''Federmesser'' group is an archaeological umbrella term including the late

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

cultures of the

Northern European Plain The North European Plain ( – North German Plain; ; – Central European Plain; and ; French: ''Plaine d'Europe du Nord'') is a geomorphological region in Europe that covers all or parts of Belgium, the Netherlands (i.e. the Low Countries), ...

, dating to between 14,000 and 12,800 years ago (the late

Magdalenian Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; ) are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years before present. It is named after the type site of Abri de la Madeleine, a ro ...

). It is closely related to the Tjongerian culture, as both have been suggested.J.-G. Rozoy, trans. L.G. Strauss, "The (Re-)Population of Northern France between 13,000 and 8000 BP", ''Quaternary International'', Vol. 49j/50 (1998), 69–86, 1998. It includes the ''Tjongerian'' sites at Lochtenrek in the Frisian part of the Netherland, spanning the area of Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France, northern Germany, southern

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and Poland ('' Tarnowian'' and ''Witowian'' cultures). It is also closely related to the Creswellian culture to the west and the

Azilian The Azilian is a Mesolithic archaeological industry, industry of the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France. It dates approximately 10,000–12,500 years ago. Diagnostic Cultural artifact, artifacts from the culture includ ...

to the south. The name is derived from the characteristic small backed flint blades, in German termed ''Federmesser'' ("quill knife"). It is succeeded by the

Ahrensburg culture The Ahrensburg culture or Ahrensburgian (c. 12,900 to 11,700 BP) was a late Upper Paleolithic nomadic hunter culture (or technocomplex) in north-central Europe during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaci ...

after 12,800 BP.

References

Magdalenian Mesolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures of Europe Paleolithic cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Belgium Archaeological cultures in Germany Archaeological cultures in the Netherlands {{europe-archaeology-stub

See also

References