Glindenberg fishing spears
The Glindenberg fish spears were found in 1935 when a motorway bridge was being built over the Elbe near Glindenberg , a district of Wolmirstedt in Saxony-Anhalt . The discovery of 22 mesolithic (9000–5500 BC) spearheads and an adze made of red deer antlers, which is unique in the Middle Elbe region, was about 3.5 m below the river bed in a dark green, sandy-clay silt layer. Only eight spearheads are completely preserved. Ten have one barbed and seven have two barbs, the tip of the bullet has no barbs. A point lay next to the parts of a lower jaw and two teeth of a predatory fish, probably a pike.
The spearheads were cut out of the red deer's poles in long shavings. In some of them the pearled surface of the antlers can still be seen. The approximately 15 cm long cross ax was made from the red deer's throwing rod. The pearling is still intact on one side. The antler surface has been polished.
As early as the 19th century, a similar depot had been recovered in the lowlands near Kalbe an der Milde when drainage ditches were being drawn at a depth of five feet. It consisted of 26 to 30 spearheads. Numerous herringbones were found in the same layer. Some tips had a smooth shaft. Most, however, are provided with coarse or numerous fine, sawtooth-like notches on one side. The spearheads of the hunter-gatherers are made of bone or antler. Individual finds of spearheads made of deer antler came to light near Nachterstedt , a district of the town of Seeland in the Salzlandkreis, and on Bruchsberg near the former Aschersleber Lake , both in Saxony-Anhalt.
Based on comparative archaeological finds in Scandinavia , it is known that spearheads were attached to a wooden shaft individually or in several bundles with bast, birch pitch and similar adhesives. The finds by Glindenberg and Kalbe suggest that it is a question of the dumping of fish spearheads, i.e. the deliberate depositing of parts of hunting weapons, the wooden part of which may have been deposited, but has passed.
literature
- Judith M. Grünberg : Glindenberg, Ldkr.Ohre district. In: Siegfried Fröhlich (Ed.): From the prehistory of Saxony-Anhalt. State Museum for Prehistory Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale) 1995, ISBN 3-910010-13-X , No. 5.
- Judith M. Grünberg: Spear fishing in the Mesolithic . In: Harald Meller, et al. (Ed.): Beauty, Power and Death. 120 finds from 120 years of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Accompanying volume for the special exhibition from December 11, 2001 to April 28, 2002 in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle / Saale . State Office for Archeology, Halle (Saale) 2001, ISBN 3-910010-64-4 , p. 164-165 .