THE NORTHERN FRINGE OF THE SWIDERIAN TECHNOLOGICAL TRADITION: SALASPILS LAUKSKOLA REVISITED The Northern Fringe of the The Northern Fringe of the Swiderian Technological Salaspils Tradition: Laukskola Revisited INGER MARIE BERG-HANSEN, HEGE DAMLIEN, ILGA ZAGORSKA Abstract INGER MARIE MARIE INGER BERG-HANSEN, DAMLIEN, HEGE ZAGORSKA ILGA The earliest settlement of Latvia occurred at the very end of the Late Glacial, after the retreat of the ice sheet. Important evi- dence of this earliest occupation is the well-known site Salaspils Laukskola. Previous research has focused on the typological aspects of this assemblage, and the use of lithic raw materials, suggesting an affiliation to the Swidry tradition. However, a wider technological perspective on this assemblage comprising a rich lithic inventory has recently proven fruitful. We present a detailed new technological analysis of the Laukskola assemblage, as well as five small lithic assemblages from Latvia based on a chaîne opératoire approach. While supporting the Swidry connection, this allows for a renewed discussion of the Final Palaeolithic settlement of Latvia, and its relationship with adjacent areas of northeast Europe. Key words: Final Palaeolithic, lithic technology, lithic raw material, chaîne opératoire, technological tradition, social net- work, mobility, eastern Baltic. Introduction a comparison of the concepts of stone tool production, offers a deepened knowledge of this relationship. We The Salaspils Laukskola site, excavated in 1973 and present a detailed description and analysis of the stone 1974 by Ilga Zagorska, has since then been the main technology, including an analysis of the raw material evidence for the earliest settlement of Latvia. The site economy at the Laukskola site. The results disclose in- was located on a riverbank in the palaeo-estuary of formation about on-site activities, and the length and the River Daugava, some 20 kilometres southeast of character of the occupation, contributing to our un- Riga. The excavation demonstrated that the site was derstanding of mobility patterns and communication occupied after the formation of the river terrace. This in this period. Further, small lithic assemblages from gives the settlement an earliest possible geological other contexts are included in the discussion (Fig. 1; date as the middle part of the Younger Dryas c. 10 500 Table 1). cal BC, i.e. right after the Scandinavian Ice Sheet had retreated towards the north. The Salaspils Laukskola assemblage has been linked to the concurrent Swidry Techno-economic analysis of the tradition, mainly based on similarities in point mor- Salaspils Laukskola lithic assemblage phology, presenting a lower timeframe for the occupa- Altogether, six flint concentrations were identified at tion, stretching into the first half of the Preboreal until the Laukskola site, interpreted as traces of separate c. 9000 cal BC (Zagorska, 1993; 1996; 1999; 2012). settlement structures (Fig. 2). The flint concentrations Several Latvian finds of bone and antler artefacts (har- (I-VI) were five by six metres wide, forming rounded poons, a single Lyngby axe and reindeer remains) have find scatters. At the centre of some of the scatters, there been radiocarbon dated to the same period. Based on was a concentration of burnt flint, suggesting the pres- these results, this northern settlement is placed within a ence of a hearth. In addition, stray finds of single flint larger Final Palaeolithic framework of European hunt- artefacts of a similar character were found in a larger er-gatherers, with reindeer and their hunters entering area around the concentrations. The assemblage com- Latvia from the south (Zagorska 2012). The affiliation prises 2,710 artefacts of chipped stone, including cu- between the Latvian finds and the Swidry finds from rated tools and production waste. Approximately 200 further south has until now been explored largely from to 400 artefacts were found in each scatter. A use-wear a typological perspective (Zaliznyak 1999a; 1999b; analysis of flint tools from two concentrations suggests Šatavičius 2016; however, see Sulgostowska 1997; variation in hunting, hide processing and household 2002). In this article, we argue that a technological activities (Zagorska, Winiarska-Kabacinska 2012). approach to the study of the Salaspils Laukskola as- semblage, including a chaîne opératoire analysis and 12 BALTICA 26 BALTICA ARCHAEOLOGIA I PAPERS READ AT THE XVIII° UISPP WORLD CONGRESS IN PARIS (4-9 JUNE 2018), SUB-SESSION XVIII-2 „FINAL PALAEOLITHIC IN EASTERN BALTIC“ Fig. 1. Sites mentioned in the text. 13 INGER MARIE The Northern Fringe of the 14 BERG-HANSEN, Swiderian Technological HEGE DAMLIEN, Tradition: Salaspils ILGA ZAGORSKA Laukskola Revisited Fig. 2. A map of the Salaspils Laukskola site, displaying six find concentrations and stray finds. Table 1. A list of sites/assemblages mentioned in the text and the number of analysed artefacts (n=complete assemblage). Artefacts Salaspils Mūkukalns Skrīveru Ikšķiles Ķentes pil- Sēlpils Laukskola* Lielrutuli Elkšņi skalns Complete blades 109 1 3 3 0 0 Blade fragments 116 0 0 0 0 0 Flakes 1 0 0 0 0 0 26 BALTICA Cores 5 1 0 0 2 2 Core fragments 6 0 0 0 0 0 Platform flakes 1 0 0 0 0 0 Blocks/nodules 1 0 0 0 0 0 Points/Microliths 41 0 1 1 4 2 Scrapers 1 2 1 2 0 0 Burins 10 0 0 0 0 0 ARCHAEOLOGIA Microburins 18 0 0 0 0 0 Sum attribute analy- 309 4 5 6 6 4 sis 100% (n=) 2170 4 12 6 6 40 Excavation; I. Zagorska J. Graudonis E. Šturms A. Smiltnieks A. Stubavs E. Šnore and director, year 1973–1974 1959–1962 1929; I. 1984 (survey) 1954–1958 A. Zariņa I (total area/context) (2700 m2) (stray find) Briede 1974 (stray find) 1963–1965 PAPERS READ (stray find) (stray find) AT THE XVIII° References Zagorska 1993; Zagorska 2012 Zagorska 2012 Zagorska 2012 Zagorska Zagorska 2012 UISPP WORLD CONGRESS IN 1996; 1999; 2012 PARIS 2012 (4-9 JUNE 2018), SUB-SESSION XVIII-2 „FINAL PALAEOLITHIC The present analysis is based on the technological ap- al. 2019). In total, 14% (309 artefacts) of the chipped IN EASTERN proach developed in French sociology and archaeol- stone assemblage from Laukskola has been subjected BALTIC“ ogy, and further development within Scandinavian to attribute analysis, comprising different parts of the archaeology and the Nordic Blade Technology Net- blade and tool production, and several lithic raw ma- work (Madsen 1996; Knutsson 1998; Apel 2008; terials. Sørensen 2006a; 2006b; 2013; Knutsson et al. 2015; Damlien 2016; Berg-Hansen 2017a; 2018). The goal of Blade concept and tools the analysis is to describe the organisation of the stone technology, including concepts, methods and tech- The analysis documents that the stone industry was niques for the production of tool blanks and tools, and oriented towards the production of blades as blanks for the raw-material economy. The investigation focuses tools. A single blade concept could be identified, and on the following questions: there is no evidence of systematic flake production. What characterises lithic technology in terms of pro- Further, no specialised production of blades of certain duction concepts, methods and techniques, including sizes or shapes could be identified. Rather, blade size the aims of production, the use of blanks, the chaîne seems to diminish with the reduction of the cores. The opératoire, and the raw material economy? size distribution of complete blades shows a relatively wide size range, the maximum measurement being be- Are there technological variations between the six con- tween 21 and 88 millimetres in length, six to 31 milli- centrations at Laukskola? metres in width, and two to 16 millimetres in thickness What are the similarities and differences compared to (Fig. 3; Table 2). The assemblage shows a great simi- Swidry blade technology? larity in blade morphology and technological attributes To achieve this, we use a combination of dynamic- between the concentrations. Generally, the blades technological classification and reading of the com- from Laukskola are regular and straight, although ir- plete chipped stone assemblage, a simplified chaîne regular blades are also present. The majority have a opératoire analysis, and a detailed attribute analysis trapezoidal cross-section, and although the distal ends of selected artefacts (Table 1) (Schild 1980; Inizan et show both straight transverse and pointed termination, al. 1999; Eriksen 2000; Sørensen 2006a; 2006b; 2013; straight termination is more common (72%) (Fig. 4; Berg-Hansen 2017a; 2017b; 2018, Berg-Hansen et Table 2). 15 The Northern Fringe of the The Northern Fringe of the Swiderian Technological Salaspils Tradition: Laukskola Revisited INGER MARIE MARIE INGER BERG-HANSEN, DAMLIEN, HEGE ZAGORSKA ILGA Fig. 3. Blade size distribution, all analysed blades from six concentrations at Salaspils Laukskola (compare Table 2) (n=225). The blade concept can thereby be described as narrow, Core management and maintenance, straight and regular blades of various sizes, with main- and percussion technique ly straight transverse termination at the distal end. This does not correspond well with the so-called preferential The analysis shows that a single concept for stand- blade production, as suggested for the Swidry tradition ardised blade production was used in all the six find by Migal (2007). However, a possible explanation for concentrations at Laukskola, comprising one-sided this is offered by Galiński and Sulgostowska (2013), production on cores with two opposed platforms. The who suggest some variation in the blade production cores display few production mistakes, indicating concept within this tradition, related to varied access skilled production. This is supported by the presence of to lithic raw materials. This suggests the application of only 3% hinged blades. The five cores found at Lauk- a more standardised blade concept in connection with skola are exhausted, hence the selection of raw materi- the exploitation of chocolate flint, and a less uniform al volumes cannot be identified, and information about concept in the utilisation of other flint types.