Typological, Chronological and Cultural Verification of Pleistocene and Early Holocene Bone and Antler Harpoons
93 TYPOLOGICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL VERIFICATION OF PLEISTOCENE AND EARLY HOLOCENE BONE AND ANTLER HARPOONS Przegląd Archeologiczny Vol. 61, 2013, pp. 93-144 PL ISSN 0079-7138 TADEuSz GALIńSKI TYPOLOGICAL, CHRONOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL VERIFICATION OF PLEISTOCENE AND EARLY HOLOCENE BONE AND ANTLER HARPOONS AND POINTS FROM THE SOUTHERN BALTIC ZONE The study catalogues all currently known finds of bone and antler harpoons and points associated with Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Protoneolithic culture in the southern Baltic zone, between the mouths of the Oder and Niemen rivers. It undertakes an analysis of the category in typological, chronological and cultural terms, taking into consideration results of recent paleogeographic investigations and research on the Stone Age in this region. An important element of this study are drawn plates of nearly all of the discussed objects as well as distribution maps. The author gives a critical analysis of the classic harpoon and point typology presented by J.G.D. Clark (1936) in the context of a broader source base, en- compassing finds from the entire Baltic zone. A detailed morphological classification of harpoon barbs is one of the most important tools essential to this end. KEY WORDS: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Protoneolithic, harpoons, points, barbs, tang, base, bone, antler, assemblages INTRODUCTION The study refers to the author’s 1980s publi- the author on harpoons and points discovered in cation in the journal “Materiały zachodniopomor- recent years, as well as those in museum collec- skie” (Szczecin), where all the then known finds tions. Most importantly, however, knowledge of of bone and antler harpoons and points from the the region’s natural environment, as well as its southern Baltic zone between the mouths of the cultural and chronological development has pro- Oder and Niemen rivers were collected and dis- gressed substantially, especially with regard to cussed for the first time in Polish archaeological the Mesolithic in northern Poland.
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