Hunting was one of the basic subsistence strategies in Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Europe. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunters developed many types of tools and methods that enabled them to effectively acquire the game. An important element of prehistoric hunting kit were products made of osseous raw materials. The main objective of our study is to present results of traceological analyses concerning Late Palaeolithic and early Holocene osseous artefacts usually associated with hunting found in Polish Lowland. Examined prehistoric material for most consist of so-called stray finds and represent various forms of harpoon heads, points and fish hooks. During the traceological, analysis of the included artefacts, a wide spectrum of technological traces was identified that allowed to reconstruct chaîne opératoire of their production process. Furthermore, the technological analysis of the harpoon heads showed differences in the techniques used, particularly in the way that barbs and bases were formed, which was a starting point for the discussion about diversification in terms of cultural and chronological affiliation of these artefacts. Moreover, traceological analysis enabled the identification on selected finds specific traces that were possibly not purely practical but served a symbolic purpose. Finally, the results of the studies made it possible to identify in analysed collections elements of transmission of different crafting traditions. For the project, we gathered also morphological, technological and functional data about similar finds from Europe and discussed them with our results.

The project is financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (project no. 2019/32/C/HS3/00615).