Band ceramic settlement Schwiegershausen
The Bandkeramische Siedlung Schwiegershausen is a Neolithic settlement of the Bandkeramische culture near Schwiegershausen , a district of Osterode am Harz in Lower Saxony . The around 5200 BC The existing settlement belonged to the first rural culture in Central Europe . In the 1990s, a long house in the settlement was archaeologically examined.
Reference
The site is located on a hilltop in a slightly south-facing slope near a small watercourse. The conservation conditions for the remains of the settlement were favorable, as there has been little soil erosion in the area since the Neolithic Age. While there is usually a loss of about 60 cm of soil, here in favorable places there was only 20 cm of soil removal. Nevertheless, the Neolithic running horizon was no longer preserved. The site was protected by layers of earth in the form of medieval vaulters with a height of up to 60 cm. In the 20th century, the find area served as pastureland for decades and was spared mechanized farming. In 1980 the area was turned into fields.
Research history
References to the settlement emerged in 1980 after two local researchers from Schwiegershausen found prehistoric ceramic shards, stone utensils and large amounts of clay on a parcel of land . The material is clay plaster that has turned reddish in color when a building burned due to the heat. Slab clay is one of the characteristic finds at sites of prehistoric buildings. During a re-excavation at the site of discovery on an area of one square meter, the local history researchers found an undisturbed layer of clay and charcoal. In addition, there were other stone tools and ceramic parts.
In 1981, the honorary officer for the archaeological preservation of monuments in the Osterode district carried out another small excavation. A 20 cm thick layer of clay and discoloration of the soil were found. Building structures could not be recognized. In the following years ceramics, stone tools and fragments of millstones were found on a two hectare area. Archaeologists therefore did not assume a single building, but a settlement.
During an inspection in 1993, it was found that the remains of the soil in the field were increasingly being destroyed by plowing. Stone tools, ceramics and clay had already come to the surface as a result of the tillage. Because of the impending loss of substance, the Institute for Monument Preservation, the forerunner of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation, undertook a rescue excavation in 1993 on an area of 150 m², which produced 80 findings . Another excavation took place in 1994 to uncover the ground plan areas that had not yet been recorded. 181 findings were secured. Botanical studies showed that the inhabitants of the settlement cultivated einkorn , emmer , barley , flax and legumes , which represents the spectrum of the typical cultivated plants of the linear ceramicists. Bones found in pigs and cattle provided further information on nutrition.
In 2014, an information board about the excavations was set up in Schwiegershausen.
House floor plan
During the excavation in 1993, two houses that were once parallel were cut. They had the north-west-south-east orientation typical for ceramic houses. One building was completely exposed during the excavations in 1993 and 1994. It was 29 × 7.5 meters in size and, with an area of 220 m², was one of the large ceramic buildings. The post pits of around 130 posts were found in the building and stood in seven rows. The builders mostly used round logs as posts. The post pits were up to 1.8 meters below the present surface. The building had two entrances, which were in a gable wall and in a longitudinal wall. The walls consisted of split planks with a clay plaster.
Usage areas inside the house could not be identified despite the good preservation conditions. There was a transverse wall in the area of the entrance on the long wall to divide the room. There were no indications of the location of the fireplace or the stabling of cattle. Due to the large amounts of clay and poor layers of waste in the garbage pits accompanying the house , the archaeologists assume that the building did not last long and burned down after a short time. The posts were then probably pulled out for reuse and the post pits filled with fire rubble.
literature
- Stefan Flindt, Michael Geschwinde : Schwiegershausen, district of Osterode a. H .: A rare floor plan of the flat ceramic culture on the western edge of the Harz. in Archeology in Germany , 1994
- Michael Geschwinde, Stefan Flindt: A house from the Stone Age. Archaeological discoveries in the footsteps of early arable farmers in southern Lower Saxony (= guide to the prehistory and early history of Lower Saxony. 19 = archaeological writings of the district of Osterode am Harz. 1). Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, ISBN 3-89598-398-5 .
- Anja Kaltofen: In the end there was fire. The linear ceramic settlement near Schwiegershausen. in Archeology in Lower Saxony , 1998, pp. 21–24
- Anja Kaltofen: The linear ceramic settlement of Schwiegershausen FStNr. 39, district of Osterode am Harz. (= New excavations and research in Lower Saxony, Volume 24), 2003
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information board should refer to the excavation in Schwiegershausen in Harzkurier from May 27, 2014
Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ 27.2 " N , 10 ° 12 ′ 34.2" E