Gute Nahrung – reiche Ernte: Eine Siedlung des Mittelund Jungneolithikums bei Gammelsdorf (original) (raw)
Das Jungneolithikum in Schleswig-Holstein
Scales of Transformation in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies, 2018
This book offers a comprehensive study of the Younger Neolithic period ([YN], c. 2850 – 2250 BC) of Schleswig-Holstein (SH). Apart from presenting all currently known artefacts and contexts of that period in detail, a particular focus was placed on the examination of YN battle axes. They appear to be the most common artefact that is preserved from the YN, and they are very well suited for investigating social phenomena. These artefacts furthermore changed diachronically. While battle axes of the early stage are shaped more or less equally elaborately, late specimens exhibit significant morphological variation and difference, as some specimens were shaped very elaborately whereas others were quite simple. The same difference has been observed for the subsequently used flint daggers. It is suggested that this difference reflects the emergence of a more stratified society. Many battle axes appear to have been deposited as broken pieces. As the ratio of cutting edges to butt ends is unequal (2:1) both in SH and in a wider region and as many pieces have “decorations” (Applikationen, pars pro toto shaft holes), battle axes are regarded as intentionally deposited. Accordingly, a large proportion of single finds are regarded as intentional depositions. Another focus was set on examining the transition to the YN. It is argued that many aspects that are said to characterize the YN are rooted in the preceding Middle Neolithic. A novelty is that social role becomes marked in funerary contexts. Thus, the transformation to the YN marks a certain point where already initiated societal changes become visible for first time. The examination of certain attributes revealed furthermore that there are differences between western and eastern SH which are not determined by chronological changes only. Rather, general differences appear between western and eastern regions, an in a wider geographical as well as temporal frame, which might be linked to different social orientations – either collectively or individually acting groups.
Siedlungsarchäologie des Endneolithikums und der frühen Bronzezeit/ Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Settlement Archaeology, 2019
A Large Únetice Culture building and an associated deposit from Dermsdorf, Sömmerda district – a preliminary report The eastern Thuringian Basin has a high density of Early Bronze Age settlement remains. An unusual Únětice Culturesettlement was discovered in 2o11 at Dermsdorf, a mere 3.6 km from the large barrow at Leubingen. The site yielded a solitary, large, three-aisled building measuring 44 m in length and 11 m in width. The closest Early Bronze Age features were found some 15o m away. Apart from its size of 488 m2, which is highly unusual in an Únětice Culture context, an associated deposit of copper and bronze items placed in a vessel is also worth mentioning. A total of 98 axes and axe blanks as well as two halberd blanks had been deposited in a small pit directly in front of the north-eastern gable end of the building. The deposition in an easily identified location, which was probably emphasised by the presumed entrance nearby, and the composition of the implements, which were deposited in their function as weapons, suggest that this was a votive offering. Apart from the absence of hafts, the blanks at least were not ready for use, which suggests that this was probably an intentional case of pars pro toto selection representing the bearers of the weapons, a jointly operating military unit. The Dermsdorf feature is given further importance by its location near the Leubingen barrow with its diameter of more than 48 m and other potential large barrows within a micro-landscape, which was very densely settled in the Early Bronze Age. This micro-region was characterised by some very high-quality soils, a mild climate, proximity to salt and copper deposits and an extremely favourable location on various trans-European north-east to south-west and north to south communication routes. The features from Dermsdorf and Leubingen, together with other unusual discoveries from the area, as well as its generally quite dense settlement pattern, warrant the identification of a political and administrative, and probably also ritual, centre of power for an hierarchically structured society which included at least local groups if not even coalitions of local groups. The society was led by certain singular individuals like the person who was buried in the Leubingen barrow. The territory that was controlled from here probably encompassed at least the eastern Thuringian Basin.
M. Zeiler, J. Garner, R. Golze, M. Müller-Delvart, B. Zickgraf, T. Riese (2016): Hochmittelalterliche Buntmetallverhüttung im Zitzenbachtal in Kreuztal-Ferndorf. Archäologie in Westfalen-Lippe 2015, 139-143. Several smelting sites of non-ferrous metal ores were examined in 2015 in the Zitzenbach Valley near Kreuztal-Ferndorf in the Siegerland region. Following a geophysical survey, a 13th century smelting site was excavated and two slag dumps examined. Whilst no furnaces were found, it is hoped that it will be possible to reconstruct the medieval smelting process thanks to an analysis of the entire slag assemblage, a large part of which will be archaeometallurgically examined.
With the beginning of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre 1266 ”Scales of Transformation - Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies”, the subproject ”Late Mesolithic and Neolithic Transformations on the Northern and Central European Plain” also focused on the question of the transition from Middle Neolithic Funnel Beaker to Young Neolithic Single Grave societies. Due to the lack of settlement findings, first archaeological investigations were realised in 2016, including a geophysical and archaeological prospection in the area of the site Oldenburg LA 232 in East Holstein. This Neolithic settlement site is located on an elevation in the wetland of the western Oldenburger Graben, a former fjord and lagoon landscape, that includes the former shore zone. The investigations made it possible to detect a Funnel Beaker settlement (approx. 3340–3020 cal BC) on the elevation in the form of building structures, storage pits and a work site for flint tool production. The second settlement phase (approx. 2930–2630 cal BC) is recognized as a cultural layer with arrow shafts, construction timber, wooden pre-forms and piles in the area of the Neolithic riparian zone and belongs to the transitional phase Middle Neolithic V/Late Neolithic 1 (Store-Valby/Early Single Grave societies). In this phase of transformation, and using the newly excavated site as a starting point, continuity and discontinuity is shown at the regional level. In particular, the continuity of domestic locations is of decisive importance for the understanding of the transformation process from the Middle to the Young Neolithic in the North German Plain.