Innovationen und Netzwerke. Das Spätmesolithikum vom Forggensee (Südbayern) im Kontext des ausgehenden Mesolithikums und des Altneolithikums in der Südhälfte Europas

Abstract

In her doctoral thesis, Birgit Gehlen considers in detail the Late Mesolithic period and the transition to the Early Neolithic period in various regions in the southern half of Europe. The starting point for her examination of the subject are two Late Mesolithic stone-artefact inventories from Forggensee in southern Bavaria, which are at present unique in Germany as far as the quantity and variety of the stoneartefact types are concerned. Both inventories are described and illustrated in detail. Special attention is paid here to an explanation of blade production methods based on the many blades and blade cores. In the second section of her thesis, the author investigates the socalled ‚Trapeze Horizon‘, from the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent to the Iberian Peninsula and from southern Germany to North Africa. Her research concentrates especially on the question of continuity or discontinuity between the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, which can be observed in the stone artefacts. An essential basis for such a diachronic investigation is the absolute chronology in the various areas that were studied, which the author was able to establish from approx. 3000 radiocarbon dates. It becomes clear that there are serious gaps in the research done so far, which can only be closed by further intensive investigations.
The thesis is a complex overview of the Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic stone-artefact inventories in the southern half of Europe, in which the research situation to date is knowledgeably and critically summarized. Thus, for the first time, the foundation is laid for a broader discussion of the processes of the Neolithic transition in these regions of Europe.