Een vindplaatscomplex uit het late Midden-Paleolithicum bij Zeijen (Dr.)

Samenvatting

A site near Zeijen (‘Zeijen-East’), on the eastern rim of the Broekenloop valley, which is part of the Peizerdiep valley system in northern Drenthe, is the provenance of at least one, but possibly two failed preforms of leafpoints of the Mauern type. One of these may have been manufactured out of a ’pick-up’ from an earlier Middle Palaeolithic site in the vicinity (possibly a handaxe fragment or a Levallois core). Both specimens were probably produced by advanced learners in the art of flintknapping. From the same site a convex side-scraper made of a residual (Levallois) core, several other cores, and some flakes are known. Two of these cores are quite small and inadequately worked: these are probably also workpieces by one or two apprentice flintknappers. The site may be interpreted as a ‘base camp’, as several different types of activity were performed here by a number of individuals. In this paper, some other Middle Palaeolithic sites from the same area are also briefly discussed. Several other (failed) preforms of leafpoints are known from the Netherlands, and also elsewhere (for example from Mauern in Germany). Apparently, some semi-finished leafpoints were considered useful, despite their inadequacies, given that they were found in isolation - not in ’base camps’. Examples of this type are the leafpoints from Leusderheide, Woldberg and Banholt. The reason to believe these tools were functional is the fact that many well-made specimens too occurred isolated, for example those from Emmen, Eindhoven, Eeserveld and Aardjesberg. Most of these leafpoints were found at strategically located sites, for example offering a wide view over the landscape. Some other specimens, in lower-lying locations, may have been left at kill sites. In either case the isolated nature of these finds suggests that these tools performed a functional role, probably in hunting.