Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-pfhbr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T02:16:56.240Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Reindeer antler or ‘Lyngby’ axe from Northamptonshire and its context in the British Late Glacial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Jill Cook  and
Roger Jacobi
Jill Cook
Affiliation:
British Museum, Department of Prehistoric and Romano-British Antiquites, Quaternary Section, Franks' House, 38 Orsman Road, London N1 5QJ
Roger Jacobi
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham, Department of Archaeology, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A reindeer antler object found in Northamptonshire possesses the characteristic traits of a Lyngby axe. Such implements are themselves characteristic of the Late Glacial of northern Europe but hitherto unknown in Britain. A direct radiocarbon accelerator date of 10, 320±150 BP (OxA–803) confirms the typological dating and places it amongst a small number of finds which link Britain with the Ahrensburgian phase in Europe. The function of the axe cannot be determined, but consideration of its features throws some light on this problem.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , 1994 , pp. 75 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1994

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ammann, B. and Lotter, A. F. 1989. Late-Glacial radiocarbon and palynostratigraphy on the Swiss Plateau. Boreas 18, 109–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, T. C., Briffa, K. R. and Coope, G. R. 1987. Seasonal temperatures in Britain during the past 22,000 years, recon-structed using beetle remains. Nature 325, 587–592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, R. N. E. 1986. Experiments with long blades from Sproughton, near Ipswich, Suffolk. In Roe, D. A. (ed.), Studies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Britain and Northwest Europe, 129–142. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, S296.Google Scholar
Barton, R. N. E. 1991. Technological innovation and continuity at the end of the Pleistocene in Britain. In Barton, R. N. E., Roberts, A. J. and Roe, D. A. (eds), The Late Glacial in North-West Europe: Human Adaptation and Environmental Change at the End of the Pleistocene, 234–245. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 77.Google Scholar
Barton, R. N. E. and Froom, F. R. 1986. The long blade assemblage from Avington VI, Berkshire, In Collcutt, S.N. (ed.), The Palaeolithic of Britain and its Nearest Neighbours: Recent Trends, 80–84. Sheffield: University.Google Scholar
Becker, B., Kromer, B. and Trimborn, P. 1991. A stableisotope tree-ring timescale of the Late Glacial/Holocene boundary. Nature 353, 647–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bordes, F. 1967. Considérations sur la typologie et les techniques dans le Paléolithique. Quartär 18, 25–55.Google Scholar
Brøndstedt, J. 1957. Danmarks Oldtid 1. Stenalderen. Copenhagen: Gyldendals.Google Scholar
Burchell, J.P.T. 1938. Two Mesolithic ‘floors’ in the Ebbsfleet Valley of the Lower Thames. Antiquaries Journal 18(4), 397–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandler, R. H. 1914–1915. Implements of Les Eyzies-type and a working-floor in the River Cray Valley. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 2(1), 80–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Childe, V. G. 1941. The antiquity and function of antler axes and adzes. Antiquity 16, 258–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, J. and Barton, R. N. E. 1986. Dating Late Devensian—Early Flandrian barbed points. In Gowlett, J. A. J. and Hedges, R. E. M. (eds), Archaeological Results from Accelerator Dating, 87–89. Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Ekholm, G. 1925. Die erste Besiedlung des Ostseegebietes. Wiener Prähistorische Zeitschrift 12, 1–16 Google Scholar
Fagnart, J.-P. 1992. Nouvelles observations sur le gisement paléolithique supérieur de Belloy-sur-Somme (Somme). Gallia Préhistoire 34, 57–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, A. and Tauber, H. 1986. New C-14 darings of Late Paleolithic cultures from Northwestern Europe. Journal of Danish Archaeology 5, 7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gob, A. 1988. L'Ahrensbourgien de Fonds-de-Forêt et sa place dans le processus de mésolithisation dans le nordouest de l'Europe. In Otte, M. (ed.), De la Loire à l'Oder. Les Civilisations du Paléolithique Final dans le Nord-Ouest Européen, 259–285. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, S444.Google Scholar
Gob, A. 1991. The early Postglacial occupation of the southern part of the North Sea Basin. In Barton, R. N. E., Roberts, A.J. and Roe, D.A. (eds), The Late Glacial in North-West Europe: Human Adaptation and Environmental Change at the End of the Pleistocene, 227–233. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 77Google Scholar
Gowlett, J.A.J., Hedges, R.E.M., Law, I. A. and Perry, C. 1986. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 4. Archaeometry 28(2), 206–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gross, H. 1938. Die bearbeiteten Rengeweihe Ostpreussens Nachrichtenblatt für Deutsche Vorzeit 14, 117–124.Google Scholar
Gross, H. 1939. Die Rentierjäger-Kulturen Ostpreussens. Praehistorisches Zeitschrift 30, 39–67.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Bronk, C. R. and van Klinken, G.J. 1990. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 11. Archaeometry 32(2), 211–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R. A., Bronk Ramsey, C. and van Klinken, G.J. 1993. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 17. Archaeometry 35(2), 305–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobi, R. M. 1982. Later hunters in Kent: Tasmania and the earliest Neolithic. In Leach, P. E. (ed.), Archaeology in Kent to AD 1500, 12–24. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 48.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. 1991. A Late Glacial and early Postglacial site at Three Ways Wharf, Uxbridge, England: interim report. In Barton, R. N. E., Roberts, A.J. and Roe, D. A. (eds), The Late Glacial in North-West Europe: Human Adaptation and Environmental Change at the End of the Pleistocene, 246–255. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 77.Google Scholar
Mathiassen, T. 1938. Some recently found reindeer antler implements in Denmark. Acta Archaeologica (Copenhagen) 9, 173–175.Google Scholar
Mangerud, J., Andersen, S. T., Berglund, B. E. and Donner, J. J. 1974. Quaternary stratigraphy of Norden, a proposal for terminology and classification. Boreas 3, 109–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moir, J. R. 1913. The discovery of a flint ‘workshop-floor’ in Ivry Street, Ipswich. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia 1(4), 475–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, S. 1896. Nye stenalders former. Aarbøger 11, 303–419.Google Scholar
Rust, A. 1943. Die alt-und mittelsteinzeitlichen Funde von Stellmoor. Neumünster: Wachholz.Google Scholar
Schacht, S. 1979. Ein spätpaläolithisches Rengeweihbeil von Klein Pankow, Kr. Parchim. Ausgrabungen und Funde 24, 105–111.Google Scholar
Schwantes, G. 1925. Das Beil als Scheide zwischen Pälaolithikum und Neolilithikum. Archiv für Anthropologie 20, 13–41.Google Scholar
Stimming, R. 1916. Die Rentierzeit in der märkischen Havelgegend. Mannus 8, 233–240.Google Scholar
Taute, W. 1968. Die Stielspitzen-Gruppen im nördlichen Mitteleuropa: ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der späten Altsteinzeit. Fundamenta, Reihe A, 5. Köln Graz: Böhlau Verlag.Google Scholar
Wymer, J. J. 1976. A long blade industry from Sproughton, Suffolk. East Anglian Archaeology 3, 1–10.Google Scholar