Arrowhead lateralization:
Recent Data from the Mosel Region
in the Context of the North-West Linear Pottery Culture
Anne HAUZEUR, Hartwig LÖHR
DownloadAbstract
Several recent excavations of sites attributed to the Linear Pottery Culture (LPC) in the middle Mosel region have considerably increased the number of assemblages available for study. Typological and morphological analyses of arrowheads have been conducted with special attention to their significant role in cultural identities. In this context, the Mosel Valley is located in a geographic zone that links economic and cultural traditions.
The assemblages analyzed are clearly dominated by symmetric arrowheads over asymmetric ones; they perfectly follow a decreasing gradient of symmetric arrowheads, observable on the margins of the Danube towards the Rhine-Meuse territories. The tendency observed for asymmetric arrowheads is variable according to the sites, with a majority of left lateralized pieces. Considering these two associated characteristics, the Mosel assemblages are closer to southern LPC groups than they are to those of the North-West LPC.
From a wider geological and chronological perspective, there is no simple or unique explanation for the lateralization of arrowheads. New data on the La Hoguette and Limburg Pottery, as well as the LPC in the Mosel region, illustrate the interpenetration of economic and ideological contacts into a traditional Mesolithic and Neolithic base.