The Pleistocene reindeer of the North Sea - initial palaeontological data and archaeological remarks

The interdisciplinary North Sea Project aims at investigating the biotic history of the Pleistocene in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Humans were part of these biotopes too as Palaeolithic flint artefacts prove. Based on a large fossil record and radiocarbon dating, it becomes clear that reindeer was part of the Late Pleistocene Mammoth-fauna.Upper Palaeolithic hunters often are described as reindeer-hunters. Despite a large fossil reindeer record and collection of Palaeolithic flint artefacts, no evidence was found for co-existence of humans and reindeer or for reindeer-hunting. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.