Mine works

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British or continental earthwork

Pit works , also called trench works , are landscape structures made up of simple or concentric ramparts and pits, which are interrupted by narrow earth bridges. The successive pits are so closely spaced that they have long been thought of as trenches. The wider entrances to the interior are partially protected by complicated bastions.

Mine works occurred in the Western European Late Neolithic , especially in the Michelsberg culture , the Wartberg culture , the Chasséen , the English early Neolithic and in the forerunners of the Funnel Beaker Culture (TBK) and the TBK period itself during which they expire.

German mine works

There are more or less round systems and section fortifications like in Heilbronn-Klingenberg . From there, charred remains of a palisade are known.

Filling the trenches

The trenches are rich in finds, especially near the approaches to the earth bridge. They contain shattered ceramics , flint , rock artifacts, clay , human and animal bones, and plant remains. In Heilbronn-Klingenberg, einkorn , emmer , hard wheat and naked barley were detected, as well as peas , lentils , flax and opium poppies .

Broken mines in the UK

Wyke Down in Dorset , pattern of an interrupted-ditch enclosure

In England, especially its southern half, earthworks were built during the early Neolithic (Western Carinated, earlier Windmill Hill culture ). They are circular or oval earthworks, which are initially called Causewayed camps, today Causewayed enclosures or interrupted-ditch enclosures . They are located on hills or in the plain, have a diameter between 12 and 225 m and, in contrast to continental mines, have a large number of interruptions. One or more walls are surrounded by the corresponding number of concentric pit rings. The 70 known plants in England cover areas between one and 8.5 hectares. The C14 data from Abingdon in Oxfordshire show a use between 4930 BC. BC (controversial dating) and 3210 BC. Chr. New research shows that most of these earthworks were formed within a period of 75 years.

Bones, mainly from cattle, as well as ceramics and flint , were found in the trenches, and human bones are also found. There is no consensus on the use of causewayed enclosures, but it appears that they served a variety of social, economic, and ritual functions in early Neolithic communities. It is now believed that the early Neolithic societies used the places for barter, festivals, and rituals ( Kingsmead Quarry ).

Mining works in France

The mines ( French enceinte à fossé interrompu ) or Neolithic enclosures of the first farmers in France were found in the Somme valley (so Champ de bataille near L'Étoile ). But they are also known from other parts of the country ( Champ-Durand ), especially from the valleys of the Aisne in northeastern France and from an area south of the Loire estuary , while they are absent in Brittany (except for Groh-Colle and La Rochette). They are also rare in Normandy (4 systems).

The C14 dating of L'Étoile showed that the Neolithic complex was in use from the late 6th to the end of the 5th millennium. The main distribution period of these enclosures is in the middle Neolithic (around 4500 BC), that is the time when the first megalithic systems were built in Brittany .

L'Étoile has been preserved in its entirety and documented by aerial photographs. The almost 5 hectare oval enclosure made up of trenches and palisades is interrupted 8 times by entrances. Additional palisades separate a round area within the enclosure, similar to that found in Fort Navan in Northern Ireland . The archaeological investigations showed that the interruptions were wide and that access was through funnel-shaped palisades.

Mining works in the Iberian Peninsula

For a long time mining works were only connected to Central Europe and Great Britain. However, a publication published in 2013 shows that they also occur in the north of the Meseta on the Iberian Peninsula . In the Herdade do Estácio (near Beja ), a series of concentric long pits has been excavated which clearly bear the characteristics of mining works. The materials collected in the pits suggest a late Neolithic chronology. The layout and chronology are reminiscent of the layout of Fareleira 3, although the trenches are larger there. These empirical data suggest that the peninsula was clearly integrated into the pan-European phenomena.

Well-known mine works

Some of the Tor-Cairn sites in south-west Britain - such as Carn Brea , Showery Tor and Rough Tor in Bodmin Moor (Cornwall), Stowes Hill and Whittor in Dartmoor - are believed to be lithic counterparts of the earthworks.

Mine works of a different time

Earthworks from the time of the band ceramic culture were always seen as continuous trench rings and therefore often as fortifications . The earthworks of Herxheim near Landau and Rosheim in Alsace show that in this case it is a question of successively dug and partly refilled pits that did not fulfill a trench function, but which appear as closed circular trenches in the magnetogram .

literature

  • Niels H. Andersen: Sarup Vol. 1, The Sarup Enclosures: The Funnel Beaker Culture of the Sarup site, including two causewaysed camps compared to the contemporary settlements in the area and other European enclosures (= Jutland Archaeological Society Publications. Volume 33). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, Moesgaard 1997, ISBN 8772885882 .
  • Niels H. Andersen: Causewayed enclosures in Northern and Western Europa In: The Oxford Handbook of Neolithic Europe, 2015
  • HJ Case, Alastair WR Whittle (Ed.): Excavations at the Abingdon causewayed enclosure and other sites. CBA Research Report Series 44, 1982.
  • Rodney Castleden: The Stonehenge people, an Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 BC. New edition, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1998 (first edition 1987).
  • Michael Geschwinde , Dirk Raetzel-Fabian: EWBSL. A case study on the early Neolithic earthworks on the northern edge of the low mountain range. With contributions by Ernst Gehre, Silke Grefen-Peters and Walter Wimmer (= contributions to archeology in Lower Saxony. Volume 14). VML, Rahden / Westf. 2009, ISBN 978-3-896-46934-2 .
  • Benedikt Knoche: The earthworks of Soest (Kr. Soest) and Nottuln-Uphoven (Kr. Coesfeld). Studies on the early Neolithic in Westphalia. With contributions by Hubert Berke, Jutta Meurers-Balke and Silke Schaumann (= Münster contributions to prehistoric and early historical archeology. Volume 3). VML, Rahden / Westf. 2008, ISBN 978-3-896-46281-7 .
  • Alastair Oswald, Carolyn Dyer, Martyn Barber: The creation of monuments: neolithic causewayed enclosures in the British Isles. English Heritage, Swindon 2001 ( digitized ).
  • Dirk Raetzel-Fabian: Calden. Earthworks and burial places of the early Neolithic. Architecture - ritual - chronology. With contributions by Gerd Nottbohm, Kerstin Pasda, Gesine Weber and Jaco Weinstock (= university research on prehistoric archeology. Volume 70). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-774-93022-8 .
  • Hans-Peter Stika: Prehistoric plant remains from Heilbronn-Klingenberg. Theiss, Stuttgart 1998.
  • Ch. Verlux: Des bâtiments circulaires du Néolithique moyen à Auneau (Eure-et-Loir) and Orval (Cher). Note préliminaire / Middle neolithic circular buildings in Auneau (Eure-et-Loir) and Orval (Cher). First data 1998

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Müller: Large stone graves, ditch works, long hills - Early Monumental Buildings of Central Europe 2017 ( Online )
  2. ^ Jörg Biel: Final examination of a Michelsberg earthworks near Heilbronn-Klingenberg. Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 1987, pp. 50–54, 1988
  3. ↑ Hans-Peter Stika: Cultivated plant remains of the late Neolithic Michelsberg Culture at Heilbronn-Klingenberg (southwest Germany) - a comparison of different features, find assemblages and preservation conditions relating to the representation of archaeobotanical remains. Journal of Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 5 / 1-2, 1996
  4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13647544
  5. ↑ Alasdair Whittle, Joshua Pollard and Caroline Grigson: The harmony of symbols: the Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Wiltshire. (Oxford: Oxbow Books 1999)
  6. ↑ Ch. Jeunesse, P. Lefranc 1999, Rosheim Sainte Odile (Bas-Rhin), un habitat rubané avec fossé enceinte. Cahier d'association pour la promotion de la recherche archéologique en Alsace 15

Web links