Kunda culture

Kunda culture
Geographical range Europe
Period Chalcolithic Europe
Dates c. 8000– c. 5000 BC
Type site Kunda, Estonia
Major sites Pulli settlement
Preceded by Swiderian culture
Followed by Narva culture
The Mesolithic
The Epipaleolithic
Paleolithic
Mesolithic Europe
Epipaleolithic Europe
Fosna–Hensbacka culture
Komsa culture
Maglemosian culture
Lepenski vir culture
Kunda culture
Narva culture
Komornica culture
Swiderian culture
Epipaleolithic Transylvania
Mesolithic Transylvania
Tardenoisian
Schela Cladovei culture
Mesolithic Southeastern Europe
Levant
Levantine corridor
Natufian
Khiamian
Trialetian
Zarzian
Neolithic
Stone Age

Kunda Culture, with its roots in Swiderian culture,[1] is a mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities of the Baltic forest zone extending eastwards through Latvia into northern Russia dating to the period 8000–5000 BC by calibrated radiocarbon dating. It is named after the Estonian town of Kunda, about 110 kilometres (70 mi) east of Tallinn along the Gulf of Finland, near where the first extensively studied settlement was discovered on Lammasmäe Hill and in the surrounding peat bog.[2] The oldest known Kunda culture settlement in Estonia is Pulli settlement. The Kunda Culture is succeeded by the Narva culture who use pottery and show some traces of food production.

Culture

Tools of Kundra Culture

Most Kunda settlements are located near the edge of the forests beside rivers, lakes, or marshes. Elk were extensively hunted, perhaps helped by trained domestic hunting-dogs. On the coast seal hunting is represented. Pike and other fish were taken from the rivers. There is a rich bone and antler industry, especially in relation to fishing gear. Tools were decorated with simple geometric designs, lacking the complexity of the contemporary Maglemosian Culture communities to the southwest.

Origin of culture

The Kunda culture appears to have undergone a transition from the Palaeolithic Swiderian culture located previously over much of the same range. One such transition settlement, Pasieniai 1C in Lithuania, features stone tools of both Late Swiderian and early Kunda. One shape manufactured in both cultures is the retouched tanged point. The final Swiderian is dated 7800–7600 BC by calibrated radiocarbon dating, which is in the Preboreal period, at the end of which time with no gap the early Kunda begins. Evidently the descendants of the Swiderians were the first to settle Estonia when it became habitable. Other post-Swiderian groups extended as far east as the Ural mountains.[3]

Locations of sites

References

  1. Niskanen, Markku (2002). "The Origin of the Baltic-Finns" (PDF). The Mankind Quarterly. Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  2. Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert, eds. (1999). A Dictionary of Archaeology. Blackwell Publishing. p. 346. ISBN 0-631-23583-3.
  3. Šatavičius, Egidijus (2005). "Swiderian Culture in Lithuania". Lietuvos archeologija. 29. ISSN 0207-8694.
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