base camps and the Meuse-region sites as extraction camps. In this thesis it is suggested that larger Peelhorst-sites may actually consist of a...Show moreThe archaeology of the late Paleolithic in the Netherlands studies human behavior during the termination of the last glacial period. These studies focus mostly on lithic material due to preservative conditions. One of the ‘groups’ defined on the basis of this lithic material is the Federmesser-group, or Azilien. This tradition is generally dated to the Allerød warm period (11.800-10.800 BP). This thesis focuses on Federmesser-mobility patterns in the western Meuse area of Limburg, the Netherlands. Specifically, the sites of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman will be addressed. Here we show that Heythuysen-de Fransman may actually have a different chronological position than was previously assumed. Based on assemblage size, a differentiation was made between Meuse sites and Peelhorst sites, interpreting the sites on the peelhorst as Base camps and the Meuse-region sites as extraction camps. In this thesis it is suggested that larger Peelhorst-sites may actually consist of a palimpsest of various sites related to clustered resources in this area, as opposed to the Meuse area. However, lithic typology does suggest processing activities were more important on the Peelhorst, while hunting activities dominate in the Meuse area. Through the analysis and publications of the lithic inventories of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman, the author hopes to contribute to the dataset of published upper Paleolithic sites in the Netherlands. The author also hopes to contribute to the larger debate on mobility strategies for the Late Paleolithic, on which little has been published for the Netherlands in the last 20 years.Show less

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Federmesser mobility patterns in the Western Meuse area, Limburg, the Netherlands: the case studies of Horn-Haelen and Heythuysen-de Fransman I