"Dark Ages" nach dem Ende der Eiszeit: Warum wir mehr über die Mittelsteinzeit wissen wollen

Abstract

Mesolithic Studies have always played a less pronounced role in German prehistory. Wrongly so: It was during this period that all geographica! regions were settled by human beings for the very first time; at a regional level the natural environment called for, and made possible, new subsistence strategies which led to technological and social innovations and, ultimately, to new forms of economy; substantial intrusions in the natural Vegetation opened landscapes to the needs of new life styles; the archaeological sources for the mesolithic period are numerous and there are thousands of Sites which could be considered in scientic investigations focusing on a variety of themes; in contrast to the preceeding palaeolithic periods and the following neolithic, a large number of wetland Sites can be expected in most regions of Germany with exceptionally well preserved organic artifacts. The high potential of known sources, which take the form of material from surveyed surface Sites and older excavations, has only been considered sporadically. A large number of landscapes still belong to a mesolithic  noman's land. The absolute chronology of this period is based on only a handful of Sites which, with the exception of a very few Sites in northern Germany, are poorly dated. This article is to be regarded as a plea for the development of common investigation strategies within a functional archaeological network, in which amateurs, the State Offices for the protection of historic monuments , universities and museums alike can all contribute to the comprehensiveinvestigation of the mesolithic period in the future.