From oysters to cockles at Hjarnø Sund: Environmental and subsistence changes at a Danish Mesolithic site

TY - JOUR

T1 - From oysters to cockles at Hjarnø Sund

T2 - Radiocarbon and Diet

AU - Larsen, Johan Sandvang

AU - Philippsen, Bente

AU - Skriver, Claus

AU - Astrup, Peter Moe

AU - Borup, Per

AU - Mannino, Marcello

PY - 2018/10/1

Y1 - 2018/10/1

N2 - Archaeological fieldwork at Hjarno Sund in Horsens Fjord (eastern Jutland, Denmark) has explored an eroding Mesolithic shell midden. Its stratigraphy is characterized by two layers, containing marine mollusk taxa typically collected by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers for food. In the field, the lower layer appeared to be dominated by oysters (Ostrea edulis), while the upper one by cockles (Cerastoderma edule), which was confirmed by our zooarchaeological study. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating on shells and paired charcoal samples from the two layers indicate that these are chronologically consecutive (separated by as little as 0-163 yr [95.4%]) and that the oyster-to-cockle shift dated between ~5500-5300 and ~5300-5200 cal BC (around or just after the Kongemose/Ertebolle transition). The shell midden at Hjarno Sund is, thus, one of the oldest-known in Denmark, demonstrating that intensive shellfish exploitation was a hallmark of the Ertebolle culture from its inception. Oyster-to-cockle shifts, thus, also occurred at times other than the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition and may have been ultimately caused by local shoreline displacements, resulting from changes in sedimentation, possibly induced by drops in relative sea level.

AB - Archaeological fieldwork at Hjarno Sund in Horsens Fjord (eastern Jutland, Denmark) has explored an eroding Mesolithic shell midden. Its stratigraphy is characterized by two layers, containing marine mollusk taxa typically collected by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers for food. In the field, the lower layer appeared to be dominated by oysters (Ostrea edulis), while the upper one by cockles (Cerastoderma edule), which was confirmed by our zooarchaeological study. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dating on shells and paired charcoal samples from the two layers indicate that these are chronologically consecutive (separated by as little as 0-163 yr [95.4%]) and that the oyster-to-cockle shift dated between ~5500-5300 and ~5300-5200 cal BC (around or just after the Kongemose/Ertebolle transition). The shell midden at Hjarno Sund is, thus, one of the oldest-known in Denmark, demonstrating that intensive shellfish exploitation was a hallmark of the Ertebolle culture from its inception. Oyster-to-cockle shifts, thus, also occurred at times other than the Mesolithic-Neolithic Transition and may have been ultimately caused by local shoreline displacements, resulting from changes in sedimentation, possibly induced by drops in relative sea level.

KW - Cerastoderma edule

KW - Ertebolle

KW - Mesolithic

KW - Ostrea edulis

KW - shell midden

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056987738&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/RDC.2018.51

DO - 10.1017/RDC.2018.51

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0033-8222

VL - 60

SP - 1507

EP - 1520

JO - Radiocarbon: An International Journal of Cosmogenic Isotope Research

JF - Radiocarbon: An International Journal of Cosmogenic Isotope Research

IS - 5

Y2 - 20 June 2017 through 23 June 2017

ER -