Late Glacial Hunter-Gatherers in Westphalia - The Final Paleolithic Site of Salzkotten-Thüle (District of Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

Abstract

The final Paleolithic site of Salzkotten-Thüle, district of Paderborn, was discovered and excavated in 2001 during the excavation of a Germanic settlement of the first century AD. The fi nds are composed of stone objects only, of which ca. 80 % can be designated as artifacts, while ca. 20 % are natural chunks and thermally  altered chunks. Locally available Baltic fl int was the main employed raw material
(ca. 95 %), while keratophyre and siliceous schist were only used in small  mounts. The technological analysis led to the reconstruction of an opportunistic  reduction sequence without clearly separated stages of preparation and blank  production. Meanwhile, the set of stone tools is characteristic for a northwestern  European Federmesser-site. Both typology and technology place the site within a  rather late stage of the Federmesser-groups between the second half of the  Allerød-Interstadial and the beginning of the Younger Dryas, i. e. between ca.
11,500 and 10,800 calBC. Besides the technological and typological analysis, the  examination also included a spatial analysis, which led to two different models of  site structure. The existence of a dwelling is of great importance for  interpretation.