A Hunter-Gatherer Landscape: Southwest Germany in the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology)

As an archaeologist with primary research and training experience in North American arid lands, I have always found the European Stone Age remote and impenetrable. My initial introduction, during a survey course on world prehis­ tory, established that (for me, at least) it consisted of more cultures, dates, and named tool types than any undergraduate ought to have to remember. I did not know much, but I knew there were better things I could be doing on a Saturday night. In any event, after that I never seriously entertained any notion of pur­ suing research on Stone Age Europe-that course was enough for me. That's a pity, too, because Paleolithic Europe-especially in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene-was the scene of revolutionary human adaptive change. Iron­ ically, all of it was amenable to investigation using precisely the same models and analytical tools I ended up spending the better part of two decades applying in the Great Basin of western North America. Back then, of course, few were thinking about the late Paleolithic or Me­ solithic in such terms. Typology, classification, and chronology were the order of the day, as the text for my undergraduate course reflected. Jochim evidently bridled less than I at the task of mastering these chronotaxonomic mysteries, yet he was keenly aware of their limitations-in particular, their silence on how individual assemblages might be connected as part of larger regional subsis­ tence-settlement systems. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-11 The Changing Theoretical Landscape....Pages 13-29 The Natural Landscape....Pages 31-42 Sites on the Landscape: The Late Palaeolithic....Pages 43-56 Sites on the Landscape: The Early Mesolithic....Pages 57-85 Sites on the Landscape: The Late Mesolithic....Pages 87-98 Sites on the Landscape: Survey....Pages 99-110 Sites on the Landscape: Henauhof Nordwest....Pages 111-154 Change through Time at Henauhof Nordwest....Pages 155-168 Sites on the Landscape: Henauhof West....Pages 169-176 Sites on the Landscape: Henauhof Nordwest 2....Pages 177-181 Henauhof and the Federsee in the Regional Landscape....Pages 183-192 The Late Palaeolithic Landscape....Pages 193-200 The Early Mesolithic Landscape....Pages 201-208 The Late Mesolithic Landscape....Pages 209-214 Southwest Germany in the West European Landscape....Pages 215-223 Back Matter....Pages 225-249 Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. The Changing Theoretical Landscape -- Ch. 3. The Natural Landscape -- Ch. 4. Sites On The Landscape: The Late Palaeolithic -- Ch. 5. Sites On The Landscape: The Early Mesolithic -- Ch. 6. Sites On The Landscape: The Late Mesolithic -- Ch. 7. Sites On The Landscape: Survey -- Ch. 8. Sites On The Landscape: Henauhof Nordwest -- Ch. 9. Change Through Time At Henauhof Nordwest -- Ch. 10. Sites On The Landscape: Henauhof West -- Ch. 11. Sites On The Landscape: Henauhof Nordwest 2 -- Ch. 12. Henauhof And The Federsee In The Regional Landscape -- Ch. 13. The Late Palaeolithic Landscape -- Ch. 14. The Early Mesolithic Landscape -- Ch. 15. The Late Mesolithic Landscape. Michael A. Jochim. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 225-233) And Index. This superb survey of hunter-gatherer societies in Southwest Germany presents an overview of the archaeological record for three periods- the Late Paleolithic, the Early Mesolithic, and the Late Mesolithic. Michael A. Jochim employs his rigorously materialist orientation to suggest certain possibilities about the general organization of settlements, subsistence, and social relations of the cultures in question. He also discusses the data within the context of human events in western Europe during the same periods. The text is accompanied by 115 illustrations Bein - Steinartefakt - Besiedlungsgeschichte - Trachtbestandteil