In the late spring some 13,000 years ago, the Laacher See volcano in present-day western Germany erupted. The area in the immediate vicinity of the volcano was completely destroyed, covering and preserving, Pompeii-like, a prehistoric landscape complete with traces of plant, animal and human activity. But what was the impact of this cataclysm on the Final Paleolithic hunter-gatherer communities that occupied nothern Europe at that time? This book presents a new take on the cultural evolution of these forager groups, seen in light of the Laacher See eruption. Rooted in a framework of...

The Lateglacial and Postglacial pioneer colonisation of northern Europe is a recurrent and ever-popular topic in archaeology. This volume presents a modern review of the topic and provides a wealth of new information on sites, approaches, dates and models. The chapters range geographically from Poland and Germany in the south and west to Finland and western Russia in the north and east, thus framing virtually the entire North European Plain and its northern extension. The volume will serve as a major resource for the study of the human pioneer colonization of the North.