The excavation of the Magdalenian site of Eyserheide was carried out in April 1990, July to September 1990, and in April 1991 by students of the then Institute of Prehistory of Leiden University, in cooperation with Mr Blezer, members of the Archeologische Werkgemeenschap Nederland, amateur archaeologists, and volunteers. During the excavation, two small concentrations of fl int artefacts were completely excavated and a zone with more dispersed finds was excavated to a large extent. The total area excavated in Eyserheide was 183 m2. This investigation constituted the third excavation of a settlement from the Magdalenian in the Netherlands. Comparable excavations were earlier carried out in Sweikhuizen-Groene Paal (Arts and Deeben 1983, 1987b) and in Mesch (Rensink 1991).

At the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s a few short publications appeared on the site near Eyserheide (Brounen 1987; Rensink 1992a, 1992b; Rensink et al. 1991). A comprehensive description of the fi nd material and the results of the excavations however never materialised. The aim of this monograph is to present as completely as possible the results of the investigation in Eyserheide.

Table of Content 1 Introduction 2 Topography, soil and geology 3 Research methods 4 The finds 5 Lithic functional analysis (Katsuhiro Sano) 6 Spatial distribution of finds 7 Regional context: Magdalenian sites in the Meuse-Rhine loess area 8 Northwest European context 9 General conclusion