Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The shining piece of the puzzle: evidence of plant use in the Late Palaeolithic

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Late Glacial site Lubrza 10 yielded new archaeological and use-wear data for discussing the development of plant-based technologies long before the occupation of the European Lowlands by Neolithic societies. More than 4000 Federmesser and Swiderian lithic artefacts were collected from the site, which is located on sandy kames adjacent to former water bodies. Use-wear analysis showed that abandoned tools were engaged in the activities well recognised as Palaeolithic ones, such as hunting, working hide, bone and other soft and hard materials. Microscopic observations have also produced some of the earliest evidence of processing non-woody plants in the North European Plain. There is a considerable number of artefacts with plant-like polish. Tools were used for whittling, splitting, scraping or stripping plant materials—motions that could have also been made while extracting of fibres and other raw materials necessary for making crafts. Morphological parameters of tools suggest a selection of flint implements, and their distribution shows the locations of processing plants. Results of previously conducted pollen and macro-remains analysis demonstrate the presence of a great variety of plants, including high silica content herbaceous species that covered the nearest vicinity of the site both during the Allerød and the Younger Dryas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Radiocarbon determinations were calibrated using OxCal 4.3.2 (Bronk Ramsey and Lee 2013).

  2. Experiments conducted as a part of PhD studies (Kufel-Diakowska 2015).

  3. Experiments conducted as a part of research grant ‘Changes in methods of plant use in the light of technological transformations in Lower Silesia between 6th and 3rd/2nd millennia BC’ supported by National Science Centre (UMO-2012/07/D/HS3/00979).

References

  • Adovasio JM (1975-1977) The textile and basketry impressions from Jarmo. Paleorient 3(1):223–230. https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1975.4198

  • Adovasio JM, Soffer O, Klíma B (1996) Upper Palaeolithic fibre technology: interlaced woven finds from Pavlov I, Czech Republic, c. 26,000 years ago. Antiquity 70:526–534

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adovasio, JM, Soffer O, Hyland DC, Klíma B, Svoboda J (1999) Textil, kosíkárství a site v mladém paleolitu Moravy (textiles, basketry and nets in upper Paleolithic Moravia). Archeologické rozhledy LI: 58–94

  • Barton N (1991) Technological innovation and continuity at the end of the Pleistocene in Britain. In: Barton N, Roberts AJ, Roe DA (eds) The Late Glacial in north-west Europe: human adaptation and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 77, Oxford, pp 234–245

  • Barton N, Ford S, Collcutt S, Crowther J, Macphail R, Rhodes E, Van Gijn A (2009) A final upper Palaeolithic site at Nea farm, Somerley, Hampshire (England) and some reflections on the occupation of Britain in the Late Glacial Interstadial. Quartär 56:1–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Beugnier V, Crombé P (2005) Étude fonctionnelle du matériel en silex du site mésolithique ancien de Verrebroek (Flandres, Belgique): premiers résultats. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française 102(3):527–538. https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.2005.13140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodu P, Valentin B (1997) Groupes à Federmesser ou Aziliens dans le sud l’ouest du Bassin parisien, Propositiona pour un noveau modèle d’évolution. Bulletin de la Societe prehistorique francaise 94(3):431–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogaard A, Charles M, Twiss KC, Henecke J (2009) Private pantries and celebrated surplus: storing and sharing food at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia. Antiquity 83:6–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borel A, Ollé A, Vergès JM, Sala R (2014) Scanning electron and optical light microscopy: two complementary approaches for the understanding and interpretation of usewear and residues on stone tools. J Archaeol Sci 48:46–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bravermanova M, Břézinová H (1999) Nekolik poznamek k clanku ,,Textil, kosikarstvi a site v mladem paleolitu Moravy”. Archeologicke rozhledy LI:113–118

  • Bronk Ramsey C, Lee S (2013) Recent and planned development of the program OxCal. Radiocarbon 55:3–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buňatová M (1999) Textilni produce v mladem paleolitu. Experiment pro dokumentární film “Úsvit géniů”—textile production in the upper Palaeolithic. An experiment for a documentary film “Úsvit géniů”. Archeologické rozhledy LI:104-112

  • Burdukiewicz JM (2011) Late Glacial hunter-gatherer reactions to the Younger Dryas cooling event in the southern and eastern Baltic regions of Europe. Quat Int 242(2):302–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caspar J-P, Martial P, Féray P (2005) Identification et reconstitution des traces de teillage des fibres végétales au Néolithique. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 102(4):867–880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gassin B (1996) Évolution socio-économique dans le Chasséen de la grotte de l’Église supérieure (Var): l’apport de l’analyse fonctionnelle des industries lithiques. CNRS éditions (coll. Monographie du CRA) 17, Paris

  • Glory A (1959) Débris de corde paleólithique à la Grotte de Lascaux. Mémories de la Société Préhistorique Française 5:135–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Gueret C, Jacquier J (2016) The Pleistocene–Holocene transition from the techno-functional perspective: latest developments. Paper presented at XXVIIIe Congrès Préhistorique de France. Préhistoire de l’Europe du Nord-Ouest: mobilités, climats et identités culturelles. Session 3.L’Europe du Nord-Ouest autour de 10 000 BP (9 600 cal. BC): quels changements?, 30 Mai-4 June 2016, Amiens, France

  • Guéret C, Gassin B, Jacquier J, Marchand G (2014) Traces of plant working in the Mesolithic shell midden of Beg-an-Dorchenn (Plomeur, France). Mesolithic Miscellany 22(3):3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy K (2016) Plants as raw materials. In: Hardy K, Kubiak-Martens L (eds) Wild harvest plants in the hominin and pre-agrarian human worlds, Studying Scientific Archaeology 2. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp 71–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyland DC, Zhushchikhovskaya IS, Medvedev VE, Tabarev AV, Derevianko AP (2002) Pleistocene textiles in the Russian Far East: impressions from some of the world’s oldest pottery. Anthropologie (Brno) 40(1):1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacquier J (2014) Analyse fonctionnelle des outillages lithiques et interprétations socio-économique du statut des sites tardiglaciaires du Buhot à Calleville (Eure) et de la Fosse à Villiers-Charlemagne (Mayenne). In: Langlais M, Naudinot N, Peresani M (eds) Les groupes culturels de la transition Pléistocène-Holocène entre Atlantique et Adriatique. Actes de la séance de la Société préhistorique française de Bordeaux, 24–25 mai 2012, Société préhistorique française, (Séances de la Société préhistorique française, 3), Paris, pp 221–246

  • Juel Jensen H (1994) Flint tools and plant working: hidden traces of stone age technology: a use wear study of some Danish Mesolithic and TRB implements. Åarhus Unversity Press, Åarhus

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabaciński J, Kobusiewicz M (2007) Settlement of the Hamburgian culture at Krągola, Stare Miasto parish. In: Kobusiewicz M, Kabaciński J (eds) Studies in the final Palaeolithic settlement of the great European plain. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań, pp 21–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabaciński J, Sobkowiak-Tabaka I (2010) Between east and west—a new site of the Federmessergruppen in Poland. Quartär 57:139–154. https://doi.org/10.7485/QU57_07

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaczor M (2015) Analiza schyłkowopaleolitycznych materiałów krzemiennych ze stanowiska Lubrza 10, woj. lubuskie (Analysis of the Late Paleolithic flint materials from Lubrza 10 site, Lubuskie Voivodeship). BA dissertation, University in Poznań

  • Kaminská L (2007) The final Palaeolithic in Slovakia. In: Kobusiewicz M, Kabaciński J (eds) studies in the final Palaeolithic settlement of the great European plain. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań, pp 111–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeley LH (1980) Experimental determination of stone tool uses. A microwear analysis, prehistoric archaeology and ecology. Prehistoric Archeology and Ecology Series, Chicago

  • Kobusiewicz M, Kabaciński J (1992) Late Palaeolithic site at Wojnowo, Zielona Góra voivodeship. Fontes Aarchaeologici Posnanienses 37:23–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozłowski SK (1999) The Tanged Points Technocomplex. In: Kozłowski SK, Gurba J, Zaliznyak L (eds) Tanged Point Cultures in Europe. Read at the International Archaeological Symposium Lublin, September 13–16 1993. Lubelskie Materiały Archeologiczne 13, Instytut Archeologii UMCS, Lublin, pp 28–35

  • Kufel B, Mikołajczyk A, Fabisiak W (2010) Raw material, production and use of lithic tools in the Neolithic of lower Silesia in the light of records from site 29 at Księginice Wielkie, distr. Strzelin. Sprawozdania Archeologiczne 62:161–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Kufel-Diakowska B (2015) Aktywność łowców i zbieraczy: przykład obozowisk kultury hamburskiej i kultury Federmesser, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Instytut Archeologii, Wrocław

  • Kvavadze E, Bar-Yosef O, Belfer-Cohen A, Boaretto E, Jakeli N, Matskevich Z, Meshveliani T (2009) 30,000-year-old wild flax fibers. Science 325(5946):1359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langley MC, Clarkson C, Ulm S (2008) Behavioural complexity in Eurasian Neanderthal populations: a chronological examination of the archaeological evidence. Camb Archaeol J 18(3):289–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leroi-Gourhan A (1982) The archaeology of Lascaux cave. Sci Am 246(6):80–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Libera J, Wąs M, Zakościela A (2008) Allerödzkie obozowisko technokompleksu z tylczakami łukowymi w Pawłowie koło Zawichostu w świetle analizy technologicznej. In: Borkowski J, Libera J, Sałacińska B, Sałaciński S (eds), Krzemień czekoladowy w pradziejach. Materiały z konferencji w Orońsku, 08–10.10.2003. Studia nad gospodarką surowcami krzemiennymi w pradziejach 7, PMA, Warszawa, Lublin, pp 357–377

  • Litt T, Brauer A, Goslar T, Merkt J, Bałaga K, Müller H, Ralska – Jasiewiczowa M, Stebich M, Negendank JFW (2001) Correlation and synchronisation of Late Glacial continental sequences in northern central Europe based on annually laminated lacustrine sediments. Quaternary Sci Rev 20(11):1233–1249. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(00)00149-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe JJ, Rasmussen O, Björck S, Hoek WZ, Steffensen JP, Walker MJC, Yu ZC, the INTIMATE group (2008) Synchronisation of palaeoenvironmental events in the North Atlantic region during last termination: a revised protocol recommended by the INTIMATE group. Quat Sci Rev 27(1-2):6–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.09.016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manson SLR, Hather JG, Hillman GC (1994) Preliminary investigation of the plant macro-reamins from Dolní Věstonice II, and its implications for the role of plant foods in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Europe. Antiquity 68(258):48–57. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00046184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzucco N, Gibaja Bao JF, Barrón UP, Lomas MSM, Puchol OG, Guerra MR, Guillén JIR, Martínez De Lagrán IG, Cabanilles JJ, Gazolaz JG, Gassin B (2016) Insights into the Late Mesolithic toolkit: use-wear analysis of the notched blades. Case-studies from the Iberian peninsula. Preistoria Alpina 48:151–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadel D, Danin A, Werker E, Schick T, Kislev ME, Stewart K (1994) 19,000-year-old twisted fibres from Ohalo II. Curr Anthropol 35(4):451–457. https://doi.org/10.1086/204303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okuniewska-Nowaczyk I, Sobkowiak-Tabaka I (2014) Palynological and archaeological studies of the Late Vistulian and Early Holocene at the Lubuskie Lake District (western Poland). Studia Quaternaria 31(1):39–50. https://doi.org/10.2478/squa-2014-0004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osipowicz G (2015) Zorganizowane i wyspecjalizowane obozowisko zbieraczy? Z wyników badań traseologicznych i przestrzennych materiałów mezolitycznych ze stanowiska Ludowice 6. Przegląd Archeologiczny 63:59–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Osipowicz G (2016) Function and spatial organisation of the Mesolithic camps. Clues from sites Sąsieczno 4 and Ludowice 6, central Poland. Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277474989_Function_and_spatial_organization_of_the_Mesolithic_camps_Clues_from_sites_Sasieczno_4_and_Ludowice_6_central_Poland

  • Osipowicz G, Sobkowiak-Tabaka I (2014) New evidences for core processing of non-flint, lithic materials in the late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of Poland. J Lithic Stud 1(1):213–226. https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v1i1.774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelegrin J (2000) Les technique de débitage laminaire au Tardiglaciaire critéres de diagnose et quelques reflexions. In: Bodu P, Christensen M, Valentin B (eds) L’Europe Centrale et septentrionale au Tardiglaciaire, Table-ronde Nemours, 13–16 mai 1997. Mémoires du Musée de Préhistoire d’Ile-de-France no. 7, A.P.R.A.I.F, Nemours, pp 76–86

  • Pettitt P, White M (2012) The British Palaeolithic. Hominin societies at the edge of the Pleistocene world. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Pyżewicz K (2015) The use-wear analysis of the artefacts found at the Magdalenian site in Klementowice. In: Wiśniewski T (ed) Klementowice. A Magdalenian site in eastern Poland. Institute of Archaeology Maria curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Lublin, pp 184–214

    Google Scholar 

  • Rast-Eicher A (2016) Fibres. Microscopy of archaeological textiles and furs. Archaeolingua, Budapest

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratajczak-Szczerba M, Okuniewska-Nowaczyk I, Sobkowiak-Tabaka I (2015) Palaeogeographical and archaeological records of natural changes of the Jordanowo–Niesulice subglacial channel near Lubrza, the Lubusz Lakeland. Quaestiones Geographicae 34(3):101–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rimkutė V (2010) The Neolithic Mats of the eastern Baltic littoral. In: Strand A E, Gleba M, Mannering U, Munkholt C, Ringgaard M (eds) North European symposium for archaeological textiles X, Ancient Textiles Series 5. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp 217–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Rimkutė V (2016) Testing twined clothing in Mesolithic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPOM5oPW9bs. Accessed 4 Nov 2016

  • Rybníčková E, Rybníček K (2014) Palaeovegetation in the Pavlovské vrchy hills region (South Moravia, Czech Republic) around 25,000 bp: the Bulhary core. Veg Hist Archaeobot 23(6):719–728. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-014-0450-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schild R (1975) Późny paleolit. In: Chmielewski W, Hensel W (eds) Prahistoria ziem polskich. Paleolit i mezolit I. Ossolineum, Wrocław-Warszawa- Kraków-Gdańsk, pp 159–335

  • Schild R (1984) Terminal Palaeolithic of the north European plain: a review of lost chances, potential and hopes. Advances in World Archaeol 3: 193–274

  • Schild R, Królik H, Tomaszewski AJ, Ciepielewska E (2011) Rydno. A Stone Age red ochre quarry and socioeconomic center. A century of research. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw

  • Schreurs J (1992) The Michelsberg site Maastricht-Klinkers: a functional interpretation. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 25:129–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Semenov SA (1964) Prehistoric technology. Adams and Dart, Bath

    Google Scholar 

  • Slah G (2014) Rectangular bladelets discovered at the Katra I settlement in the Varėna district of Lithuania: a functional analysis. Archaeologica Baltica 20:162–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Sobkowiak-Tabaka I (2016) The last Late Glacial hunter-gatherers. In: Kabaciński J (ed) The Past Societies I, 500,000–5,500 BC [Urbańczyk P. (ed), The Past Societies. Polish lands from the first evidence of human presence to the Early Middle Ages vol. I–V]. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Warszawa, pp 199–227

  • Sobkowiak-Tabaka I, Kubiak-Martens L, Okuniewska-Nowaczyk I, Kufel-Diakowska B, Ratajczak-Szczerba M, Kurzawska A (2017) Reconstruction of the Late Glacial and Early Holocene landscape and human presence in Lubrza, western Poland, on the basis of multidisciplinary analyses. Environ Archaeol. https://doi.org/10.1080/14614103.2016.1268993. Accessed 6 Jan 2017, 1–14

  • Sobkowiak-Tabaka I, Pyżewicz K, Okuniewska-Nowaczyk I (2018) Osadnictwo mezolityczne w południowej części Pojezierza Łagowskiego na przykładzie stanowisk w Wilenku. Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia 22 (in press)

  • Sofer O (2004) Recovering perishable technologies through use wear on tools: preliminary evidence for upper Paleolithic weaving and net making. Curr Anthropol 45(3):407–413. https://doi.org/10.1086/420907

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sofer O, Adovasio JM (2007) Textiles as well as ceramics in the upper Palaeolithic: like it or not! Archeologické rozhledy LIX:581–587

  • Sofer O, Adovasio JM (2014) “Their fingers were too fat to weave”: ancient textiles and academic politics today. N Am Archaeol 35:419–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Sofer O, Adovasio JM, Illingworth JS, Amirkhanov KA, Praslov ND, Street M (2000a) Palaeolithic perishables made permanent. Antiquity 74(286):812–821. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00060464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sofer O, Adovasio JM, Hyland DC (2000b) The “Venus” figurines. Textiles, basketry, gender, and status in the upper Paleolithic. Curr Anthropol 41(4):511–537

    Google Scholar 

  • Sosna D (1999) Experimentální ovĕření výroby textilu v mladším paleolitu. Archeologické rozhledy LI:95–103

  • Street M, Baales M, Cziesla E, Hartz S, Heinen M, Jöris O, Koch I, Pasda C, Terberger T, Vollbrecht J (2002) Final Paleolithic and Mesolithic research in reunified Germany. J World Prehist 15(4):365–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taute W (1963) Funde der spätpaläolithischen „Federmesser-Gruppen” aus dem Raum zwischen mittlerer Elbe und Weichsel. Berliner Jahrbuch für Vor-und Frühgeschichte 3: 62–111

  • Taute W (1968). Die Stielspitzen Gruppen in nördlichen Mitteleuropa. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der späten Altsteinzeit. Böhlau Verlag, Köln—Graz

  • Thieme H (1997) Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Nature 385(6619):807–810. https://doi.org/10.1038/385807a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torchy L, Gassin B (2011) Le silex bédoulien sur les sites chasséens du Languedoc: étude fonctionnelle, statut des sites et réseaux de diffusion. Gallia Préhistoire 53(1):59–84. https://doi.org/10.3406/galip.2011.2487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trąba C, Rogut K, Wolański P (2012) Rośliny dziko występujące i ich zastosowanie. Przewodnik po wybranych gatunkach. ProCarpathia, Rzeszów

  • Valoch K (2007) Textile in the Upper Palaeolithic? Some notes on the matter. Archeologické rozhledy 59(1):143–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Gijn AL Van (1990) The wear and tear of flint. Principles of functional analysis applied to Dutch Neolithic assemblages. Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 22, Leiden University, Leiden

  • van Gijn AL (2010) Flint in focus. Lithic biographies in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Sidestone Press, Leiden

    Google Scholar 

  • van Gijn AL, Little A (2016) Tools, use-wear and experimentation: extracting plants from stone and bone. In: Hardy K, Kubiak-Martens L (eds) Wild harvest. Plants in the hominin and pre-agrarian human worlds, Studying Scientific Archaeology 2. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp 135–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan PC (1985) Use-wear analysis of flaked stone tools. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland under grant no. 2011/01/D/HS3/04134.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ośrodek Studiów Pradziejowych i Średniowiecznych, Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Rubież 46, 61-612, Poznań, Poland

    Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka

  2. Instytut Archeologii, Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Szewska 48, 50-139, Wrocław, Poland

    Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska

Authors
  1. Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernadeta Kufel-Diakowska.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I., Kufel-Diakowska, B. The shining piece of the puzzle: evidence of plant use in the Late Palaeolithic. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 1373–1389 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0604-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0604-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation