Jarmen campfire site

location

The fireplaces square of Jarmen , in the Vorpommern-Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was the construction of the A20 motorway at the crossing of the Peene discovered. When finding place of Jarmen is a Bronze Age place of an almost flat to the ground moraine immediately south extends the Peene valley and up to 40 m to the Peenetal zoom ranges. The places are collections of similar fireplaces, which were almost always set up in an exposed position and in the immediate vicinity of the water. They are sometimes close to Bronze Age graves, but always away from settlements. Fireplaces rarely contain finds and are hardly detectable above ground.

context

In Scandinavia and Northern Germany , the Gargruben ( Danish Kokegroper ), ( Swedish Kokgropar med Skärvsten ), ( English Pit Alignments ) , which were first recognized in 1906, are particularly a phenomenon of the younger Bronze and Iron Ages . The more recent research calls such sites as cult fire or fireplace sites. In 1989 Sigrid Heidelk-Schacht lists 30 such places in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and in the north of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt ( Zedau ).

Excavation area

The excavations in 1997/98 were limited to an area of 4000 m², on which 121 findings were found in four sub-areas. The remains of the settlement on the edges of the excavation area yielded finds from different periods and prove that the area was used during the Younger Bronze Age , the Middle Slav period and the modern era. In the western part of the excavation area, a clearly separated fireplace field came to light. It extends over an area of 20 × 16 m and includes 54 mostly linearly arranged hearths. A total of eight rows oriented east-southeast-west-northwest can be seen. The 11 to 14 m long rows consist of five to eight fireplaces. One of the two middle rows, which consists of only three findings, is only six meters long.

References

Most of the fireplaces are between 0.8 and 1.6 m in diameter. The trough-shaped profile has residual depths of 10 to 25 cm. Were often in the filling of ash and soil holzkohlehaltigem charcoal concentrations and annealed Lesesteine stored. It can be assumed that the layers of fire were covered by massive layers of stone. The charcoal remains from three hearths were dated using the radiocarbon method . All samples yielded similar values and point to the time around 830 BC. Chr.

Post complex

An isolated north-south-facing post arrangement was discovered about 12 m north of the fireplace field. It has the size of 8.5 × 5.4 m and consists of three rows. In the middle between the posts of the eastern row there is a fireplace that was built at the same time. From five post pits there is shattered pottery , which is probably from the Young Bronze Age. Of interest is an almost completely preserved bowl that was found on the lower edge of the shadow of one of the inner posts. He should represent a construction victim . It is uncertain whether the 6 × 4 m pit discovered to the west is related to the post area. It contained two unprocessed erratic slabs of 2 × 1 m and 2 × 1.5 m in size. In view of the neighboring fireplace and the stone slab pit, an interpretation of the post area as a cult facility cannot be ruled out. Bronze Age "cult houses" are known from Scandinavia , but so far are missing in Northern Germany. They are also not found anywhere in the vicinity of a fireplace.

literature

Jens-Peter Schmidt: barbecue or sacrificial cult? The fireplace place of Jarmen Lkr.Demmin. In: Uta Maria Meier (Red.): The A20 motorway - Northern Germany's longest excavation. Archaeological research on the route between Lübeck and Stettin (= archeology in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. 4). 2nd, unchanged edition. Archaeological State Museum and State Office for Land Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin 2006, ISBN 3-935770-11-1 , pp. 71–76.

Individual evidence

↑ The first series that could be dated in England produced the uncalibrated date 4360 + 50 BP (i.e. around 2900 BC). Stephen Carter: A radiocarbon dated pit alignment at North Straiton, near Leuchars, Fife. In: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal. Vol. 2, 1996, ZDB -ID 2664954-8 , pp. 45-51, ( digitized version (PDF; 569 kB) ).

↑ Sigrid Heidelk-Schacht: Young Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cult fire places in the north of the GDR. In: Friedrich Schlette , Dieter Kaufmann (ed.): Religion and cult in prehistoric and early historical times. 13th meeting of the Pre- and Early History Section from November 4 to 6, 1985 in Halle (Saale) (= Conference of the Pre- and Early History Section. 13). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000662-5 , pp. 229-240.

53.921166666667 13.35075Coordinates: 53 ° 55 '16.2 " N , 13 ° 21' 2.7" E

[1] The first series that could be dated in England produced the uncalibrated date 4360 + 50 BP (i.e. around 2900 BC). Stephen Carter: A radiocarbon dated pit alignment at North Straiton, near Leuchars, Fife. In: Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal. Vol. 2, 1996, ZDB -ID 2664954-8 , pp. 45-51, ( digitized version (PDF; 569 kB) ).

[2] Sigrid Heidelk-Schacht: Young Bronze Age and Early Iron Age cult fire places in the north of the GDR. In: Friedrich Schlette , Dieter Kaufmann (ed.): Religion and cult in prehistoric and early historical times. 13th meeting of the Pre- and Early History Section from November 4 to 6, 1985 in Halle (Saale) (= Conference of the Pre- and Early History Section. 13). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-05-000662-5 , pp. 229-240.