Lecture on current research on the last reindeer and reindeer hunters in northern Germany
At the end of the Ice Age, the fauna underwent a major change as a result of global warming: animals such as the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros and cave lion, which were adapted to an open landscape and cold climate, became extinct. On the other hand, animal species such as red deer, roe deer and elk colonized our region. The changing landscape caused a colorful "coming and going" and the Stone Age hunter groups had to adapt to very different prey animals. In this context, the fate of the last reindeer hunters in northern Europe is also of great interest from an archaeological perspective: they survived with their main prey animal in northern Europe until the end of the Ice Age, after which their trail was lost. Did they follow the reindeer herds to Scandinavia, or did they adopt the culture of post-glacial immigrants of the Middle Stone Age who came from the south due to the improved food and survival possibilities? Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Robert Sommer travels back to the Ice Age with the guests of the lecture, picks up the trail and draws a line to the latest research on reindeer and reindeer hunters.
Current age dating of reindeer antler remains and spearheads from northern Germany and Poland, which also come from the Natural History Collection of the Müritzeum in Waren (Müritz), provide new and very interesting information on this human-environment relationship.
The lecture is part of the program accompanying the current special exhibition "Eugen Geinitz - Exploring the Ice Age Landscape in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern".
Anyone interested is cordially invited to immerse themselves in the ice age research of the past and present on this day.
The lecture is free of charge, a donation is requested.
