Mesolithische botten uit het dal van de Tjonger (Fr.)

Samenvatting

In 2004 the third author discovered several dozen of animal bones and a flint blade after digging activities in the valley of the River Tjonger. The bones proved to be of a single small, female aurochs dating to the Late Mesolithic. A DNA analysis on a bone sample was negative: the sample did not contain enough authentic DNA. Cutand chopmarks and the presence of an unretouched flint blade indicated human involvement in the accumulation of these bones. It is concluded that the finds most probably are the remains of a single episode of hunting and/or butchering during the Late Mesolithic. Within the valley of the Tjonger several similar sites are known, such as the site of Jardinga, where several aurochs were butchered during the Late Mesolithic. Outside the Netherlands, the Danish sites of Vig and Prejlerup and the site Potsdam-Schlaatz in Germany may serve as examples of such prehistoric ‘snapshots’. Despite the informative value of these spatially and temporally discrete activities, they are underrepresented in the archaeological record. This is largely due to their poor visibility. Archaeologists should pay more attention to infrastructural and other works conducted in river valleys and other waterlogged environments.