Ertebølle

Ertebølle 

a kitchen-midden archaeological culture dating from the late Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods (end of the fifth millennium B.C. to the beginning of the third millennium B.C.), widespread in what is now the northern parts of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany and in what is now Denmark and southern Sweden. The culture is named after the kitchen midden of Erteb0lle in northern Jutland, Denmark, which is 140 m long, up to 40 m wide, and 1.5 m high.

The culture is characterized by unpolished flaked stone tools (macrolithic axes, trapezoidal arrowheads), points made of bone and antler, chisels, axes, fishhooks, and handles. The pottery comprised bowls and thick-walled vessels with pointed bottoms. The economy consisted of fishing, hunting, and the gathering of mollusks.

REFERENCES

Dolukhanov, P. M. “Paleografiia mezolita Severnoi Evropy.” In Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, no. 126. Moscow-Leningrad, 1966.
Mongait, A. L. Arkheologiia Zapadnoi Evropy: Kamennyi vek. Moscow, 1973.