More information : In September 1931, Pilgrim E Lockwood, skipper of the steam drifter COLINDA, LT 382, trawled up in her fishing nets a Maglemose-type bone harpoon from a large piece of peat (moorlog) between the two north buoys in mid-channel between the Leman and Ower Banks in the North Sea. The site is about 25 miles offshore and the peat lies in 19 - 20 fathoms of water. (1)(2)(3)(5)
The Leman and Ower point now has an AMS date of 11740 +/-150, which indicates inland hunters in the area in the latter part of the interstadial. Illustration of the harpoon, described as a Late Glacial antler point from the Leman and Ower. (1)
The harpoon was presented to the Castle Museum, Norwich. While broadly described as Maglemose in age, it is technically allied to harpoons from Kunda, Estonia, being far more advanced in workmanship than those from Svaerdborg or Mullerup. (4)
The harpoon was made of stag horn and is 8.5 inches long, oval in section, carved along on one margin with a series of seventeen curved barbs, the barbed portion being 6.25 inches long. (5)
Uncalibrated AMS date of circa 11740 given for this find, described as the "Leman and Ower Uniserial Antler Point". (6)
Calibrated radiocarbon date of 13.8 to 13.3 ky BP given for this find, i.e. circa 11850 to 11350. (7)
The average position of the Leman and Ower Bank find from the literature lies further to the north-west than the co-ordinates generated by the named location used in this record; however, the actual position whence the harpoon was fished up remains unknown. (8)
Additional source: Louwe Koojimans 1972: Mesolithic bone and other implements from the North Sea and the Netherlands, Berichtien van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkunde Bodemonderzoek 20-21
|