UISPP Commission for The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia – annual conference and meeting 2025

Welcome to the annual conference and meeting of the UISPP Commission for The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo! 

The conference will focus especially on the exploitation of animal and lithic resources by different techniques and technologies in the Final Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic. The discussions will be introduced by keynote lectures, including a lecture on reindeer and moose behavior.

We call for papers on these topics as well as new research and recent discoveries. We welcome 15 minutes presentations.

Abstract submission deadline closed. Deadline for registration is 16 June 2025.

Program

The first two days will be devoted to oral presentations and studying Mesolithic lithic collections. Detailed program to be announced.

The last day, we would like to propose an excursion to famous rock carving sites in the vicinity of Oslo, guided by Professor Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo.

24–25 June: Conference Program

Venue: Professorboligen (Stallen), Karl Johans gate 47

Monday 23 June

• 18:00: Dinner

Tuesday 24 June – Conference

• 09:00: Coffee
• 09:30: Welcome and introduction, Inger M. Berg-Hansen (Museum of Cultural History/MCH, University of Oslo/UiO)

Session 1 – Living by the water – fishing and hunting

• 09:45: Axel Mjærum (MCH, UiO): Keynote lecture: Masters of the Waters: Mesolithic Fishing Techniques and Aquatic Resource Management in southeastern Norway
• 10:40: Hege Damlien (MCH, UiO): The Skoklefall site revisited- resource exploitation and seasonality in costal Late Mesolithic, Southeast Norway 
• 11:00: Coffee
• 11:30: Tor Arne Waraas and Morten Ramstad (University Museum of Bergen, Norway): Margins of the Mesolithic: New Evidence of Early Postglacial Outer-Coastal Settlement at Hjartøyna, Western Norway
• 11:50: Jorge Calvo-Gómez (MCH, UiO): Use-wear analyses of Late Mesolithic stone-knapped tools in the Oslo fjord region: a functional approach on the coastal technological system
• 12:10: Knut Andreas Bergsvik (University of Bergen, Norway): Mesolithic portable animal figures in coastal western Norway
• 12:30: Giada Pirrone (CNRS, France): The NAUTICC (Norms and Uses of Techniques in Prehistoric Coastal Communities) database: a tool for prehistoric maritime techniques
• 13:00: Lunch

Session 2 – Terrestrial large game hunting

• 14:00: Manuela Panzacchi and Jørgen Rosvold (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research/NINA): Keynote lecture: Reindeer and moose – from the ice age till today, and beyond
• 14:50: Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Faculty of Archaeology, Poland): Paleoarchives as a source of knowledge about ancient ecosystems: Environmental changes and the behavior of hunter-gatherer communities? 
• 15:10: Coffee
• 15:30: Jostein Bergstøl (MCH, UiO): Keynote lecture: Hunting and trapping of elk and reindeer in Norwegian prehistory
• 16:20: Tomas Rimkus (Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology, Klaipėda University, Lithuania): New insights on the Final Palaeolithc–Early Mesolithic transition in the eastern Baltic
• 16:40: Moiken Hinrichs (State Archaeology Department of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany): Building bridges above the past – German Railways and Ahrensburgian foragers
• 16:55: Daniel Richter, Moiken Hinrichs, Christoph Unglaub, Mara-Julia Weber, Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser (Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie – SO Schleswig – LEIZA-ZBSA, Germany): Poster: The tunnel valley of Ahrensburg. Status and plans for new activities at Late Palaeolithic sites.
• 17:00: End of conference day
• 17:15: Commission meeting (online)
• 19:00: Dinner

Wednesday 25 June – Conference

09:15: Coffee

Session 3 – Exploiting lithic resources

• 09:30: Astrid Nyland (Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger, Norway): Keynote lecture: Lithic raw material procurement in Mesolithic Norway - Regional variation and social significance
• 10:20: Will Mills (University of Aberdeen, UK): Connecting the dots. Late Glacial Eastern Scotland, old collections, raw materials and new methods
• 10:40: Trond Eilev Linge (University Museum of Bergen, Norway): The bluish greenstone – a third major source for ground stone adzes in western Norway?
• 11:00: Coffee
• 11:30: Ragi-Martin Moon (University of Tartu, Estonia): Lithic technology of the Western-Estonian islands
• 11:50: Michał Adamczyk (University of Szczecin, Chair of Archaeology; The National Museum in Szczecin, Department of Archaeology, Poland): The Lithic Technologies of the Late Palaeolithic in West Pomerania (NW Poland)

Session 4 – New research and recent discoveries

• 12:10: Per Persson (MCH, UiO): Non human aDNA from Mesolithic "chewing-gums"
• 12:30: Éva David (CNRS, UMR 7194 HNHP, France): Technologies originating or rooted in the Palaeolithic in Late Azilian harpoon heads?
• 12:50: Brian Wygal (Adelphi University, US): From Eurasia to America: Early Evidence for Mammoth Ivory Tool Production in Alaska
• 13:10: Lunch   
• 14:10: Jakub Mugaj (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland): Refittings structure of Hamburgian culture lithic inventories and Late Paleolithic seasonal mobility
• 14:30: Sonja B. Grimm (CRC 1266 "Scales of Transformation", Germany): Connecting the red dots – or how to find networks in the Late Palaeolithic between the Baltic and the North Sea
• 14:50: Concluding remarks: Organizers Inger M. Berg-Hansen and Hege Damlien
• 15:00: Coffee
• 15:30–18:00: Lithic session – Venue: St. Olavs gate 29 (5 min walk from conference room)
• 19:00: Dinner

26 June: Excursion to archaeological sites

Fee: 70 Euro including lunch, please register to attend.

• 09:00: Departure from the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo City Center
• 09:45–10:30: Rock carvings at Åskollen and Skogerveien in Drammen
• (11:00: Ferry from Svelvik) 
• 11:30–12:30: Visit to ongoing excavation of Mesolithic sites in the Oslofjord area (Verpen, Hurum)
• 13:00–14:00: Lunch at Skipperstuen in Drøbak
• 14:15–15:15: Visit to excavated Mesolithic sites in the Oslofjord area (Stubberud, Frogn)
• 16:15–16:50: Ekeberg – Rock carvings and sea level changes, view of Oslo and the Oslofjord
• 17:30: Return to the Museum of Cultural History, Oslo City Center

Keynote speakers

• Manuela Panzacchi, Senior Researcher, biology, and Jørgen Rosvold, Research Director, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA): Reindeer and moose – from the ice age till today, and beyond

• Jostein Bergstøl, Ass. Professor, archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo: Hunting and trapping of elk and reindeer in Norwegian prehistory

• Axel Mjærum, Ass. Professor, archaeology, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo: Masters of the Waters: Mesolithic Fishing Techniques and Aquatic Resource Management in southeastern Norway

• Astrid Nyland, Ass. Professor, archaeology, Archaeological Museum, University of Stavanger: Lithic raw material procurement in Mesolithic Norway - Regional variation and social significance

Inquiries regarding the conference

For any questions concerning the event, please reach out to:

• Find the venue on Google maps