Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:30:36.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

New research at Riņņukalns, a Neolithic freshwater shell midden in northern Latvia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2014

Valdis Bērziņš ,
Ute Brinker ,
Christina Klein ,
Harald Lübke ,
John Meadows ,
Mudīte Rudzīte ,
Ulrich Schmölcke ,
Harald Stümpel  and
Ilga Zagorska
Valdis Bērziņš
Affiliation:
1Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, Rīga 1050, Latvia
Ute Brinker
Affiliation:
2State Archaeology, State Authority for Culture and Preservation of Monuments Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Domhof 4/5, Schwerin 19055, Germany
Christina Klein
Affiliation:
3Department of Geophysics, Institute of Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Otto-Hahn-Platz 1, Kiel 24118, Germany
Harald Lübke
Affiliation:
4Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation, Schlossinsel 1, Schleswig 24837, Germany
John Meadows
Affiliation:
4Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation, Schlossinsel 1, Schleswig 24837, Germany
Mudīte Rudzīte
Affiliation:
5Museum of Zoology, University of Latvia, Kronvalda bulvāris 4, Rīga 1586, Latvia
Ulrich Schmölcke
Affiliation:
4Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation, Schlossinsel 1, Schleswig 24837, Germany
Harald Stümpel
Affiliation:
3Department of Geophysics, Institute of Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Otto-Hahn-Platz 1, Kiel 24118, Germany
Ilga Zagorska
Affiliation:
1Institute of Latvian History, University of Latvia, Kalpaka bulvāris 4, Rīga 1050, Latvia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The prehistoric shell middens of Atlantic Europe consist of marine molluscs, but the eastern Baltic did not have exploitable marine species. Here the sole recorded shell midden, at Riņņukalns in Latvia, is on an inland lake and is formed of massive dumps of freshwater shells. Recent excavations indicate that they are the product of a small number of seasonal events during the later fourth millennium BC. The thickness of the shell deposits suggests that this was a special multi-purpose residential site visited for seasonal aggregations by pottery-using hunter-gatherer communities on the northern margin of Neolithic Europe.

Keywords

eastern BalticLatviaMiddle Neolithicshell middenUniofreshwater musselTypical Comb Ware
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 341 , September 2014 , pp. 715 - 732
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Álvarez, M., Godino, I.B., Balbo, A. & Madella, M.. 2011. Shell middens as archives of past environments, human dispersal and specialized resource management. Quaternary International 239: 1–7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2010.10.025CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, S.H. 2007. Shell middens (‘Køkkenmoddinger’) in Danish prehistory as a reflection of the marine environment, in Milner, N., Craig, O. E. & Bailey, G.N. (ed.) Shell middens in Atlantic Europe: 31–45. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Bērzi¸š, V. 2008. Sārnate: living by a coastal lake during the East Baltic Neolithic (Acta Universitatis Ouluensis B Humaniora 86). Oulu: Oulu University Press. Available at: http://herkules.oulu.fi/isbn9789514289415/isbn9789514289415.pdf (accessed 26 June 2013).Google Scholar
BēRziņš, V., Brinker, U., LüBke, H., Meadows, J. & Zagorska, I.. Forthcoming. New research on the human burials of Rinnukalns, Latvia, in Mesolithic burials—rites, symbols and social organization of early postglacial communities. Halle: Congresses of the State Museum for Prehistory Halle.Google Scholar
Birzāks, J., Aleksejevs, Ē. & StrūGis, M.. 2011. Occurrence and distribution of fish in rivers of Latvia. Proceedings of the Latvian Academy ofSciences Section B 65:57–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337-60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebert, M. 1913. Die baltischen Provinzen Kurland, Livland, Estland. Prähistorische Zeitschrift 5:498–559.Google Scholar
Ebert, M. 1927–1928. Rinnekalns, in Ebert, M. (ed.) Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte 11: 145-47. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Eriksson, G. 2006. Stable isotope analysis of human and faunal remains from Zvejnieki, in Larsson, L. & Zagorska, I. (ed.) Back to the origin. New research in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Zvejnieki cemetery and environment, northern Latvia (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia series in 8° 52): 183–215. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Fischer, A. & Heinemeier, J.. 2003. Freshwater reservoir effect in 14C dates of food residue on pottery. Radiocarbon 45: 449-66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grewingk, C. 1876. Der Kauler- und der Rinne-Kaln am Burtnecksee in Livland. Sitzungsberichte Dorpater Naturforscher-Gesellschaft 4: 206-25.Google Scholar
Grewingk, C. 1877. Zur Abwehr. Sitzungsberichte Dorpater Naturforscher-Gesellschaft 4: 534–39.Google Scholar
Grewingk, C. 1884. Die Neolithischen Bewohner von Kunda in Estland und deren Nachbarn. Dorpat (Tartu): C. Mattiesen.Google Scholar
Grygiel, R. & Bogucki, P.I.. 1981. Early Neolithic sites at Brześć Kujawski, Poland: preliminary report on the 1976–1979 excavations. Journal of Field Archaeology 8: 9–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/009346981791505201Google Scholar
Grygiel, R. & Bogucki, P.I.. 1986. Early Neolithic sites at Brześć Kujawski, Poland: preliminary report on the 1980–1984 excavations. Journal of Field Archaeology 13: 121–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/009346986791535762Google Scholar
Gurina, N.N. 1967. Iz istorii drevnihplemen zapadnyh oblastej SSSR (po materialam narvskoj ekspedicii) [On the history ofancient tribes of the western regions of the USSR (based on the material of the Narva expedition)]. Leningrad: Nauka.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez-Zugasti, I., Andersen, S.H., Araújo, A.C., Dupon, C., Milner, N. & Monge-Soares, A.M.. 2011. Shell midden research in Atlantic Europe: state of the art, research problems and perspectives for the future. Quaternary International 239: 70—85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indreko, R. 1964. Mesolithische und Frühneolithische Kulturen in Osteuropa und Westsibirien (Antikvariska Serien 13). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Jaanits, L. 1957. Neue Gräberfunde auf dem spätneolitischen Wohnplatz Tamula in Estland, in CF. Meinander (ed.) Studia neolitica in honorem Aarne Äyräpää: 80–100. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistys.Google Scholar
Jaanits, L. 1984. Die kennzeichnenden Züge der Siedlung Tamula. Iskos 4: 183-93.Google Scholar
Koch, E. 1998. Neolithic bogpots from Zealand, Møn, Lolland and Falster (Nordiske Fortidsminder Serie B 16). Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.Google Scholar
Koch, E. 2003. Stenalderbønder på sommerjagt. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark 2003: 209-29.Google Scholar
Kriiska, A. 1996. Archaeological excavations on the Neolithic site of Riigikula IV. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Humanities and Social Sciences 45(4): 410-19.Google Scholar
Kriiska, A., Lõugas, L., Lõhmus, M., Mannermaa, K. & Johanson, K.. 2007. New AMS dates from Estonian Stone Age burial sites. Estonian Journal of Archaeology 11(2): 83–121.Google Scholar
Krysiak, K. & Lasota, A.. 1973. Szczątki zwierzęce z wykopu Iv na neolitycznym stanowisku w Zawichoście. Wiadomości Archeologiczne 38: 83–89.Google Scholar
Larsson, L. & Zagorska, I. (ed.). 2006. Back to the origin. New research in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Zvejnieki cemeteryand environment, northern Latvia (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia series in 8° 52). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Lõugas, L. 1996. Stone Age fishing strategies in Estonia. What did they depend on? Archaeofauna 5: 101–109.Google Scholar
Löwis Of Menár, K. Von. 1895. Bericht über Ausgrabungen am Burtneckschen See und am Rinnekaln. Sitzungsberichte Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Alterthumskunde der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands 1895: 77–84.Google Scholar
Lübke, H. 2009. Hunter and fisher in a changing world. Investigations on submerged Stone Age sites off the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, in Mccartan, S., Schulting, R., Warren, G. & Woodman, P. (ed.) Mesolithic horizons. Papers presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe, Belfast 2005: 556-63. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Meadows, J., Lübke, H., Zagorska, I., Bērziyņš, V., Ceriņa, A. & Ozolá, I.. 2014. Potential freshwater reservoir effects in a Neolithic shell midden at Rinnukalns, Latvia. Radiocarbon 56: 823-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.2458/56.16950CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, N., Craig, O.E. & Bailey, G.N.. 2007. Shell middens in Atlantic Europe. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Noe-Nygaard, N. 1983. The importance of aquatic resources to Mesolithic man in inland sites in Denmark, in Grigson, C. & Clutton-Brock, J. (ed.) Animals and archaeology 2: shell middens, fishes and birds (British Archaeological Reports international series 183): 125-42. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Noe-Nygaard, N. 1995. Ecological, sedimentary andgeochemicalevolution of the late-glacial to postglacial Amose lacustrine basin, Denmark (Fossils & Strata 37). Copenhagen, Oslo & Stockholm: Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Ramsey, C. Bronk, Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., Mccormac, G., Manning, S., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Wtaylor, F., Turney, C.S.M., Plicht, J. Van Der & Weyhenmeyer, C.E.. 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51:1111-50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudzīte, M., Zagorska, I., Lübke, H. & Bērziņš, V.. 2012. Molluscs from a new archaeological excavation at Rinnukalns, Latvia. Schriften zur Malakozoologie 27: 49–56.Google Scholar
Rütimeyer, L. 1877. Ueber die Thierreste des Rinnekalns. Sitzungsberichte Dorpater Naturforscher-Gesellschaft 4: 534-39.Google Scholar
Sievers, C.G. 1875. Ein normannisches Schiffsgrab bei Ronneburg und die Ausgrabung des Rinnehugels. Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 1875 (Zeitschriftfiir Ethnologie 7): 214-25.Google Scholar
Sievers, C.G. 1877. Ueber die wahrscheinliche Entstehung des Rinnehugels. Sitzungsberichte Dorpater Naturforscher-Gesellschaft 4: 406-17.Google Scholar
Sommer, A. 1884. Der Rinne-Kalns und seine Bedeutung fur die Anthropologie Livlands. Archiv fiir die Naturkunde Liv-, Ehst- und Kurlands. Serie II IX: 345-99.Google Scholar
Virchow, R. 1877. Bericht uber eine archäologische Reise nach Livland. Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 1877 (Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie 9): 365–437.Google Scholar
Zagorska, I. 2006. Radiocarbon chronology of the Zvejnieki burials, in Larsson, L. & Zagorska, I. (ed.) Back to the origin. New research in the Mesolithic-Neolithic Zvejnieki cemeteryand environment, northern Latvia (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia series in 8° 52): 91–113. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Zvelebil, M. 1996. The agricultural frontier and the transition to farming in the circum-Baltic region, in Harris, D.R. (ed.) The origins and spread of agriculture andpastoralism in Eurasia: 323-45. London: University College London Press.Google Scholar