The Mesolithic in Northwestern Belgium

Description

This monograph discusses the preliminary results of large-scale excavations, still underway at the time of writing, organized at three Mesolithic open-air settlements located on sandy soils in Northwestern Belgium: Oostwinkel, Verrebroek and Kruishoutem. The archaeological investigation to this point had mainly focused on the morpho-typological analysis of lithic artifacts, absolute chronology, site-taphonomy and preliminary spatial analysis, the latter consisting in the visual inspection of distribution maps of various kinds of artifacts and ecofacts. It also includes environmental data. The preliminary information gathered here conveys the great potential of the study area for deepening our understanding of the Mesolithic in the Belgian lowlands. The results obtained prove that even in areas seriously affected by natural (erosion, pedoturbation, etc.) and human activities (extraction, soil cultivation, construction, etc.), the excavation of unstratified sites can still offer many interesting new data.