Prehistoric and early historical settlement site Lemke

The prehistoric and early historical settlement site Lemke is an important archaeological site in Lemke , a district of the municipality of Marklohe near Nienburg / Weser . The raised settlement area with a burial ground existed in the Neolithic around 2800 BC. And in the pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Empire between the 5th century BC. And the 5th century AD. The remains of the settlement in the industrial area bordering on the south of Lemke were archaeologically examined between 2012 and 2020 .

View over the fund area with a slight increase in the middle; left behind the forest the valley of the Weser and right the elevated B 6

location

The site is located in the south of Lemke about four kilometers west of the district town of Nienburg / Weser in an industrial area that has not yet been fully developed. The site is located west of a silted-up arm of the Weser and was not at risk of flooding because of its elevated location on the Geestrand . The highway 6 , which has been developed like a motorway, passes to the south, and the state road 351 and the Rahden – Nienburg railway line, which is only used by freight trains, are to the west. To the northeast is the Lemker Marsch nature reserve in the lower Weser . The find area was used as farmland in earlier times ; From around the year 2000 onwards, an industrial park was created.

Archaeological research

First finds

In earlier times, local researchers made surface finds during archaeological visits that had come to the surface during plowing and that indicated an earlier settlement. Around 2001, when the industrial area was being developed, a completely preserved and functional Roman rotary mill made of basalt lava was found, which had been buried in the sand at a depth of about one meter. Even then, the presence of a Germanic settlement was suspected in the area . The find joins previous finds of this type of mill from Mayen basalt lava , which were mostly made near the river and in particular on the Weser and Hunte as well as on the North Sea coast in Germanic settlements, which suggests a distribution channel via rivers. The finds are interpreted as evidence of a brisk trade between Germans and Romans .

In 2012, during excavation work in front of the construction of a commercial building, archaeological findings appeared in the ground , which presented themselves as large-scale, dark soil discolouration. A small-scale rescue excavation was then carried out by an excavation company to secure further findings . It led to the discovery of plow marks and remains of pottery, which, subject to closer investigation, can be dated to the Roman Empire. At that time, it was assumed that further finds to be found in the vicinity of the excavation site were to be expected. In 2013, were then in excavation work on another plot in the industrial area urns and fire fill graves and Rennöfen found.

Excavations in 2013 and 2014

Excavation site during a public tour, 2013

Search section on the excavation site, 2013

Since further archaeological finds were to be expected in the industrial area intended for development, preliminary archaeological investigations were carried out in 2013 on behalf of the municipality of Marklohe. An excavator made search cuts and removed the gray topsoil as an earlier plow horizon . Probably it is the soil type of the Plaggenesch , which is also indicated by the name of the nearby street Am Esch . From a depth of around 50 centimeters, numerous archaeological finds and findings, such as soil discoloration, were visible in the grown subsoil . The investigations were linked to an archaeological excavation initiated by the local archeology of the Schaumburg landscape responsible for the Nienburg district under Jens Berthold . The excavation was carried out by the seminar for prehistory and early history of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen under Karl-Heinz Willroth . In addition to the excavation manager Tobias Scholz, students from the Universities of Göttingen and Marburg as well as volunteers from the Nienburg region were involved in the study, which was carried out as a teaching excavation . The finds during the approximately four-week archaeological investigations confirmed the assumption of a prehistoric settlement with a burial ground at this point.

Another excavation took place in 2014 before part of the industrial park was opened for development. In total, a contiguous area of 3800 m² was archaeologically examined.

Finds

During the archaeological investigations in 2013, two pit houses with an area of around 4 × 5 meters and a large number of soil discolorations from post pits were found. Pits were also uncovered, which could have been storage and waste pits .

Finds of bronze, including Riemenzunge , belt fittings , ornamental keys, decorative buttons and rivets

The finds include two large loom weights fired from clay and a clay spindle whorl . The objects were used for weaving fabrics and spinning wool. In addition, the remains of a millstone from a hand turning mill were found.

A special find in the settlement area was a beaker that was the only vessel to have survived among thousands of ceramic shards found. In the immediate vicinity there was a stone with a grinding surface and a piece of flint . The beaker is dated to the late Neolithic between 2800 and 2300 BC. Dated.

Shards and larger pieces of vessels made of earthenware , some of which were filled with corpse fire , found a little away from the settlement area indicate the presence of a burial ground . The discovery of the remains of a vessel containing horse teeth was unusual. Of grave goods from the time of the 4th to 6th century several were bronze objects found as a belt tongue , a belt fitting , an ornamental key, decorative buttons and rivets . Of iron were two brooches . One of the coin finds is a Roman coin from the time of Emperor Trajan from the 1st century. A silver coin from the time of Louis the Pious from the 9th century was pierced, presumably to be worn as a necklace. Slag and remnants from racing furnaces indicate a smelting site for metal production .

Finds 2013

Part of an ornate clay pot

Corpse burn , human teeth in front right

Clay spindle whorl
Pyramid-shaped weaving weight in packaging
Primer of iron

Excavations in 2019 and 2020

Excavation area, 2019

In 2019 and 2020, prior to the construction of new buildings in the industrial area, further archaeological investigations were carried out, in which two house floor plans could be verified using post pits. This includes a stone-age building, which was a post structure with plastered clay walls . The former building can be traced back to a time around 2800 BC based on found ceramics, including a fragment from the time of the corded ceramics . To date. According to the local archaeologist responsible for the excavation site, Daniel Lau from the Schaumburg landscape , it is the oldest building discovered in the Nienburg district to date . What is noticeable in the examined settlement area is the lack of fireplaces.

Half-exposed urn in the left standing plinth
Larger post hole of a building post
Corner of a stone-age building, wall course marked in color parallel to it

Finds

Among the finds of the excavation of 2019 and 2020 included a Stone Age dagger tension and adze from flint dating from around 2800 BC. A ceramic chalice, of which the lower part has been preserved, can also be assigned to this period. A fragment of a vessel has typical ornaments from cord ceramics. Three ceramic fragments were parts of a Nienburg cup . Two coins found, a silver denarius and a bronze coin, can be assigned to the time around the birth of Christ. Two funeral urns were found whose corpse burn is being examined anthropologically. A weaving weight found indicates the manufacture of cloth. A modern cloth seal made of lead indicates the handling of fabrics.

Finds 2019 and 2020
Flint knife and adze
Roman bronze coin and Roman silver denarius
Lower part of a ceramic chalice
Two matching fragments of a Nienburg cup
Modern cloth seal

literature

Tobias Scholz : Lemke FStNr. 4, Gde. Marklohe. In: Fundchronik Niedersachsen 2014. (= News from Lower Saxony's prehistory . Supplement 19). 2016, ISBN 978-3-8062-3308-7 .
Tobias Scholz: Construction sacrifice, grave goods or both? A drinking vessel from Lemke seems too old for its place of discovery. In: Archeology in Lower Saxony . 18/2015, pp. 113-116.