Seasonal Human Presence at the Late Mesolithic Sites of Tågerup, Segebro, Skateholm I, Bökeberg III and Ageröd V from the Developing Mandibular Dentition of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Abstract

Important new seasonal evidence has been obtained from five Scanian Late Mesolithic sites based upon tooth development stages in dentally immature Red deer (Cervus elaphus) and Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Radiographs of the developing molars and premolars have been used to provide an indication of age at death by comparisons with modern known age specimens. Knowledge of their age when killed indicates at what time of the year humans were present at the sites. Determining whether a site was occupied seasonally or year-round is critical to subsequent interpretations of human economic and social activity. Sample sizes were small and comprised a mix of loose teeth and fragmented mandibles with partial dentition. Based on this new line of enquiry there is evidence that at Tågerup in the early Kongemose (Phase I) Roe deer were killed during the autumn months. At the same site, but later in the Kongemose (Phase II), Roe and possibly Red deer were killed during the summer and winter months. Similar evidence exists at the Kongemose site of Segebro where autumn and winter deaths of Red deer have been recorded. At the Ertebølle coastal site of Skateholm I a single Roe deer mandible provides good evidence for a spring death, whilst at the inland sites of Bökeberg III and Ageröd V contrasting evidence indicates winter and summer/autumn deaths of Red and Roe deer, respectively.