The Archaeology of Wings: Birds and People in the Baltic Sea Region During the Stone Age

Description

In this doctoral dissertation bird bone material from various Stone Age sites in the Baltic Sea region is investigated. The study period is approximately 7000–3400 BP, comprising mainly Neolithic cultures. The settlement material comes from Finland, Åland, Gotland, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Osteological materials were used for studying the economic and cultural importance of birds, fowling methods and principal fowling seasons. Birds in burials at two large cemeteries, Ajvide on Gotland and Zvejnieki in northern Latvia were investigated in order to study the roles of birds in burial practices. Despite usually low numbers of bird bones in osteological materials from prehistoric sites, it could be shown that waterbirds and several grouse species were economically important in the Stone Age cultures of the study area. The breeding period was the main fowling period in the Baltic Sea area during the Stone Age. Fowling has been most important in coastal areas. Th e burial fi nds indicate that some common ideas about waterbirds (perhaps as messengers or spirit helpers) might have existed in the northern European Stone Age. Original papers 4 Preface 5 Abstract 8 1. Introduction 9 Outline and aims of the dissertation 11 A brief outline of the subsistence economy and animals in graves in Stone Age Finland, Åland, Gotland and Estonia 14 Trends in (avian) zooarchaeology 16 2. Sites and assemblages 20 2.1. Geographical and chronological outline 20 2.2. Osteological assemblages 21 Finnish mainland 21 Åland, Finland 29 Gotland, Sweden 34 Saaremaa, Estonia 37 Hiiunmaa, Estonia 39 Latvia (Zvejnieki) 39 3. Methods 40 Some notes about interpretation of archaeologial bird remains 40 Identifi cation 41 Depositional history 42 Treatment of bird carcasses and utilization of birds 43 Hunting seasons 43 Use of ethnographic sources 44 4. Results 45 4.1. What can fi nd contexts say about the uses of birds? 45 4.2. On breakage pattern and skeletal element distribution 48 4.3. Bird taxa 51 Ducks 51 Grouse 52 Auks 53 Divers 53 Grebes 53 Geese and swans 54 Birds of prey (including owls) 54 Other taxa 55 Comparison of bird taxa in settlements and burials 56 4.4. Chronological aspects 57 4.5. Birds as resource 58 Subsistence 58 Tools and implements 59 Use of skins, feathers and bones in paraphernalia, decoration and raw material 60 4.6. Birds in burial practices 61 5. Discussion 63 5.1. Main factors aff ecting bird utilization 63 Location of the site and the availability of breeding birds and land mammals 63 Mobility, seasons and settlement patterns 64 Hunting of breeding, wintering and migrating birds 66 Hunting restrictions, taboos and other cultural factors 67 5.2. On fowling methods 68 5.3. Culture- and ecology-based diff erences in fowling 70 5.4. Th e relationship between birds and people 71 5.5. Th e importance of birds for the prehistoric cultures in the Baltic Sea region 74 6. Conclusions 76 References 77 Appendices 1–2 93