Ann Van Baelen

Wommersom quartzite (WSQ) is a lithic raw material used during prehistoric times in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt (RMS) area. Its attractiveness as an archaeological research subject over a time span of more than 115 years owes much to its assumed unique geological outcrop-source in the eponymous Belgian village. This assertion makes it an ideal candidate for tackling a broad range of questions about past human behaviour in this part of North-western Europe, resulting in many hypotheses relating to its chronology, distribution, typology and/or technology and the potential meaning of this variability in terms of past (mainly Mesolithic) hominin social structures, intergroup contacts and trade networks. Distribution maps are an important element in these studies with no less than 47 of such maps being (re-)created since the first one appeared in 1913. In addition to providing a critical review of these earlier distribution maps, this paper presents up-to-date point-maps based on a dataset of more than 2.000 sites with WSQ, representing at least 84.200 WSQ-artefacts.

This paper presents the results of the analyses of three recently discovered and partly excavated lithic collections from Dudzele, Koolkerke and Sint-Michiels. Instigated by these discoveries, a brief overview of the Mesolithic dataset in the extreme north-western part of Belgium is provided, as well as a discussion of the westernmost distribution of Wommersom quartzite, represented by some artefacts in two of the studied collections. Despite the poor and biased nature of the current dataset from the area around Bruges, it is argued that this part of the southern North Sea basin has a large potential for finding well-preserved Mesolithic (and Palaeolithic) records, both at and (sometimes deeply buried) below the present-day surface, provided that adequate survey and excavation strategies are being applied. The investigations of these three sites forms a first important step towards a more systematic investigation of the prehistoric record in an area that is characterized by a varied and complex environmental evolution with a large but still largely obscure and unexplored prehistoric potential.

Deze publicatie presenteert de resultaten van het (geo)archeologisch en dateringsonderzoek uitgevoerd op de midden­paleolithische vindplaats Sint­ Geertruid­ De Kaap  (Limburg, Nederland). Deze vindplaats grenst aan de neolithische vuursteenmijnen  van Rijckholt. Het onderzoek was gericht op de aard, ouderdom en formatieprocessen van lösslagen  op het plateau en had als doel potentiële aanwezigheid van afgedekte, goed bewaarde midden­paleolithische vindplaatsen op De Kaap te evalueren. De profielwanden van de gegraven put leerden de onderzoekers onder meer dat de stratigrafische eenheden bestaan uit herwerkt materiaal en dat stabiele niveaus ontbreken. Een van de conclusies is dan ook dat de kans op goed bewaarde midden­paleolithische vindplaatsen in de directe omgeving van de put klein is, ook al wijst de aanwezigheid van enkele werktuigen erop dat Neanderthalers op dit plateau allerlei activiteiten hebben uitgevoerd.
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The nature of the LowereMiddle Palaeolithic transition has been one of the most debated questions in early Prehistory since the mid-20th century. The root of these debates lies primarily in how early pre-historians constructed chronological models, relying heavily upon index fossils. Such models have " artificial boundaries designed to provide structure to a complex record and, rather than being conceived of as permanent or real, should be frequently examined and revised (Corbey and Roebroeks, 2001) " (Monnier, 2006). In this paper, we will not focus our efforts on issues relating to nomenclature and systems of classification. Instead, we will focus on a time frame within which rapid behavioural and technological changes have been documented: the period between MIS 9 to 6. Working on a large scale, and taking account of all of northwestern Europe and its southern fringes, a group of researchers working on the main sites from this period propose an assessment of current research on the emergence of the " Middle Palaeolithic ". Using a rich corpus of archaeological sites, we discuss how humans occupied northwestern Europe and its southern margins between MIS 9 to 6, focusing particularly on questions of taphonomy, conservation, chronology and environment, as well as reviewing the pattern of technological change within lithic assemblages. This overview of current research into the emergence of the Middle Palaeolithic will help to define future research paths and advance our understanding of this key period of human evolution.

The nature of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers remains disputed, with arguments in favour and against the existence of warfare before the development of sedentary societies. Here we report on a case of inter-group violence towards a group of hunter-gatherers from Nataruk, west of Lake Turkana, which during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene period extended about 30 km beyond its present-day shore. Ten of the twelve articulated skeletons found at Nataruk show evidence of having died violently at the edge of a lagoon, into which some of the bodies fell. The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial. They offer a rare glimpse into the life and death of past foraging people, and evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group
relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers.

This papers describes a large, hitherto unpublished collection of surface finds (collection ‘Dils 2005-2012’) from the extensive and rich multi-period stone age site Zundert – De Hoge Moer/De Matjens (province of Noord-Brabant, The Netherlands). It supplements a previous study focusing on earlier finds ('Dils 1993-2004') from the same site and places the entire collection, comprising over 12.600 lithic artefacts, in a wider, historical context. Intensive and repeated surveys by Dutch and Belgian (amateur) archaeologists that took place here from the 1950's onwards, have resulted in several large, partly unpublished collections (i.e. the collections of T. van Langen and J.H. Verhagen) which until now have not been the subject of a broader, comparative analysis. This article represents a first step in mapping the full potential of this site, which likely still contains finds that are preserved in situ.

On the border of the fen Monnikswijer in the community of Meeuwen-Gruitrode, two mesolithic scatters of lithic artefacts were excavated. Surface finds in both the immediate and wider surroundings indicate that these scatters are part of a very large and well preserved stone age site. Next to finds in flint, Wommersom quartzite, Tienen quartzite and quartzitic sandstone, the assemblage contains an unusual high number of artefacts in Phtanite, offering unique possibilities for the study of this ill-known aspect of Mesolithic technology.

Sinds de late negentiende eeuw zijn talrijke middenpaleolithische vuurstenen artefacten aangetroffen aan de oppervlakte van het plateau De Kaap in Sint Geertuid. Om een beter inzicht te krijgen in de precieze herkomst en datering van deze menselijke werktuigen werden in 2010 en 2011 twee veldcampagnes georganiseerd op het plateau.
De nadruk lag hierbij op de beschrijving
en datering van de verschillende bodemniveaus in de ondergrond, en was verder gericht op het maken van een inschatting van de mogelijke aanwezigheid, gaafheid en conservering van middenpaleolithische vindplaatsen op deze locatie. Dit onderzoek bestond uit boorcampagne en het graven van een 4,5 meter diepe sleuf waarbij de profielwanden uitgebreid werden bemonsterd en gedocumenteerd. Tijdens het onderzoek van deze sleuf
werden op de bodem drie vuurstenen artefacten aangetroffen.
In dit artikel worden de belangrijkste (voorlopige) resultaten beknopt besproken.