Animal Bones from Danish Single Grave Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v15i1.168028Keywords:
Single Grave Culture, Neolithic, subsistence strategies, zooarchaeologyAbstract
Since the 1890s, the Danish Single Grave Culture (SGC; c. 2850-2350 BCE) has been recognised as a distinct cultural complex with its core area centred on the sandy regions in Mid and Western Jutland, often associated with a pastoral-based economy. However, the absence of animal bone material from this area seriously constrains interpretations of prehistoric subsistence strategies and human-animal relations. This brief case study aims to assess the potential for future reconstructions of animal use and subsistence strategies in Danish SGC. By systematically re-evaluating all known and available assemblages with animal bone material from Jutland SGC contexts, supplemented by selective radiocarbon dating, we have tested the suitability for dating of the zooarchaeological remains. As a result, there are – still – no known dated animal bones from the heath regions of the Danish SGC. Therefore, we suggest that future research should explore alternative proxies, such as parasite analyses, phytolith studies, and sedaDNA, to comply with these fundamental empirical challenges.
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