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A Late Mesolithic Hunting Station at Agernæs, Fyn, Denmark

2003; Wiley; Volume: 74; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.0065-001x.2003.aar740101.x

1600-0390

Jane Richter, Nanna Noe‐Nygaard,

Isotope Analysis in Ecology

The Late Ertebølle hunting site from Agernæs, Fyn/Funen, Denmark, around 4200 cal yrs BC (51–5600 14 C yr BP), has yielded a total of 32 animal species. They include eight species of fur animals comprising pine marten, polecat, wolf, fox, domestic dog, lynx, wild cat and otter. Neonatal red deer and roe deer were apparently only hunted for their skins. Animals hunted for consumption comprise aurochs, wild boar, adult red deer and roe deer. The season of activity is determined by the presence of newborn red deer, roe deer, piglets of wild boar and the time of skinning of the pine marten. The biometrical data from red deer, roe deer and wild boar indicate free migration between the island of Fyn and the mainland, Jylland/Jutland. The inhabitants of the site seem to have been highly focused on the hunting of fur animals. Pine marten has been a major target with 33 individuals. Specialized hunting strategies have further been applied. Bones from 10 species indicate that the main animal food source was terrestrial, while the isotope data from man and dog indicate a dominant marine diet. It is thus likely that Agernæs was a hunting station, and represents a specialized site, indicating that economic differentiation already was in progress. The termination of the Late Atlantic climatic optimum (8000–5000 14 C BP), radical changes of the forested landscape during the elm decline, and diversification of economic activities may have created the foundation for the introduction of domestic animals only a few hundred years later than the habitation of the Agernæs site. The main habitation period of the site appears to fall between the Late Atlantic and the Subboreal Littorina transgression by comparison with data from the Littorina-transgressions of Sjælland/Zealand at Vedbæk, Storebælt, Trundholm Mose, Troldestuen, and Tengslemark.