The Late Glacial, that is the period from the first pronounced warming after the Last Glacial Maximum to the beginning of the Holocene (c. 16,000–11,700 cal bp), is traditionally viewed as a time when northern Europe was being recolonized and Late Palaeolithic cultures diversified. These cultures are characterized by particular artefact types, or the co-occurrence or specific relative frequencies of these. In north-eastern Europe, numerous cultures have been proposed on the basis of supposedly different tanged points. This practice of naming new cultural units based on these perceived differences has been repeatedly critiqued, but robust alternatives have rarely been offered. Here, we review the taxonomic landscape of Late Palaeolithic large tanged point cultures in eastern Europe as currently envisaged, which leads us to be cautious about the epistemological validity of many of the constituent groups. This, in turn, motivates us to investigate the key artefact class, the large tanged point, using geometric morphometric methods. Using these methods, we show that distinct groups are difficult to recognize, with major implications for our understanding of patterns and processes of culture change in this period in north-eastern Europe and perhaps elsewhere.

中文翻译：

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所有这些神奇的文化？东欧旧石器时代晚期唐点文化的研究历史和区域化

晚冰期，即从末次冰期最大值后第一次明显变暖到全新世开始的时期（约 16,000–11,700 calbp)，传统上被视为北欧被重新殖民化和旧石器时代晚期文化多样化的时期。这些文化的特点是特定的人工制品类型，或者这些人工制品的共现或特定的相对频率。在欧洲东北部，许多文化都基于所谓不同的切点提出。这种基于这些感知差异来命名新文化单位的做法已被反复批评，但很少提供强有力的替代方案。在这里，我们回顾了目前设想的东欧旧石器时代晚期大唐点文化的分类景观，这使我们对许多组成群体的认识论有效性持谨慎态度。这反过来又促使我们研究关键的人工制品类，大切点，使用几何形态测量方法。使用这些方法，我们表明难以识别不同的群体，这对我们理解这一时期欧洲东北部和其他地方的文化变化模式和过程具有重要意义。