Decoration of bone and antler artefacts as an indication of Mesolithic networks (finds from a central Swedish Late Mesolithic site)

Abstract

Our knowledge of Mesolithic decorated bone and antler tools from Scandinavia has mainly been based on finds from sites and single finds from Southern Scandinavia. However, recent excavations at a Late Mesolithic site at Strandvgen in Motala, south-central Sweden, have changed the state of research and revealed a large number of bone and antler tools, some of them with decorations. The site is located on the eastern shore of Lake Vttern, the second largest lake in the south of Sweden and at the only large outlet of the lake. The site was used during a number of centuries, with a concentration of radiocarbon dates around 75007000 cal. BP. The settlement at Strandvgen is the only site in this part of Scandinavia with a large number of finds of bone and antler. The location of the site was exceptional as it was easily available by contact links to the south and north as well as east and west. This is well manifested in the find material. Leister points are the single largest group of tools, with a total of more than 400 examples. A number of these are furnished with decoration in the form of small notches on the barbs more or less in systematic order, as well as cross-hatched motifs. A small number of other tools such as slotted daggers and antler objects with shaft holes are also decorated. In comparison with southern Sweden and Denmark, similarities are obvious concerning both the choice of motifs and the variety of their execution. The only other area in the Baltic region with a number of decorated objects is the East Baltic. However the chronological relevance is uncertain. For example one can find leister points with similarities to the finds at Strandvgen among the finds from Lake Lubāna in south-eastern Latvia. The question of how many of the motifs, and how they are executed is a pan-Mesolithic phenomenon within Northern Europe and how much can be related to specific regional markings.