Cyclicity in Mesolithic built dwellings, landscape use and mobility

In the Netherlands, ideas about Mesolithic hunter-gatherer mobility and land use are hampered by a limited dataset. Scatters of lithics and charcoal-rich pits (‘pit hearths’) are the main characteristics of most sites on the sandy soils. In the Rhine-Meuse alluvial plain, a few well-preserved Late Mesolithic sites have been partially excavated, providing much information about, for example, the ecological context of hunter-gatherer activities and subsistence. However, the majority of Mesolithic sites are less informative, but occasionally other phenomena than lithics and pit hearths are encountered. At the site of Kampen-Reevediep (province of Overijssel, Netherlands), a structure consisting of seven postholes associated with a scatter of lithics and charred plant remains was uncovered. The structure is interpreted as the remains of a relatively ‘sturdy’ dwelling. After describing the main characteristics of the archaeological remains, consisting of soil features, a scatter of flint artefacts, and botanical remains, we compare this complex with other well-published Mesolithic dwellings in a wider geographical context. Next, we evaluate the significance of dwellings for the understanding of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer landscape use and mobility. In contrast to what is often echoed in the literature, we conclude that the presence of heavily built structures does not necessarily indicate a lower degree of mobility (or a higher degree of sedentariness). It is proposed that sturdy dwelling structures can be part of an annual seasonal mobility cycle, and that their significance can only be understood when the broader context of variability in landscape use is taken into consideration. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .