Helene Nordtorp Dalager - New PhD Student at the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies

My name is Helena. I hold an MA in Archaeology from Aarhus University and have just returned after one year as a field archaeologist at Vendsyssel Historiske Museum. Throughout my studies, my work has focused on early human interactions with coastal environments and the sea, and my PhD project is no exception. 

My research will explore whether and how some of the first settlers of Southern Scandinavia during the Final Palaeolithic (~14,000-12,700 cal BP) made use of coastal environments and the resources they provided. Northern Jutland offers a unique opportunity to investigate this question, as palaeo-coastlines are preserved alongside coastal-associated material, most notably the bones of large whales. 

The numerous whale strandings that have occurred along Danish coasts in recent years have attracted considerable public attention and raise an intriguing question: could similar events have drawn Final Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers to the coast as well?

By combining cross-cultural ethnography on coastal scavenging with palaeogeographical reconstructions of ancient shorelines, archaeological site-based analyses and state-of-the-art proteomic methods on lithic materials, my research seeks to provide new and nuanced insights into the lives and lifeways of Final Palaeolithic foragers and, ultimately, into what drew these pioneering people to the very edge of their world.

The Final Palaeolithic was a time of great climatic instability and highly fluctuating coastlines. Understanding how past people interacted with coastal environments may offer valuable perspectives on how we can approach rising sea levels and environmental change today. 

Contact: 
Helene Nordtorp Dalager
School of Culture and Society - Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies
Moesgård Allé 20, 4215 - 032
8270 Højbjerg
h.dalager@cas.au.dk