An attempt to link a lithic complex with the Late Palaeolithic Rangifer tarandus antler axe from the Parupė site in northern Lithuania
Volume 28 (2021), pp. 118–131
Pub. online: 29 December 2021
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Received
26 February 2021
26 February 2021
Revised
28 April 2021
28 April 2021
Accepted
18 August 2021
18 August 2021
Published
29 December 2021
29 December 2021
Abstract
The recent intensification of AMS 14C assays of bone and antler artefacts in the east and southeast
Baltic region has revealed a number of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antler axes, and their prevalence
in the Late Palaeolithic osseous toolkit. One of the oldest, dating from 11 221–11 048 cal
BC, was discovered in 2014 in the village of Parupė, on the left bank of the River Nemunėlis, in
northern Lithuania. Until now, no such organic implements discovered in the region in question
have been associated with any Late Palaeolithic taxonomic group, but at the location of the antler
axe at Parupė between 2015 and 2019, three concentrations of numerous lithic findings have been
identified, whose typological and technological features allow for the consideration of their possible
association with the dated axe. In this paper, we present three concentrations of lithic finds
(sites 1–3) at Parupė village, providing their technological and typological data, and their possible
chronology and taxonomy, reflecting the Late Palaeolithic and Early and Late Mesolithic. We
conclude that the moderate lithic complex from site 1 should be associated with Late Palaeolithic
technology, and can possibly be linked with the antler axe.