The Kainsbakke bears and changing patterns in the human-bear relationship through the Danish Mesolithic and Neolithic

With a point of departure in the major discovery of ritually deposited bear bones at the Pitted Ware culture site of Kainsbakke on Djursland, Denmark, this paper sets out to investigate the human-bear relationship in Denmark during the Mesolithic and Neolithic (c. 9500–2400 cal BC). Studies of the abundance of bear bones in the archaeological record demonstrate a decreasing tendency throughout the entire Mesolithic and earlier parts of the Neolithic, followed by a rise in the early 3rd millennium BC (i.e. the Pitted Ware culture). Additional investigations of the treatment of the bones, the selection of specific bone elements and the contexts in which they were found indicate changing patterns in the human-bear relationship. These are interpreted as being due to a combination of environmental change and shifting contacts and interactions with societies in especially the eastern Baltic region.