The majority of scholars have discussed the European Mesolithic under the following cultural traditions:
1. Azilian Culture:
The culture which owes its origin to a site, Masd’ Azil in France is known as Azilian culture. It has yielded some microliths in between the layers of magdelanian and neolithic cultures. Similar tools have also been found from other parts of France, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and England.
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The Cultural material of Azilian culture shows close relationship with Magdelenian culture of upper Paleolithic as well as an increasing microlithization. Beside a number of backed blades, points, triangles and lunates, the famous Azilian points and some small rectangular end-scrapers substantiate
Among the Azilian tools the presence of a variety of painted and engraved pebbles is still enigmatic because there is still lot of controversy over it’s probable uses.
2. Tardenoisean Culture:
Tardenoisean is the most widely distributed microlithic tradition in west Europe and is found from Alps to England and Pyrenese to Belgium. It is believed to be of the same age as Azilian.
The distribution of Azilian and Tradenoisean is so overlapping that sometime they are referred to as Azilo-Tradenoisean culture. It is characterised by the presence of geometric microliths predominated by trapezes while other tool types include micro-burins and baked blades.
3. Maglamosean Culture:
Denmark and the coast of Baltic Sea are the centres of Maglamosean culture. In Danish language the term Maglamosean stands for large marshy lands. Since remains of this culture have been mainly found in the marshy regions, hence the name.
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Most of the archaeological remains of this culture have been found from Denmark and the southern area of Sweden although, some sites of Poland, Finland, north Germany, Belgium, southern France and south-east England have also yielded tools of this tradition.
Maglamosean tools were largely made on flint, wood, bone and horns. Of these tools, burins and the pointed tools were made on core while scrapers and points were made on flakes. Cleavers meant for axes were sometime made on large flakes but the usual style was core.
A number of microliths blunted from one side were made on flint. The marshy land has also yielded even wooden implements many of which were pointed and hardened by fire. A boat made on hallowed log of wood has also been found from Scotland. Among the tools made on bone and antler are the working part of small axes and their shafts, knives, fish hooks, throwing spear, etc.
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Maglomesean men used to live near rivers and lakes and were largely dependent upon fishing and hunting of birds domestication of animals have been found from any of the Maglamosean sites.
4. Kitchen Midden Culture:
The culture which flourished side by side with the Mglamosean culture around the Baltic and North Sea coast of Europe has been identified as Kitchen midden culture, etymologically speaking kitchen in English means a place for cooking while in Scandinavian language midden stands for a pile of garbage.
In this case this culture is characterised by the huge shell heaps. It seems that these people used to reside at one placed throughout the year. Among these heaps of garbage of skeletal remains of fishes and sea shells have been found a number of hearths, graves and tools. Their tools are made of flint, bone, horns and wood. Trapezes, lunates and other microlithic types are found in abundance.
5. Austuriun Culture:
Austurian Culture is the later addition to the Mesolithic cultural types. This is largely known from the Cantebrian coast of Spain and North Portugal. It’s cultural remains have been found from both caves as well as from open coast lands buried in huge deposits of sea shells.
The Austrian tools include big to medium sized pebble tools which is unlike Mesolithic. Besides these some rough axes and scrapers, simple picks and choppers are the other main tools of this culture.
6. Sauveterranean Culture:
Sauveterranean culture owes it’s origin to a site called Saveterre Lallemance which shows the emergence of a full fledged Mesolithic culture. It is spread up to Belgium, Holland, England and to some German sites.
The characteristic tools of this culture are notched blades, triangular points, lunates, trapezes, borers and end scrapers. On the basis of its typo-technological features, some scholars tend to conclude that this culture is the late upper Paleolithic derivative.
7. Larnian Culture:
Larnian culture is named after the well known site of Larne in north Ireland. This is considered as a localised tradition of Upper Paleolithic type. Its main tools are blades, scrapers, points and borers.
8. Champignean Culture:
Champignean culture was first reported form Belgium. This is characterised by the practice of pit dwellings which have yielded most of the archaeological evidences of this culture. The chief tools of this culture consist of medium to large-sized flaked axes, picks and small transverse arrow heads along with microlithic awl, scrapers and blades.
9. Ertboll Culture:
Ertboll is identified in Denmark and northern Germany and thus it is considered as a late and mature Mesolithic culture of north Europe. Among the important tools of this culture are axes, adzes, microlithic trapezes, burins and end scrapers. Adzes made on antlers, bone points and pierced antlers constitute the non-lithic industry of this culture.
A striking feature of this culture is a bone comb and some hand made ill fired crude pottery. It may be indicative of some contact with a nascent Neolithic community in the neighborhood.