Mesolithic assemblages from the 9th millenium in the District of Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate): Chronological framework, lithic raw material procurement and areas of activity

Abstract

Based on I. Koch’s and H. Löhr’s works, the documentation and evaluation of Mesolithic sites in the district of Trier was continued as part of project D4 of the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 806 “Our Way to Europe” at the University of Cologne. This paper presents a summary of important results of these investigations from early Boreal sites starting with an analysis of the site “Hüttingen an der Kyll” which could be AMS dated to approximately 8400 calBC, representing the first radiocarbon dating of a Mesolithic site in this region. Moreover, the chronological setting of nine Middle Mesolithic site complexes could be defined by means of typochronological analyses of their microliths. Therefore a contingency table was organised by a simplified canonical correspondence analysis based on radiocarbon dated microliths assemblages of Early and Middle Mesolithic sites from Germany, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries. As a result, the sites can be divided into two chronological groups. On the one hand, the typologically defined microliths and the acquisition of raw material in the district of Trier point to a connection with the Early Boreal Mesolithic of the adjacent regions to the North and the Northwest. On the other hand, the connection to the southwestern German Beuronien B appears to have been relatively weak. To some extent the directional movements and their sequences can be reconstructed by considering the origins of the raw materials of microliths. The thus defined activity zones include the proposed catchment areas and networks of communication beyond these areas. This investigation revealed more extensive areas of activities for the Trier district during the 9th millennium than for the adjacent areas of the northern Eifel, the southern lower Rhineland and the “Bergisches Land”.