How Fishy was the Inland Mesolithic? New Data from Friesack, Brandenburg, Germany

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that faunal assemblages from Mesolithic sites in inland Northern Europe contain more fish remains than previously thought, but the archaeological and archaeozoological record does not reveal the dietary importance of aquatic species to hunter-gatherer-fishers, even at a societal level. For example, the function of bone points, as hunting weapons or fishing equipment, has long been debated. Moreover, traditional methods provide no indication of variable subsistence practices within a population. For these reasons, paleodietary studies using stable isotope analyses of human remains have become routine. We present radiocarbon (14C) and stable isotope data from nine prehistoric human bones from the Early Mesolithic-Early Neolithic site of Friesack 4, and isotopic data for local terrestrial mammals (elk, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, aurochs, beaver) and freshwater fish (European eel, European perch). The reference data allow individual paleodiets to be reconstructed. Using paleodiet estimates of fish consumption, and modern values for local freshwater reservoir effects, we also calibrate human 14C ages taking into account dietary reservoir effects. Although the number of individuals is small, it is possible to infer a decline in the dietary importance of fish from the Preboreal to the Boreal Mesolithic, and an increase in aquatic resource consumption in the Early Neolithic.

Environment and human subsistence in Northern France at the Late Glacial to early Holocene transition

“…A possible consumption of aquatic food items could lead to a reservoir effect. As a result, the human individuals' chronological ages could be in fact younger, to up to several hundred years, than the apparent age given by the 14 C results, as found in Mesolithic contexts by Meadows et al (2018) and Boethius et al (2017). A review by Fernandes et al (2016) showed a reservoir effect that accounted for a shift of up to 500 years older in radiocarbon ages for Mesolithic and Neolithic human individuals in Europe.…”

“…The fluviatile environment is dominated by peat deposit, and the aquatic ecosystem is highly influenced by terrestrial input and shows relatively low productivity. We thus used the Mesolithic river fishes from Abri du Pape in Belgium (Drucker et al 2018) and Friesack 4 in northern Germany (Meadows et al 2018;Robson pers. comm.…”

“…This landscape development offered new opportunities for human subsistence through edible plants' elements, such as nuts and fruits; terrestrial preys such as red deer, roe deer, aurochs, wild boar, and elk; and productive aquatic ecosystems (e.g., Jarman 1972;Clarke 1976;Price 1987;. Indeed, several zooarchaeology and stable isotope studies have revealed the importance of aquatic resources not only in coastal environments (Boethius et al 2017) but also in inland contexts (Bazanella et al 2007;Terberger et al 2012Terberger et al , 2018Drucker et al 2016;Frontin 2017;Meadows et al 2018). The estimation of the contribution of plants has been more elusive when considering bulk collagen, since plants provide far less protein than meat.…”

A Lacustrine Revolution: Adaptive Shifts in the Late Glacial of South Central Europe

“…The succeeding Late Paleolithic shows a similar pattern in collections from the sites of Monruz, Hauterive-Champréveyres, Henauhof NW level 6 and Henauhof West (Jochim 1998;Leesch et al 2004). It should be noted, however, that recent isotopic studies of human bone from the Mesolithic site of Friesack in northern Germany suggest that some individuals had diets high in fish, even though the faunal collections contain relatively few fish remains (Meadows et al 2018).…”

Early Mesolithic bone points from Schleswig-Holstein

“…A comparison with the site Friesack 4, district Havelland, Brandenburg, shows that in Northern Germany notched or fine-barbed bone points can occur at least up to the late Boreal (Gramsch 1990;/2010. Although no AMS data of directly sampled bone points of this site are available, corresponding finds are proven from the stratified layer complexes I to III of the excavation, which date from the Preboreal to the older Boreal, and from layer complex IV, which spans a time from the late Boreal to the early Atlantic (Gramsch 2009(Gramsch /2010Meadows et al 2018). In this respect, the dating of bone points from Hohen Viecheln should be undisputed.…”