The Mesolithic in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg.

Insights and prospects

Abstract

Although Mesolithic finds material from Lower Lusatia (Niederlausitz) have been published in the last 80 years, there has been no summary publication. This examination not only orders for thefirsttimethe publishedfinds material, but also delivers a general account, as well as a comparison with the neighbouring regions, from the period beginning with the Early Preboreal, circa 9 , 6 0 0 cal. B.C., through more than 5,000 years of landscape usage to the period where the Mesolithic ends and the Funnel Beaker Culture begins, at circa 4,000 cal. B.C. The few early Neolithic finds are discussed and considered not comprehensive enough to prove the presence of settlements and a primary economy based on farming and cattle breeding. In Lower Lusatia, farming as a "way of life" is only verifiable and reconstructable from the Late Neolithic (Corded Ware Culture) onwards.