Wellie earthworks

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Aerial photo with the dark vegetation features and tracing of the earthwork trench, including interruptions from earlier earth bridges Aerial photo with the dark vegetation features and tracing of the earthwork trench, including interruptions from earlier earth bridges
Aerial photo with the dark vegetation features and tracing of the earthwork trench, including interruptions from earlier earth bridges

The Wellie earthworks is a Neolithic earthwork near the Steyerberg district of Wellie in Lower Saxony . It is 5.7  hectares and is formed by an earlier moat. The creation of the complex is believed to be in the 4th millennium BC. Assumed.

description

The Wellie earthworks are located on a slight knoll about 1500 meters west of the Wellier loop as an oxbow lake of the Weser . The facility was formed by a trench, which formed a roughly circular area of ​​about 250 × 300 meters. The trench, which was backfilled after its useful life, was probably several meters wide and deep. It shows interruptions in seven places by earth bridges, which probably served as access to the interior.

View of the earthwork area on an arable land

The earthwork was discovered in summer 2018 by the aerial archaeologist Heinz-Dieter Freese during an archaeological aerial photo flight from a height of 300 meters and the evaluation of the aerial photos taken. The former ditch emerged as a positive growth feature in a wheat field due to the hot and dry summer of 2018 . Since the trench with humus-rich topsoil is filled, it has a higher profitability on. As a result, the grain in the ditch area had a later ripening and a longer green color compared to the surrounding area.

The earthwork lies on a suspected archaeological area that was geomagnetically investigated by the University of Göttingen in 2017 . The prospecting was aimed at the search for settlement sites for the people who had created the nearby old Saxon cemetery of Liebenau . Even then, a short section of the earthwork was recorded, which could not be properly classified until 2018 by viewing the entire course of the trench from the air.

Investigations

Investigation of the subsurface with a fluxgate magnetometer
Soil sampling with the Pürckhauer in the area of ​​the former earthwork trench

After the earthwork was discovered in summer 2018, research by the municipal archeology of the Schaumburg landscape began in cooperation with the University of Göttingen. In the same year, systematic field inspections were carried out on the site of the earthworks and in its vicinity by a volunteer from municipal archeology. He found almost 900 artefacts , mainly flint tools and fragments of ceramic vessels, which are being scientifically examined. The locations where they were found are documented by GPS , so that find concentrations can be determined in the analysis.

In 2019 there was a geophysical and pedological survey of the earthworks by the University of Göttingen. It was carried out by a team of ten students from the Pre- and Protohistory Seminar under the direction of the archaeologist Tobias Scholz . The area was measured on 15 hectares with a fluxgate magnetometer in order to make soil anomalies such as the earthwork trench visible. The data obtained in this way supplemented imperfections in the course of the trench in the aerial photographs. The investigations also focused on the gate situations at the culverts, and traces of a possible interior development were investigated. In addition, soil samples were taken with the Pürckhauer in order to obtain information on the depth and backfill processes of the earlier earthwork trench.

The aim of the first investigations was to obtain fundamental knowledge about the earthworks using non-destructive and minimally invasive methods. On this basis, further selective archaeological measures are planned in the following years. They should lead to a reconstruction of the facility by means of a true-to-scale overall plan as well as its temporal and cultural classification.

interpretation

Aerial view of Wellie with subsequent drawing of the location of the earthwork, in the background the Wellier loop of the Weser

Researchers refer to the newly discovered earthworks as the central square of the Neolithic , whose representatives in this area in the 4th millennium BC. Appear. You have the assumption that the earthwork is related to the Michelsberg culture . In the district of Nienburg / Weser , earthworks are very rare. Another well-known facility is the Müsleringen earthworks, eight kilometers from Wellie , which was explored between 2009 and 2013. Both plants are the most north-westerly in the north German lowlands . The reason for the construction of such systems by early peasant cultures in the Neolithic has not yet been clarified. The earthwork trenches, which are up to five meters wide and two meters deep, suggest a collective approach to building a community facility. The importance of earthworks is to be measured in relation to the labor input during construction. Experts believe that the grounds enclosed a central square where people would gather at certain times or for ritual occasions.

Web links

Commons : Erdwerk by Wellie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archaeological discoveries from lofty heights at buten un within June 21, 2018
  2. ↑ Jörn Graue: On the trail of the historical earthworks. In: The Rake . March 13, 2019.
  3. ↑ Das Erdwerk von Wellie , press release of the University of Göttingen from March 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ Wellie's earthworks: Göttingen scientist explores the Neolithic Age complex with students at archaeologie-online from March 15, 2019.
  5. ↑ Annika Büsching: Wellier Acker harbors historical treasure In: The rake. 5th November 2018.
  6. ↑ Mysterious earthwork discovered near Wellie In: Kreiszeitung . March 12, 2019.

Coordinates: 52 ° 34 ′ 27.1 ″  N , 9 ° 3 ′ 56.5 ″  E