A new perspective on Tegelbarg: character and chronology of a Late Neolithic shell midden in the western Baltic

Abstract

The site of Tegelbarg can be described as a Late Neolithic stratified occupation deposit, including a shell midden, situated on the Baltic coast in Northern Europe. Spatially and temporally separated from its famous Danish counterparts, it presents an intriguing anomaly in a full-fledged agricultural society. We present a combined perspective on the chronology and the character of this occupation using archaeological soil micromorphology and the Bayesian modelling of radiocarbon dates. The earliest human presence predates the shell midden formation. A coffin grave, in which a crouched inhumation burial was placed, dates to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. The late 3rd millennium BC occupants provided a flint dagger to this grave, up to two centuries later, as an act of remembrance. Subsequent settlement activities included the construction of hearths, the production of flint daggers, and the intensive use of coastal resources. The absence of fish bones can be explained by taphonomy, instead of prehistoric subsistence strategies. Landscape changes led to the site’s abandonment and the start of peat development.