THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PLEISTOCENE HOLOCENE TRANSITION IN THE NORTHERN RHINELAND, GERMANY/

Northern Rhineland archaeological sites provide information on pattern s of subsistence and settlement during the late-Pleistocene Magdalenia n and Final Palaeolithic and the early-Holocene Mesolithic periods and allow a good resolution of their relative and absolute chronology. Th e Magdalenian is represented by two major sites in the Central Rhinela nd (Gonnersdorf and Andernach-Martinsberg). Exogenous lithic raw mater ials show intensive contact to the northwestern Meuse-Rhine drainage a rea. This phase of settlement existed in the context of a 'loess-stepp e' or 'mammoth-steppe' and absolute dates show that this was before th e late glacial interstadial climatic amelioration. Subsistence was bas ed on the hunting of large herd animals. The Magdalenian is succeeded by lithic assemblages of the Federmessergruppen characterised by short scrapers and backed points. Raw materials suggest that the Central Rh ineland population had a radius of mobility approaching that found in the Magdalenian. Sites are particularly well preserved in the Neuwied Basin, due to burial by pumice deposits of the Laacher See eruption, a nd show that the Allerod population inhabited a mosaic landscape of op en woodland and hunted a range of 'temperate' species. Evidence for di ffering site structuration, the exploitation of a diverse fauna and se asonality suggest that Federmessergruppen settlement patterns were pos sibly as complex as those proposed for the Magdalenian. During the Dry as III stadial the northern Rhineland was occupied or visited by Ahren sburgian tanged-point groups. It has been suggested that exploitation of the northern fringe of the Upland Zone formed an integral part of t he subsistence strategy of the Ahrensburgian population involving the spring hunting of reindeer migrating to the uplands. Whereas the Holoc ene Mesolithic in the northern part of the region probably developed o ut of the Ahrensburgian tradition. it seems that the Mesolithic to the South developed from Federmessergruppen industries present throughout Dryas III. A small number of Rhineland sites provides evidence for Me solithic subsistence activities or site organisation. (C) 1998 INQUA/E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.