End Neolithic

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End Neolithic describes the youngest Neolithic lower stage at the transition to the Bronze Age . It is equated with the beginning of corded ceramics and extends in southern and central Germany from approx. 2800–2200 BC. Chr.

Structure of the Neolithic

The term goes back to the five-fold structure largely used in Germany today by Jens Lüning , who subdivided the Neolithic into five levels:

Due to the increasing importance of jewelry and weapons made of copper, the sections Young, Late and End Neolithic are also summarized within this structure and referred to as the Copper Age (or Copper Age ).

The terms are currently used differently in individual regions of Germany, which sometimes causes confusion in the relative chronological classification. The Cham culture in Bavaria was already described as "end Neolithic", while according to the structure of Lüning it mostly dates back to the late Neolithic.

Archaeological cultures

The spherical amphora culture stands on the threshold from the late to the end Neolithic . The end of the Neolithic in Germany and large parts of Central Europe is characterized by the widespread cultures of corded ceramics and bell -beaker cultures , which replaced the previous regional cultures . Regional expressions were given different names in terms of research history, such as B. the single grave culture of corded ceramics in northern Germany.

Both cultures are mainly known for their individual graves in gender-specific crouching positions , which were partially covered with hills. Another characteristic of corded ceramics are burials in stone boxes . In the megalithic cultures of the late Neolithic, this was largely preceded by the custom of collective burial, even if this does not apply across the board to all archaeological cultures.

Settlement finds or house findings are rare and are mainly from northern alpine wetland settlements . Settlements became more densely populated here in the end of the Neolithic, and similar pollen profiles suggest that arable farming will be expanded. Earlier assumptions about a cattle-driving nomad culture could not be confirmed. Copper objects are gaining in importance as grave goods, mostly as jewelry (sheet metal rolls, spiral rolls and rings) and weapons (daggers), especially in the bell-cup culture. From around 2500 BC In BC, alpine and central German copper deposits were increasingly used.

literature

  • Niels Bantelmann: Late Neolithic finds in the Rhenish-Westphalian region (= investigations from the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum for Prehistory and Early History in Schleswig, the State Office for Prehistory and Early History of Schleswig-Holstein in Schleswig and the Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Kiel. NF 44). Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982, ISBN 3-529-01144-4 (also: Mainz, University, habilitation paper, 1973).
  • Johannes Müller (Ed.): From the End Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age: Patterns of Social Change? (= University research on prehistoric archeology. 90). Habelt, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-7749-3138-0 .
  • Ernst Probst : Germany in the Stone Age. Hunters, fishermen and farmers between the North Sea coast and the Alps. Bertelsmann, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-570-02669-8 , pp. 397-403 and pp. 407-411.

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  1. ↑ Jens Lüning: New thoughts on naming the Neolithic periods. In: Germania. Volume 74/1, 1996, pp. 233-237 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Torsten Harri Gohlisch: The excavation findings and the ceramics of the end neolithic settlement of Dietfurt ad Altmühl, district Neumarkt id OPf. (= Archeology on the Main-Danube Canal. 17). Leidorf, Rahden 2005, ISBN 3-89646-484-1 (also: Erlangen-Nürnberg, University, dissertation, 2002).