Ertebølle harpoons and killer whale teeth. Aspects of marine hunting in the Ertebølle period

Abstract

Ertebølle harpoons and killer whale teeth

Aspects of marine hunting in the Ertebølle period

Since the Danish Ertebølle harpoons were presented together nearly twenty-five years ago (Andersen 1972, 1976 and 1983), figs. 1-8, 12 and 19-20, several new finds have been made, a number of which are from excavations of well-dated settlement finds, figs. 9-11 and 13-18. Moreover, harpoons have now been found in Scania, northern Germany and in northern Poland, so they now cover the entire Ertebølle cultural province around the western Baltic, figs. 22-23. Most of the finds are, as previously, from coastal settlements and the sea, but several new finds also come from inland tracts. Further harpoons derive from areas from which several finds were already known, for example from the Little Belt area and Horsens Fjord, figs. 22-23.

It is also interesting that an increasingly large number of harpoons made of whale bone have been found, and waste from whale-bone harpoon production is also known from several new settlement finds, figs. 25 and 28.

Among the new finds there is also a patterned harpoon of type C from the settlement excavation at Lystrup Enge (early Ertebølle culture), fig. 16. Corresponding ornamented harpoons were previously known only from Horsens Fjord; a harpoon of this kind has subsequently been found at Podjuch near the mouth of the Oder, fig. 19. The original division into 4 main types, types A, B, C and D, has been further strengthened with the latest finds, figs. 22-23. In addition, it is now possible to define a small group comprising an even older type, A-1, represented by the harpoons from Tudeå and Skateholm, fig. 15; this group must be dated to the latest Kongemose culture or the transition between the Kongemose and Ertebølle cultures, c. 5500/5400 BC.

Among the new finds it is also remarkable that a harpoon has now for the first time been found in a grave from Skateholm II in Scania, fig. 15. This find really documents the importance of the harpoon at that time as a hunting weapon, and draws clear parallels up to the much later (middle Neolithic) Pitted Ware culture, when harpoons were frequently placed in the graves and when the hunting of marine mammals -especially seals- indisputably played a major role.

All four types of Ertebølle harpoons have a geographically limited distribution, figs. 22-23. Type B is most remarkable in that it is known only from the eastern part of the Ertebølle area, fig. 22. This type was possibly specially adapted to the hunting of the seasonally migrating harp seals, which passed through Danish waters in spring and autumn. Another regional feature is that the Scanian harpoons (and a single north German one) are decorated with small incised lines across the front edge of each barb, fig. 14.

The Ertebølle harpoons of types A, B and D are always of red-deer antler or whale bone, while type C is made of roe-deer antler. The consistent and clear division into four different harpoon types shows that the harpoons must have been designed for different game animals and situations. It is most likely that they were used to hunt marine mammals, first and foremost seals, and perhaps porpoises. Only harpoons of type D seem to have been so much larger that they could have been used for another purpose, perhaps against the large whales.

The Ertebølle harpoons are among other things characterized by their raw material (mainly red-deer antler), by having a relatively long tongued base, large sturdy barbs and a symmetrically placed line-hole. The length is between 12 and 32 cm, the width between 1.8 and 4.7 cm, and the line-hole is on average 5 cm from the end of the base.

If one looks at the chronological occurrence of the harpoons, it is apparent that harpoons are not known from the early Kongemose culture (6800-6100 BC); from the later Kongemose culture (6100-5400 BC) only very few harpoon finds (of type A-1) are known. From the early Ertebølle culture (5400-4600) there are slightly more finds of type B and type C harpoons. By far the majority of the harpoons of all four main types should be dated to the middle and -especially- later Ertebølle culture (4600-3900 BC); this is apparent from several well-dated settlement finds and typological (relative) datings. It is a fact that the harpoons increase markedly in number and morphological differentiation and variation in the late Ertebølle culture. It is evident that in the later Ertebølle culture there is a differentiation of types and specialization for marine hunting. This must mean that marine hunting acquired greater importance in relation to earlier phases in the late Mesolithic.

The overall find picture as it appears today shows that the harpoon has been a much more common and important hunting weapon in the Ertebølle culture than previously assumed. This is clear not only from the new finds but also from the many settlements in which waste from harpoon production has been found, see for example fig. 25. The commonest game has been grey seal, harp seal and porpoise. Many finds of the characteristic broken-off base parts of harpoons, figs. 14.2 and 24, show that the harpoon point must have been set into an oblong cavity in the end of the shaft.

Seal bones are found at almost all Ertebølle coastal settlement sites -rarely in particularly large numbers but quite constantly, even at small settlements and at sites with poor conditions of preservation for organic remains. Seals were very important, yielding good fur, meat and masses of blubber. The relative shortage of bones at the settlements is probably due to a combination of circumstances: hunting often took place on small islands, forelands and stony shoals -places remote from the main settlements- and a whole series of destructive factors was probably operative over the centuries. In order to estimate the real importance of seals for the Ertebølle population, it is more important to ascertain the constant presence of bones of these game animals rather than the actual and relatively small number of bones. Also calculations of the nutritive value shows that they must have been much more important than formerly believed. Finally, the importance of these mammals is apparent from the fact that a specialized hunting weapon was made in several versions (harpoons) and that there was a simultaneous presence of blubber lamps in the Ertebølle culture.

The conclusion is that the hunting of these marine mammals must have been of much greater importance than formerly believed.

Similar considerations and conclusions must presumably also apply to other species of marine mammals, first and foremost porpoises, the seasonal migrations of which have been exploited in some parts of Denmark right up to the present day, and have undoubtedly also been exploited in Ertebølle context. From the coastal settlements there are many finds of this cetacean, and the animals were probably subjected to driving -probably with net as known from, for example, Japan's early Jomon phase- and by closing off parts of the sea, for example in the Little Belt.

One of the problems in judging the importance of hunting marine mammals in the Ertebølle culture has been an almost complete lack of coastal settlements where these species have been predominant in the fauna, "specialized" coastal hunting sites. Such settlements are, however, now turning up, for example at Vængesø, southern Mols, fig. 26. In this area there are both partially excavated settlements with a considerable complement of marine species and several settlements where many splintered bones of large whales have been found. Among other things, one bone has distinct axe­marks, fig. 27.

Whether the harpoons have also been used in the hunting of large cetaceans is a more open question, but it is in my opinion likely. Bones of such whales occur so commonly in east Jutland Ertebølle settlements that they help to give these localities a regional character in relation to east Danish and north Jutland find-places from the same period.

Previously, it was thought that these bones all derive from "naturally" stranded whales. There are so many, however, that it can hardly be the only explanation for the presence of these animals at the Ertebølle settlements: it is far more likely that these bones represent bagged animals. It is also possible that the whales were systematically driven into the relatively large areas of shallow water found in Denmark, where they could more easily be killed, in which case the strandings should not be considered "natural", but "cultural". That whaling, however, was also carried out with weapons is apparent from the find of a rib of a relatively large whale on which a distinct round hole is seen, stemming from a weapon which, after penetrating one side of the animal, passed through it to stop in a rib on the opposite side, fig. 28. My conclusion is that hunting large whales must have been of considerable importance in the Ertebølle culture -and considerably more so than previously thought- at least in east Jutland. There is reason to evaluate or revaluate the importance of hunting marine mammals such as seal, porpoise and whale in the Ertebølle culture. The hunting of these animals has apparently been much more common and important than previously believed -especially in the late Ertebølle culture.

Finally a small group of killer-whale teeth found singly at a small, locally delimited group of east Jutland Ertebølle settlements, fig. 29, is mentioned. These teeth display a number of characteristic scratches from wear and apical flaking of enamel, owing to pressure. The size, characteristic curved shape and damage has led to these teeth being interpreted as flaking tools or "retouchers". This is a new kind of implement in the Danish Ertebølle culture.

Søren H. Andersen