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Hunting beneath the waves. Bone and antler points from North Sea Doggerland off the Dutch coast
Abstract
Bone and antler barbed points form one of the most common categories of finds from the submerged prehistoric landscape of the North sea, also known as ‘Doggerland’. They are usually found in redeposited sediments from the off-shore coastal zone. Some 30 years ago a first analysis of these hunting weapons was published, based on more than 400 finds. Meanwhile their numbers have doubled and verge on 1000, making them one of the larger artefact groups from this relatively unknown area. Also the number of sites from which these points derive has increased due to coastal reinforcement and the extension of Rotterdam harbour. Gradually more information is becoming available that these points can contribute to inter-site distinctions and different subgroups. While there is a need for further dating and chronological control, this find group, in combination with for instance characteristic lithic finds and human remains, might in the future provide a better grip on the communities of hunter-gatherers that inhabited this area. This is of particular importance since within the spectrum of finds there are two size groups. The smaller points, of a length of up to 88.5 mm, appear to form a separate group of points in the find spectrum of Western and Northern Europe.
... Direct 14 C dates on 15 barbed points from Dutch Doggerland confirmed their attribution to the Mesolithic period, roughly between 9950-7300 years ago [10,26]. The first large-scale study of these objects was conducted by Verhart [27]. ...
... 2) Large points, over 94 mm, were likely used as spear tips or harpoons for large marine and terrestrial animals [14,27]. The distinction between these groups has now been set at a length of 88.5 mm [10]. Both authors agreed to classify these tools as projectile tips but did not find enough evidence to identify with confidence the prey hunted. ...
... Barbed points are also widespread and typical artefacts from the Mesolithic. They were found in large amounts in Mesolithic contexts of northeaster Germany [4,5], southern Scandinavia [6], western Russia [7], southern Baltic [8,9], the Netherlands [10], and Great Britain [11]. Differences in technology and morphology that characterise barbed weaponry are linked to cultural traditions. ...
Osseous barbed and unbarbed points are commonly recovered from the Dutch North Sea and other Mesolithic sites of northern Europe. Interpreted as elements of projectile weaponry, barbed points are considered by archaeologists to be a technological innovation in the hunting equipment of hunter-gatherers. However, debate about their exact use and identification of the targeted prey species is still ongoing. To shed light on the function of these tools, we analysed a sample of 17 artefacts from the Netherlands with a multi-disciplinary approach encompassing morphometric, functional, and chemical analysis. ¹⁴C-AMS dating yielded the oldest date for a barbed point from the Dutch coast (⁓13000 cal. BP). The observation of microwear traces preserved on the tools provides solid evidence to interpret the function of barbed and unbarbed points. We show that there were two distinct tool categories. 1) Barbed points hafted with birch tar and animal or vegetal binding were likely projectile tips for terrestrial and aquatic hunting. We provide strong clues to support the link between small barbed points and fishing using wear traces. 2) Points without barbs served as perforators for animal hides. Our results highlight the importance of use-wear and residue analysis to reconstruct prehistoric hunting activities. The functional interpretation of projectile points must also rely on microwear traces and not merely on the association with faunal remains, historical sources, and ethnographic comparisons.
... Over the past years, a large number of barbed points of Mesolithic types have been collected on beach replenishments in the area of The Hague and Rotterdam (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019). Many of these barbed points ought to be of Mesolithic age because of their typology and direct 14 C dates obtained for six of them (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019;Hedges et al., 1990;Verhart, 1988). They appear to be predominantly made out of bone (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019;Verhart, 1988), which has been heavily modified during the manufacturing process. ...
... Many of these barbed points ought to be of Mesolithic age because of their typology and direct 14 C dates obtained for six of them (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019;Hedges et al., 1990;Verhart, 1988). They appear to be predominantly made out of bone (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019;Verhart, 1988), which has been heavily modified during the manufacturing process. Subsequently, the points themselves are also often modified during use, repair, re-sharpening, and as the result of post-depositional processes. ...
... Around one thousand barbed bone/antler points have been collected from Doggerland and attributed to the Mesolithic (Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019;Spithoven, 2015Spithoven, , 2018. Our sample consists of 10 barbed points. ...
Barbed bone points originally deposited in Doggerland are regularly collected from the shores of the Netherlands. Their typology and direct ¹⁴C dating suggest they are of Mesolithic age. However, the species of which the barbed points were made cannot be identified based on morphological criteria. The bones used to produce the barbed points have been intensively modified during manufacture, use, and post-depositional processes. Here, we taxonomically assess ten barbed points found on the Dutch shore using mass spectrometry and collagen peptide mass fingerprinting alongside newly acquired ¹⁴C ages and δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N measurements.
Our results demonstrate a sufficient preservation of unmodified collagen for mass spectrometry-based taxonomic identifications of bone and antler artefacts which have been preserved in marine environments since the beginning of the Holocene. We show that Homo sapiens bones as well as Cervus elaphus bones and antlers were transformed into barbed points. The ¹⁴C dating of nine barbed points yielded uncalibrated ages between 9.5 and 7.3 ka ¹⁴C BP. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of the seven cervid bone points fall within the range of herbivores, recovered from the North Sea, whereas the two human bone points indicate a freshwater and/or terrestrial fauna diet.
The wide-scale application of ZooMS is a critical next step towards revealing the selection of species for osseous-tool manufacture in the context of Mesolithic Doggerland, but also further afield. The selection of Cervus elaphus and human bone for manufacturing barbed points in Mesolithic Doggerland is unlikely to have been opportunistic and instead seems to be strategic in nature. Further, the occurrence of Homo sapiens and Cervus elaphus bones in our random and limited dataset suggests that the selection of these species for barbed point production was non-random and subject to specific criteria. By highlighting the transformation of human bones into barbed points – possibly used as weapons – our study provides additional evidence for the complex manipulation of human remains during the Mesolithic, now also evidenced in Doggerland.
... Similar work has yielded a wealth of Mesolithic materials from the neighbouring Netherlands (Peeters and Amkreutz 2020). Such finds provide tantalizing insight both into the former inhabitants of this landscape, and the sorts of discoveries that may await future archaeological investigations (Amkreutz and Spithoven 2019;Dekker et al. 2020;Spithoven 2019). For the most part, however, the lack of any secure archaeological context makes it very difficult to derive meaningful inferences of behaviour rooted in time and space. ...
... 1 A) The Colinda 'harpoon', found within a chunk of 'moorlog' peat dredged from the Leman / Ower banks off the Norfolk coast in 1931 (after Flemming 2002); B) A bone point recovered from beach walking at Massvlakte 2 in the Netherlands (courtesy of Luc Amkreutz); C) An array of barbed bone points from Maasvlakte 1 off the Dutch coast (courtesy of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden). Many other examples of organic artefacts from Dutch waters may be found in Peeters and Amkreutz(2020),Amkreutz and Spithoven (2019) and LouweKooijmans (1970). ...
Europe’s Lost Frontiers was the largest directed archaeological research project undertaken in Europe to investigate the inundated landscapes of the Early Holocene North Sea – the area frequently referred to as ‘Doggerland’. Funded through a European Research Council Advanced Grant (project number 670518), the project ran from 2015 to 2021, and involved more than 30 academics, representing institutions spread geographically from Ireland to China. A vast area of the seabed was mapped, and multiple ship expeditions were launched to retrieve sediment cores from the valleys of the lost prehistoric landscapes of the North Sea. This data has now been analysed to provide evidence of how the land was transformed in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.
This volume is the first in a series of monographs dedicated to the analysis and interpretation of data generated by the project. As a precursor to the publication of the detailed results, it provides the context of the study and method statements. Later volumes will present the mapping, palaeoenvironment, geomorphology and modelling programmes of Europe’s Lost Frontiers. The results of the project confirm that these landscapes, long held to be inaccessible to archaeology, can be studied directly and provide an archaeological narrative. This data will become increasingly important at a time when contemporary climate change and geo-political crises are pushing development within the North Sea at an unprecedented rate, and when the opportunities to explore this unique, heritage landscape may be significantly limited in the future.
... During this period, the use of harpoons exhibited a broad spatial and temporal distribution among various hunter-gatherer groups in Africa, Europe, and North and South America. Barbed harpoon tips exhibit significant morphological and stylistic variability (e.g., Arkell, 1953;Amkreutz & Spithoven, 2019;Ballester, 2020;Bennyhoff, 1950;Cattelain, 1995;David et al., 2022;Julien, 1982;Langley et al., 2016;Mason, 1902;C. M. Nelson, 1991a;Robbins et al., 1994;Scheinsohn, 2010aScheinsohn, , 2010bWeniger, 1992;Wintemberg, 1906;Yellen, 1998, Zubimendi & Beretta, 2015. ...
Harpoons are part of the composite technologies, widely dispersed throughout the world. In South America, a unique type of throwing harpoon reveals a limited distribution, primarily discovered in hunter‐gatherer archaeological sites within the lower La Plata basin. Specifically, they are found in two archaeological units named Incised Pottery and Plain Pottery which are defined by different material properties but share several common aspects as well. Regarding bone tools, the primary distinction lies in the decoration of the items, contrasting with the ornamentation of the pottery. While the processes underlying regional variability in the archaeological assemblages is not yet fully understood, various types of artifacts show differences in morphology and stylistic features that can be linked to archaeological units. For this purpose, we examined 13 archaeological samples of harpoon heads considering morphological, physical, and metrical variation, as well as the operational sequence. As result, we observed variations in both morphology and decoration, while the metrical structure, the selection of raw material and the operational sequence remain unaltered. This phenomenon could be attributed to a recent process of social differentiation affecting external features, whereas the internal characteristics are connected to technique behaviors resistant to recent changes.
... Comparisons were made to three Mesolithic bone points from the now submerged Doggerland area of the Dutch North Sea, dated to between 13,000 and 5000 cal. BP (Aleo, et al., 2023;Amkreutz and Spithoven, 2019). The residues were extracted and analyzed using methods parallel to this study, but the pentacyclic triterpenoids were identified primarily relying on NIST. ...
Birch bark tar was used extensively throughout human history. While later ceramic-based production technologies are known, prehistoric aceramic techniques leave little to no archaeological evidence. Experimental tar production attempts to fill this gap and suggest potential techniques. However, their archaeological relevance is unclear. Through an in-depth biomolecular analysis using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, this study attempts to differentiate tars produced using four experimental aceramic techniques: condensation, ash mound, pit roll, and raised structure. In doing so we publish the largest collection of GC-MS results of aceramic birch tars. The results show that pentacyclic triterpenoids, characteristic of birch bark, vary between the production techniques in relation to heating exposure and perhaps the tar collection method. This allows for a tentative identification of tars produced through the condensation and ash mound techniques, which were formed consistently using short periods of heating and collected systematically by scraping. In contrast, tars produced using the pit roll and raised structure techniques do not have consistent molecular signatures. Despite the partial success of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, the archaeological relevance is questioned because this technique is only applicable to samples from optimum lipid preservation conditions when a high number of pentacyclic triterpenoids are preserved. Therefore, using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry to determine the transformation methods of organics, like birch bark, may not be an appropriate standalone technique to fairly discuss the technological capabilities of past populations.
... With increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and corresponding coastal erosion, beach replenishment schemes are becoming more common; they were regularly implemented in the Netherlands for many years (Verhart 2004). With sands directly pumped onto public beaches, these schemes automatically reveal ancient remains if they are encountered, and communication with beach collectors finding artifacts within these sands can be a productive way to map offshore potential (Verhart 2004;Amkreutz and Spithoven 2019;Bynoe et al. 2021), tying finds in with high-resolution geophysical data and accurate dredge-head movements. In this way, community engagement can be undertaken as a crucial component of archaeological method, lowering somewhat the reliance on chance in the search for submerged archaeological remains. ...
... Despite this apparent bounty, it is worth bearing in mind the nature of these finds, which are often recovered from kilometre long trawls, or as part of sand extraction projects. They are not, in any sense, in-situ finds, although the artefacts themselves have scientific value, their analysis including Isotopes (van der Plicht et al. 2016), morphology (Amkreutz and Spithoven 2019) and C14 dating (Smith and Bonsall 1991). Consequently, such finds are essentially without archaeological site context and frequently can only possess, at best, coarse locational information. ...
This paper describes some results of the research undertaken over the Brown Bank area during recent (2018/2019) geoarchaeological surveys in the North Sea which included seismic imaging, shallow (vibro)coring and dredging. It examines the benefits of simultaneous high-resolution (0.5 – 1m) and ultra-high-resolution (10 – 20cm) seismic survey techniques and a staged approach to resolving the submerged Holocene landscape in the highest possible detail for the purpose of targeted prospecting for archaeological material from the Mesolithic landscape of Doggerland. The materials recovered from such surveys offer significantly greater information due to an enhanced understanding of the context in which they were recovered. The importance of this information cannot be understated archaeologically, as few locations on land provide the opportunity to recover archaeological finds in situ within preserved landscapes. Moreover, it allows offshore areas of potential human activity to be prospected with some certainty of success.
Mesolithic research has undergone a series of important transformations over the past several decades, making it one of the most dynamic and prolific fields of archaeology today. The handbook captures our ambition to demonstrate the plurality of perspectives and developments in Mesolithic research, combining theoretically new and innovative questions strongly valuing the methodological connection to the empirical record, while also incorporating interpretative approaches connecting the empirical record to knowledge drawn from cultural theory and the ethnography of hunter-gatherers. The handbook consists of fifty-eight specialist chapters giving voice to a diverse set of authors including established senior researchers and scholars at the beginning of their career, from across the study area. This has enabled us to deliver broad overviews and case studies on the seven key topics of Mesolithic Europe, Mesolithic Geographies, Hunter-gatherer Landscapes, Mesolithic Life, Meaningful Technology, Death and the Dead, and Cosmologies, Ritual, and Symbolism. We believe that the archaeology of Mesolithic Europe will continue to grow from the strengths demonstrated in this volume, which are its diversity, its commitment to collaborative research, and a unique connection of exciting exploratory theory, a grounding in the empirical evidence, and a potential to continue to grow with the development of scientific methods.
Mesolithic research has undergone a series of important transformations over the past several decades, making it one of the most dynamic and prolific fields of archaeology today. The handbook captures our ambition to demonstrate the plurality of perspectives and developments in Mesolithic research, combining theoretically new and innovative questions strongly valuing the methodological connection to the empirical record, while also incorporating interpretative approaches connecting the empirical record to knowledge drawn from cultural theory and the ethnography of hunter-gatherers. The handbook consists of fifty-eight specialist chapters giving voice to a diverse set of authors including established senior researchers and scholars at the beginning of their career, from across the study area. This has enabled us to deliver broad overviews and case studies on the seven key topics of Mesolithic Europe, Mesolithic Geographies, Hunter-gatherer Landscapes, Mesolithic Life, Meaningful Technology, Death and the Dead, and Cosmologies, Ritual, and Symbolism. We believe that the archaeology of Mesolithic Europe will continue to grow from the strengths demonstrated in this volume, which are its diversity, its commitment to collaborative research, and a unique connection of exciting exploratory theory, a grounding in the empirical evidence, and a potential to continue to grow with the development of scientific methods.
Bone and antler points, found on Dutch beaches, give a new insight in life on Mesolithic Doggerland. Doggerland is the North sea basin, stretching from the Netherlands to Great Britain, Norway and Denmark, once part of Europe’s mainland. After the last glaciation it was dry land inhabited by hunter-gatherers, until around the beginning of the Mesolithic (10,000 cal. BC), sea levels began to rise. This lasted until around 6050 cal. BC, when Doggerland was completely drowned. Due to the submersion, Doggerland holds the most complete archaeological record of human presence in Mesolithic Northwestern Europe. This archaeological record is however disturbed by sand extraction for beach reinforcements, which use sand from areas off the coast of South-Holland. Therefore remains from Doggerland, such as flint, osseous artefacts and even human remains, are found on Dutch beaches. Artefact biographies provide new insights on Doggerland’s inhabitants. Most artefacts are made of bone or antler, with (barbed) points being the largest part of the assemblage. Many of these bone and antler points were studied by the authors to construct their artefact biography: from raw material to discard or deposition. Material selection was studied using ZooMS, showing that there may be a preference for the use of red deer as raw material. Furthermore, ZooMS analysis identified two points made of human bone, highlighting the possible symbolic and cultural meaning of these objects. The production process of grinding the points on stone (and scraping with flint), cutting barbs with flint and hafting them using a combination of fibres and birch tar was inferred through techno-functional analysis. A high degree of wear on the points and reworked barbs on some, suggests that they were (heavily) curated weapon tips. Most were probably used as arrowheads, based on their small size. This suggests hunting with bow and arrow was an important subsistence strategy in Mesolithic Doggerland. Eventually, the points were deposited, either left behind or lost. Nowadays, they are found again, starting their second use-life.
The Dutch sector of the North Sea is an important source for archaeological and palaeolandscape data from prehistoric times. A vast body of artefacts and palaeontological remains, dating from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic, has been dredged and trawled from the seafloor. Contacts with industry, and fishermen in particular, permitted private collectors and professionals to assemble valuable collections for research. Although the overwhelming majority of finds derive from unknown contexts, these are of scientific importance. Firstly, they demonstrate the potential for the presence of well-preserved submerged archaeological sites and palaeolandscape contexts. Secondly, there is a lot of ‘intrinsic’ information that can be extracted from individual specimens, notably for radiocarbon dating, diet reconstruction (stable isotopes) and aDNA. Work in recent years has been increasingly concerned with the contextualisation of these data. Geoarchaeological investigations off the Dutch coast have permitted insight into the stratigraphical origin of Middle Palaeolithic flint artefacts, and the fragment of a Neanderthal skull. Targeted geoarchaeological research in the extension of the Rotterdam harbour has provided an opportunity to partially investigate a Mesolithic site at 20 m below sea level. This has led to increasing awareness among stakeholders that this submerged heritage is valuable and needs to be taken care of. Several initiatives have been taken to anticipate the potential presence of important archaeological and palaeolandscape remains in zones of economic interest.
The potential for Middle Palaeolithic sites to survive beneath the sea in northern latitudes has been established by intensive investigation within Area 240, a marine aggregate licence area situated in the North Sea, 11 km off the coast of Norfolk, England. The fortuitous discovery of bifacial handaxes, and Levallois flakes and cores, led to a major programme of fieldwork and analysis between 2008 and 2013. The artefacts were primarily recovered from Marine Isotope Stage 8/7 floodplain sediments deposited between 250 and 200 ka. It is considered that the hand axes and Levallois products are contemporaneous in geological terms with taphonomically complex sedimentary contexts, as observed in several north-west European sites. The Early Middle Palaeolithic (EMP) lithics have survived multiple phases of glaciation and marine transgression. The investigations confirm that the artefacts are not a ‘chance’ find, but indicate clear relationships to submerged and buried landscapes that, although complex, can be examined in detail using a variety of existing fieldwork and analytical methods. The palaeogeographical context of the finds also offers expanded interpretations of the distribution of EMP hominins in the southern North Sea, not predictable from onshore archaeological records.
The results of a study on the relationship between stylistic variation in Kalahari San projectile points and aspects of San social organization are summarized. Five issues relevant to archaeology are discussed in light of the San data: (1) stylistic behavior and the different aspects of style, (2) which items of material culture carry social information and why, (3) which attributes on San projectile points carry social information, (4) what the results of the analysis of stylistic variation in projectile points imply for current methods of stylistic analysis and interpretation, and (5) the correspondence between style in San projectile points and San organization.
This paper links research questions in Quaternary geology with those in Palaeolithic archaeology. A detailed geological reconstruction of The Netherlands' south-west offshore area provides a stratigraphical context for archaeological and palaeontological finds. Progressive environmental developments have left a strong imprint on the area's Palaeolithic record. We highlight aspects of landscape evolution and related taphonomical changes, visualized in maps for critical periods of the Pleistocene in the wider southern North Sea region. The Middle Pleistocene record is divided into two palaeogeographical stages: the pre-Anglian/Elsterian stage, during which a wide land bridge existed between England and Belgium even during marine highstands; and the Anglian/Elsterian to Saalian interglacial, with a narrower land bridge, lowered by proglacial erosion but not yet fully eroded. The Late Pleistocene landscape was very different, with the land bridge fully dissected by an axial Rhine–Thames valley, eroded deep enough to fully connect the English Channel and the North Sea during periods of highstand. This tripartite staging implies great differences in (i) possible migration routes of herds of herbivores as well as hominins preying upon them, (ii) the erosion base of axial and tributary rivers causing an increase in the availability of flint raw materials and (iii) conditions for loess accumulation in northern France and Belgium and the resulting preservation of Middle Palaeolithic sites. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Around 8200 calBP, large parts of the now submerged North Sea continental shelf ('Dog-gerland') were catastrophically flooded by the Storegga Slide tsunami, one of the largest tsunamis known for the Holocene, which was generated on the Norwegian coastal margin by a submarine landslide. In the present paper, we derive a precise calendric date for the Storegga Slide tsunami, use this date for reconstruction of contemporary coastlines in the North Sea in relation to rapidly rising sea-levels, and discuss the potential effects of the tsunami on the contemporaneous Mesolithic popula-tion. One main result of this study is an unexpectedly high tsunami impact assigned to the western regions of Jutland. IZVLE∞EK – Okoli 8200 calBP je velik del danes potopljenega severnomorskega kontinentalnega pasu (Doggerland) v katastrofalni poplavi prekril cunami. To je eden najve≠jih holocenskih cunamijev, ki ga je povzro≠il podmorski plaz na norve∏ki obali (Storegga Slide). V ≠lanku predstavljamo natan≠ne datume za cunami Storegga Slide in jih uporabimo pri rekonstrukciji takratnih obal Severnega mor-ja, v ≠asu naglega dviganja morske gladine. Dotaknemo se tudi mo∫nih posledic cunamija za mezo-litske populacije. Glavni rezultat ∏tudije je nepri≠akovano mo≠an vpliv cunamija na zahodni del Jut-landa.
The three main types of tanged flint arrowheads (A, B, and C) characteristic of the Neolithic Pitted Ware hunter, fisher and gatherers of southwestern Scandinavia are traditionally viewed as chronological conditioned. However, recent studies have shown their simultaneity during the early 3rd millennium BC. Based on a study of more than 1500 arrowheads from Denmark and western Sweden, this paper explains the stylistic variation of the Pitted Ware arrowheads as functional determined representing two main categories: relatively short and wide hunting arrowheads (type A) and long and slender war arrowheads (type C). Type B represents a multifunctional group of arrowheads that mixes features from type A and C. Furthermore, diverging production schemes (schema opératoire) used for the shaping of hunting arrowheads has helped to identify social groupings within the larger southwestern Scandinavian Pitted Ware complex and contact across the Kattegat during the Middle Neolithic.
The North Sea bed host remains of Pleistocene and Early Holocene landscapes that were, mostly gradually, inundated following the last deglaciation. Archaeological remains from the seabed obtained by fishing, dredging, and sand suppletion include human skeletal remains. Radiocarbon dating reveals that most of these are Mesolithic although a few Late Palaeolithic and historic remains are represented. Samples with known stable isotope ratios δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N show that Mesolithic inhabitants of ‘Doggerland’ had a significant component of freshwater fish in their diet. This means the ¹⁴C dates are subject to a reservoir effect mainly determined by the freshwater bodies at the time. Because of the lack of context, the magnitude of the reservoir effect cannot be derived, so that the ¹⁴C dates cannot be precisely calibrated to absolute ages. However, a distinct correlation is observed between the δ¹⁵N values and the (uncalibrated) ¹⁴C dates, suggesting a chronological development.
Archaeologists tend to refer to the land that once existed between Britain and the continent as a landbridge. It was, however, a landscape as habitable as neighbouring regions, and here called Doggerland to emphasise its availability for settlement by prehistoric peoples. Evidence from the Geological Surveys undertaken by countries bordering the North Sea Basin, together with allied research, is drawn together to provide an overview of the possibilities. A range of interacting geological processes implies that the present-day relief of the North Sea bed does not provide a sound guide to the relief of the former landscape, nor to the chronology and character of its submergence. A series of maps accompanies the text to provide a speculative reconstruction of the topography, river systems, coastline, vegetation, fauna, and human occupation of Doggerland from the Devensian/Weichselian maximum to the beginnings of the Neolithic.
In 2001, a portion of human frontal bone was discovered in sediments extracted from the bottom of the North Sea, 15 km off the coast of the Netherlands. The extraction zone is located in the so-called Zeeland Ridges area located at 51°40′ northern latitude and 3°20′ eastern longitude. The specimen was dredged up from sediments containing Late Pleistocene faunal remains and Middle Palaeolithic artefacts, including well-finished small handaxes and Levallois flakes. The details of the supraorbital morphology, as well as the quantitative assessment of the shape of the external surface of the squama using traditional and 3D geometric morphometrics, unambiguously assign the Zeeland Ridges frontal bone to Homo neanderthalensis. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis indicate that the Zeeland Ridges hominin, like other Neandertals, was highly carnivorous and does not show evidence for the consumption of aquatic foods. A lesion on the outer table and diploic layer of the bone in the area of the supratoral sulcus can be interpreted as the result of an intradiploic epidermoid cyst, a type of neoplasm diagnosed for the first time in Neandertal remains. So far, the Zeeland Ridges Neandertal is the first Pleistocene fossil hominin found under seawater and the first recorded in the Netherlands.
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Mesolithic Doggerland, where the points are small: A functional analysis of the small barbed bone points
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Fishing for the Mesolithic. The North Sea: a submerged Mesolithic landscape
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Verhart 1995: L. B. M. Verhart, Fishing for the Mesolithic. The North Sea: a submerged Mesolithic landscape. In: A. Fischer (ed.),
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The function of Mesolithic bone and antler points
- L B M Verhart
Verhart 2000: L. B. M. Verhart, The function of Mesolithic bone and antler points. Anthropologie et Préhistoire 111, 2000,
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De opgraving van de top van een donk met sporen uit het Mesolithicum en Neolithicum (vindplaats 13-83)
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Zijl et al. 2011: W. Zijl/M. J. L. T. Niekus/P. H. J. I. Ploegaert/J. M. Moree, Rotterdam Beverwaard Tramremise. De opgraving van de top van een donk met sporen uit het Mesolithicum en Neolithicum (vindplaats 13-83). Bureau Oudheidkundig
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