high (J. G.D. Clark 1975, 223–224). Other nets are known, as well, such as those from Sventoji 2B in lithuania (Rimantiené 1992, fig. 4) and Friesack in Germany (Gramsch 1987, pl. 25–26). Basket fish traps made of wickerwork are also known, for example, from Ageröd V in Sweden (Larsson 1983a, 62–69) and several sites in Denmark (Becker 1941). Larger fish traps made of fixed stakes are known from Tybrind Vig and Lystrup in Denmark (S. H. Andersen 1987a, fig. 155, and 1996, figs. 3 and 4) and Sventoji 1A in Lithuania (Rimantiené 1992, fig. 5). In addition, organic items for use in transport are known; these include canoes, one from Tybrind Vig in Denmark measuring 9.5 meters in length (S. H. Andersen 1987a, 275–276), and a ski fragment from Sarnate in latvia (Zvelebil 1979, 214). Such items have not survived from the Upper Paleolithic.

Among the organics are various items with artistic designs and motifs. Visibility of art thus covaries with the degree of organic preservation. Denmark probably has provided more artwork than any other country (J. G.D. Clark 1975; S.H. Andersen 1980). The site of Tybrind Vig must again be mentioned, as its decorated paddle blades are perhaps the finest Mesolithic designs known from Europe (S. H. Andersen 1987a and 1987b, fig. 165). Artistic work did, therefore, clearly continue in the Mesolithic, although not on cave walls—except in eastern spain, where parietal art persisted into the postglacial period (e.g., Sieveking 1979, 193–195).

Ecological Anthropology

In European hunter-gatherer studies there is little effective contact between archaeologists and anthropologists. As a result concepts derived from ecological anthropology have tended to reach Europe via the works of North American scholars. Early influential examples include Meiklejohn (1978) and Price (1981). Such work made use of concepts such as the mating network of about 500 people (Wobst 1976). Price (1981) noted that the areas occupied by stylistically defined archaeological entities are frequently 100 to 200 kilometers in diameter, thus measuring about 8,000 to 31,000 square kilometers. If these represent mating networks of 500 people, they imply population densities of 0.064 to 0.016 people per square kilometer (Price 1981, table 4). This is within the expected range and therefore supports the identification of these stylistic units as closed mating networks. Late-glacial stylistic units covered far larger areas; J.G.D. Clark (1975, 72–73) mentioned a range of 70,000 to 120,000 square kilometers. An area of 100,000 square kilometers would, if occupied by 500 people, imply a population density of 0.005 people per square kilometer—similar to that of some inland groups of caribou hunters in North America.

These concepts, derived from ecological anthropology and listed above, were rapidly adopted in Britain (Jacobi 1979), but it is perhaps accurate to say that they have made less impact in mainland Europe. Although these ideas are clearly very useful, some scholars have argued that more flexibility needs to be employed when applying them to coastal regions (Rowley-Conwy 1986). Price (1981, 227) stated that at normal population densities, Denmark might have contained three mating networks. Coastal productivity very much exceeded that of inland regions, however, and hunter-gatherer populations in favorable regions would have been much larger (Rowley-Conwy 1983; Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy 1986). Some of the smallest stylistic entities in the European Mesolithic are in Denmark—those identified by Vang Petersen (1984, fig. 15). These are only some 50 kilometers across and are, furthermore, not circular because they are on the coast, so they are far smaller than others in the continental interior. If these are interpreted as semicircular mating networks, population density would have been in the order of 0.5 people per square kilometer. Territorial behavior was likely. In any event, favorable coastal regions were likely to have seen higher population densities and group sizes, arguably in conjunction with more complex social organizations (Renouf 1991; Rowley-Conwy 1983; Rowley-Conwy and Zvelebil 1989). This may be why agriculture was relatively slow to penetrate some of these coastal regions (Zvelebil and Rowley-Conwy 1986).

Anthropological concepts have been important in other areas, such as technology. Robin