Burial of Bad Dürrenberg

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The burial of Bad Dürrenberg is the second oldest known burial in Saxony-Anhalt . It is best known for its unusual additions and medical anomalies. According to uncalibrated C-14 data , burial is in the first half of the 6th millennium BC. And is therefore a Mesolithic grave in relative chronological terms . It was found in 1934 during sewer work in the spa gardens of Bad Dürrenberg in the Saale district .

Archaeological evidence

The woman (also known as a shaman ) was buried in an upright position (seat burial), which is not atypical for the hunters and gatherers of the era. The woman was holding an infant between her thighs. Seated burials are a phenomenon that can be found regionally from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age and beyond.

The almost rectangular grave pit about 90 cm and 55 cm deep was about 30 cm high filled with red chalk. The skeletal remains and the additions were embedded in it. Only the top half of the woman's skull protruded. The powdered mineral can be proven in many ways in a cultic context. A piece of red chalk weighing 30 g with a rubbed surface was found in the pit. A flat, triangular piece of amphibolitical slate and an oval-round slate rubble had been used to rub the paint. Two matching skull fragments with deer antlers and fragments of three lower jaw halves could have been worn on the head or attached to clothing.

More than 100 skeletal remains of beavers , deer , cranes , roe deer , wild boar , primal or bison as well as fragments of shell from at least three pond turtles and around 120 shell fragments of river, painter's and river pearl clams come from food or had a ritual function.

In a container made from the long bone of a crane, there were 29 small pieces of worked flint, so-called microliths, typical of the Mesolithic . These are inserts in tools made of wood, bones or antlers (so-called composite devices). In addition to other flints and chips , a quartzite rubble used as a striking stone , a ground flat hoe (or a hatchet) made of black hornblende slate , a device socket with a shaft hole made from a piece of deer antler, four bone planks and a 22.1 cm long bone point are included in the equipment.

The jewelry consisted of over 20 incisors from wild boar, primal or bison and two decorative plates from wild boar tusks. They were pierced and worn as a necklace or pendant on clothing. Around 40 teeth from deer and roe deer, great-prehistoric bison and four boar tusks or their fragments have no perforation.

Anthropological Findings

The most recent published investigations of the Bad Dürrenberg burial were carried out by Jörg Orschiedt . The sex of the adult individual was initially determined to be male. Further follow-up examinations led to the conclusion that it must be a female skeleton. The woman was believed to be between 25 and 35 years old at the time of her death. The toddler is badly preserved. It was about 12 months old at the time of his death.

There are some pathological changes that are typical of the Mesolithic. These are signs of wear and tear. The abrasion of your front incisors, on the other hand, is not normal. This abrasion is so severe that the woman's throat becomes infected. This inflammation likely resulted in death.

Another peculiarity is an anomaly in the atlas vertebra, which was initially mistaken for the traces of a decapitation. This abnormality caused an artery to the brain to be pinched off when a certain head movement occurred. However, since the woman was 25 to 35 years old, this anomaly was probably not fatal.

interpretation

Due to the location of the deceased and the large amount of additions, especially the deer antlers, the grave was assigned to a shaman early on. So are z. B. the shamans of the Tungus in Siberia are known for decorated clothes with sometimes towering antlers on their heads.

The interpretation is further supported by the anthropological findings, because the anomaly may have enabled her to pass out with a nod. It's possible that her contemporaries thought her special because of this ability.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JM Grünberg: The Mesolithic Burials in Central Germany. 2004, pp. 275-287.
  2. ↑ J. Orschiedt: Manipulation of human skeletal remains. Taphonomic processes, secondary burial or cannibalism? 1999.
  3. ↑ V. Geupel : The Rötelgrab of Bad Dürrenberg, Merseburg Kr.. 1977, p. 102.
  4. ↑ J. Orschiedt: Manipulation of human skeletal remains. Taphonomic processes, secondary burial or cannibalism? 1999, p. 128.
  5. ↑ JMGrünberg: The Mesolithic Burials in Central Germany. 2004, p. 275.
  6. ↑ J.Orschiedt: manipulation of human skeletal remains. Taphonomic processes, secondary burial or cannibalism? 1999, 128-129
  7. ↑ M. Porr: Grenzgängerin - The findings of the Mesolithic grave of Bad Dürrenberg. 2004, p. 295.

literature

  • Friedrich Karl Bicker: A ceramic red chalk grave with microliths and a turtle in Dürrenberg, Kr. Merseburg. In: Annual publication for the prehistory of the Saxon-Thuringian countries. Volume 24, 1936, pp. 59-81.
  • Walter Fuchs: The seat burial of Count Georg Reinhard (1607–1666). In: Ortenburg - Imperial Counties and 450 Years of Reformation (1563–2013). Ortenburg 2013, pp. 218–221.
  • V Geupel: The red chalk grave of Bad Dürrenberg, Kr. Merseburg . In: J. Herrmann (Hrsg.): Archeology as historical science (=  writings on prehistory and early history ). tape 30 . Berlin 1977, p. 101-110 .
  • Judith M. Grünberg : Bad Dürrenberg, district of Merseburg-Querfurt. In: Siegfried Fröhlich (Ed.): From the prehistory of Saxony-Anhalt. State Museum for Prehistory Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale) 1995, ISBN 3-910010-13-X , No. 4.
  • Judith M. Grünberg: The Mesolithic burials in Central Germany. In: Harald Meller (Ed.): Catalog for the permanent exhibition in the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle . tape 1 . Halle Saale 2004, p. 275-291 .
  • Judith M. Grünberg: The Mesolithic burials of the Middle Elbe-Saale region. In: Judith M. Grünberg et al. (Ed.): Mesolithic burials - Rites, symbols and social organization of early postglacial communities. International Conference Halle (Saale), Germany, 18th-21st September 2013 (= conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory Halle. Volume 13 / I). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2016, ISBN 978-3-944507-43-9 , pp. 257–290 ( online ).
  • Martin Porr: Border Crosser - The Findings of the Mesolithic Grave of Bad Dürrenberg . In: Bernd Example (Ed.): Catalog for the permanent exhibition in the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle . tape 1 . Halle Saale 2004, p. 291-300 .
  • Jörg Orschiedt: Manipulation of human skeletal remains. Taphonomic processes, secondary burial or cannibalism? In: Urgeschichtliches Materialheft . tape 13 , 1999.

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Coordinates: 51 ° 17 ′ 37 "  N , 12 ° 3 ′ 47.4"  E