Swiderian culture
| Geographical range | Europe |
|---|---|
| Period | Mesolithic Europe |
| Dates | c. 11,000 – c. 8,200 BC |
| Type site | Świdry Wielkie |
| Major sites | Otwock |
| Preceded by | Ahrensburg culture |
| Followed by | Maglemosian culture, Kunda culture, Komornica culture |
| The Paleolithic |
|---|
| ↑ Pliocene (before Homo) |
| ↓ Mesolithic |
Map of Poland showing the location of Świdry Wielkie, the typesite of the Swiderian culture.
The Swiderian culture is an Upper Palaeolithic/Mesolithic cultural complex, centred on the area of modern Poland. The type-site is Świdry Wielkie, in Otwock near the Swider River, a tributary to the Vistula River, in Masovia. The Swiderian is recognized as a distinctive culture that developed on the sand dunes left behind by the retreating glaciers. Rimantienė (1996) considered the relationship between Swiderian and Solutrean "outstanding, though also indirect", in contrast with the Bromme-Ahrensburg complex (Lyngby culture), for which she introduced the term "Baltic Magdalenian" for generalizing all other North European Late Paleolithic culture groups that have a common origin in Aurignacian.