Project Details
Description
Goal: The project „Reindeer hunters of the Ice Age“ is an interdisciplinary archaeological and scientific research project with focus on Denmark. It tries to elucidate the exploitation of reindeer – the main game of humans – during the Lateglacial period.
Our basic knowledge of the early people in Denmark is based on rare finds. Although during the past 150 years thousands of man-made osseous remains have been found during peat, clay and sand exploitation, only some 30 of these artefacts may belong to the Lateglacial, while the majority belongs to later periods. The project aims to examine and direct date the Danish find material of anthropogenic modified reindeer remains from the Lateglacial period (12 700–9 600 BC) in order to answer the following questions:
- Was Lateglacial reindeer hunting reliant on specific conditions of the climate and vegetation?
- Were there geographical variations in reindeer hunting?
- Can we link different manufacturing procedures (schémas opératoires) to specific cultural periods?
- Are reindeer antler axes only associated with the Ahrensburgian?
Our basic knowledge of the early people in Denmark is based on rare finds. Although during the past 150 years thousands of man-made osseous remains have been found during peat, clay and sand exploitation, only some 30 of these artefacts may belong to the Lateglacial, while the majority belongs to later periods. The project aims to examine and direct date the Danish find material of anthropogenic modified reindeer remains from the Lateglacial period (12 700–9 600 BC) in order to answer the following questions:
- Was Lateglacial reindeer hunting reliant on specific conditions of the climate and vegetation?
- Were there geographical variations in reindeer hunting?
- Can we link different manufacturing procedures (schémas opératoires) to specific cultural periods?
- Are reindeer antler axes only associated with the Ahrensburgian?
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 01/10/2019 → 31/01/2021 |