Journal:Archaeologia Baltica
Volume 13 (2010): At the Origins of the Culture of the Balts, pp. 43–57
Abstract
Extensive excavations of Stone Age sites in Western Pomerania have been conducted since 1981. Three of them, the Rotnowo site 18, Tanowo site 3 and Bolków site 1, were selected as Tanged Point Younger Dryas key sites. These open sandy sites revealed well-preserved flint concentrations and a dwelling structure (Tanowo). Their flint inventories, with elements of Ahrensburgian culture, are made up of local flints. Younger Dryas chronology is supported by geology and C14 from Rotnowo: 10820±80 BP [Poz-8309] (cal. 11180–10830 BC). The results of the investigations were compared with settlements from other regions of Poland and with sites from Lithuania and Latvia.
Local and exotic flint use and distribution are considered as markers of group mobility. The Arch Backed Pieces and the Mazovian societies organised logistics expeditions in various directions, south-north, west-east, using natural routes as river valleys, but also crossing mountains. Their motives seem to be different and not only connected with economic necessity and subsistence strategy. Group mobility, observed rarely on distances more than tens of hundreds of kilometres, was probably a seasonal event, but sometimes may be a reflection of a permanent exodus.