The migration of Late Pleistocene reindeer: isotopic evidence from northern Europe

Abstract

Questions concerning the timing and direction of reindeer herd movements in northern Europe during the Late Pleistocene are examined with methods for isotopic proveniencing to study the faunal remains of reindeer from archaeological sites in northern Germany. Late Upper Paleolithic and Late Paleolithic reindeer hunters in this region belong to the Hamburgian and Ahrensburgian culture groups that exploited these herds between ca. 14,950 and 14,050 cal b2k and between ca. 12,800 and 11,400 cal b2k, respectively. The direction and timing of herd migration would have played a major role in the livelihood of these people and the success of their adaptation to this changing environment across southern Scandinavia and the North European Plain. Results of the isotopic analysis suggest that the herds for the most part moved east-west through this region, probably wintering in the east.