Find place in Breitenbach

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Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '27.6 "  N , 12 ° 5' 6.4"  E

Relief Map: Germany
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Find place in Breitenbach​
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Germany

The archaeological site near the village of Breitenbach in the Burgenland district ( Saxony-Anhalt ) is an important representative of the younger Paleolithic . More than 30,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans repeatedly visited and used the outdoor storage area. On the basis of typological studies of the Breitenbach equipment inventories , the site of the find is attributed to the oldest culture of the younger Paleolithic, the Aurignacia . With an area of ​​approximately 10,000 square meters, Breitenbach is the largest free-range discovery site of the Aurignacien in western Eurasia. A settlement from the Neolithic Age overlies the paleolithic find horizon .

The Paleolithic site

meaning

The Breitenbach site is important for research into the early Upper Palaeolithic in many ways:

  • During excavations in 2012, a mammoth ivory workshop was discovered, the oldest in the world to date. This area differs fundamentally from the other areas of the site and thus provides one of the earliest indications of modern human spatial behavior .
Documentation of the finds by an international team of students
Detail of the ivory workshop
Concentration of ivory fragments that characterize the machining waste in the workshop
  • Only a few free-range sites from the Aurignacia period are known to date from northern Central Europe . In addition to the site near Lommersum , Breitenbach is the only one with a relatively well-preserved inventory of fauna . Field sites are particularly suitable for research into spatial behavior and land use strategies. However, the current state of research on the early Paleolithic land use and subsistence behavior almost exclusively refers to the inventories of the cave sites in southern Germany (e.g. Voghelherd , Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels ).
  • The size and assumed function of the site is unusual for the early Upper Palaeolithic. Based on the results of geoarchaeological probes, the total area is estimated at 10,000 square meters. Locations of this magnitude are otherwise only known from the Gravettian onwards. Due to the size and the archaeological findings (see below), the designation of the site as "base camp" seems appropriate.
  • Breitenbach is one of the northernmost Aurignacian sites. Apart from the well-known “innovation centers” of southern France, southern Germany and Austria from the Aurignacia period, Breitenbach is a site on the periphery of the Aurignacia period ecumenism.
  • As a young site within the Aurignacien , Breitenbach is of great importance for research, both for the transition from the Aurignacian to the Gravettian, and for the exploration of the origins of cultural modernity ( younger Paleolithic ), the final development of which probably took place during the Aurignacian.

location

The village of Breitenbach is part of the Wetterzeube community in the Burgenland district. The site is located at the cutting mill on the banks of the Aga, a right tributary of the White Elster , on a spur coming from the northwest.

Discovery and history of research

The site was discovered in March 1925 by the Breitenbach teacher Erich Tiersch and the discovery was announced on April 4, 1925 in the Zeitzer Latest News . Large amounts of animal bones had already come to light in the autumn of the previous year during excavation work on a wood pile, but they were disposed of. The first probes (1925) by Alfred Götze and H. Hess von Wichdorff were followed by large-scale excavations in 1927/28 under the direction of Nils Niklasson and F. Wiegers, which examined an area of ​​400 square meters and created a stratigraphic sequence of geological and archaeological layers. A robbery excavation, the finds of which were sold to the Germanic National Museum in 1958 , probably took place in 1930/31. Apart from isolated probes, no further field work took place until 2004. Since 2009, the site has been investigated by the Monrepos Archaeological Research Center and Museum for Human Behavioral Evolution of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz in cooperation with the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt (LDSA) and the archaeological faculty of the University of Leiden .

Carbon dating

Radiocarbon dating puts the age of the Breitenbach layer between 23,990 ± 180 BP (OxA-11964) and 28,380 ± 170BP (OxA-11889). Calibrated (with CalPal) So the colonization would fall between 30,824 ± 338BP and 26,883 ± 401BP. However, the more recent dates can probably be explained as a result of contamination . Based on stratigraphic comparisons, Breitenbach seems to date to the end of the Aurignacia, as the earliest Central European Gravettian inventories appeared as early as 30,000 carbon years ago.

Device inventory

The Breitenbacher device inventory is made from Baltic flint . The inventory consists of approximately 5762 artifacts , 737 of which were considered tools. The most common are burins (46%), various scratches (25.4%) and other “less standardized forms” (25%). In addition to the stone tools, there are also some worked bones and organic tools. There are also jewelry objects. Among them are several perforated arctic fox - Canini , one provided with parallel grooves rib fragment and a piece of processed ivory .

Function of the site

The spatial extent of the site is unusually large and comparable to a base camp. The find layer, which is 12 to 20 centimeters thick and interspersed with burned bones, also indicates an intense event. Furthermore, the introduction of large stone blocks and sandstone slabs as well as the occurrence of pits and fireplaces speak for intensive, long-term settlements. Furthermore, there are indications of differentiated activity zones, which probably served as centers for specific activities, e.g. B. four flint concentrations designated as striking places as well as a spatially clearly limited "find concentration around a tusk"

Fauna remains

Breitenbach originally gained fame as a mammoth hunter station through the mammoth remains highlighted in the literature . However, recent research casts doubt on this interpretation, as the mammoth remains, which are largely composed of teeth and ivory, do not necessarily indicate that the mammoth was hunted. Horses and reindeer are also found in larger quantities - woolly rhinoceros , red deer , hyena , wolf , arctic fox , mountain hare , cave lion and the remains of a crow bird complete the spectrum of fauna identified so far . Since the bones examined so far show only minimal predatory bite and occur almost exclusively in the archaeological horizon, it can be assumed that the majority of these fauna remains (with the exception of the mammoths) are the prey of the Aurignacian hunters.

The Neolithic settlement

A settlement of the Neolithic ceramic band culture (around 7,500-5,500BP) was discovered by H. Hess von Wichdorff near Sondagen in 1927/28. He described surface finds in the form of shards and the outlines of several "living pits". In addition, large amounts of broken vessels and stone axes were recovered. The Neolithic settlement is being examined by the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology of Saxony-Anhalt.

literature

  • Groiß, JT 1987. Fossil finds from the Aurignacien von Breitenbach, Zeitz district, district Halle. Quaternary 37/38 : 97-100
  • Grünberg, J. 2006. New AMS Dates for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Camp Sites and Single Finds in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia (Germany). Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72 : 95-112
  • Jöris, O. & L. Morau. 2010. From the end of the Aurignacien - to the chronological position of the Breitenbach open-air site (Burgenlandkr.) In the context of the Early and Middle Upper Palaeolithic in Central Europe. Archaeological Correspondence Sheet 40 : 1-20
  • Moreau, L. 2012. The Aurignacian of Breitenbach (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany): The state of flake production. In: Pastoors, A and M Peresani (eds) Flakes not Blades - The role of flake production at the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic . Scientific writings of the Neandertal Museum 5: 181-197
  • Niklasson, N. 1927. The Paleolithic station at the cutting mill near Breitenbach in the Zeitz district. Conference German Anthr. Ges. Cologne 49 : 89-90
  • Pohl, G. 1958. The Upper Palaeolithic Station Breitenbach, Kr. Zeitz and its evaluation so far. Annual journal for Central German prehistory 41/42 : 178-190
  • Porr, M. 2004. People like us. The Aurignacia site of Breitenbach. In: H. Meller (Ed.), Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Catalogs for the permanent exhibition in the State Museum. Hall
  • Richter, J. 1987. Upper Palaeolithic finds from Breitenbach / Kr. Zeitz in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. Quaternary 37/38 : 63-96
  • Street, M & T. Terberger. 2003. New Evidence for the Chronology of the Aurignacian and the Question of Pleniglacial Settlement in Western Central Europe. In: Francesco d'Errico, João Zilhão (Ed.): The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes. Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications . Proceedings of the 6.I Symposium of the XIVth Congress of the UISPP, Liege 2001. Trabalhos Arqu. 33 (Lisbon 2003) 213-221
  • Von Wichdorff, HH 1932. An important geological prehistoric profile in the area of ​​the paleolithic open-air station at the cutting mill near Zeitz (Prov. Saxony). Mann 24 : 60-63

Web links

Commons : Fundplatz Breitenbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Jöris, O. & L. Morau. 2010. From the end of the Aurignacien - to the chronological position of the Breitenbach open-air site (Burgenlandkr.) In the context of the Early and Middle Upper Palaeolithic in Central Europe. Archaeological Correspondence Sheet 40: 1-20
  2. ^ Hahn, J. 1977. Aurignacien. The older Upper Paleolithic in Central and Eastern Europe . Fundamenta A / 9 (Cologne, Vienna 1977)
  3. ↑ http://web.rgzm.de/fileadmin/Gruppen/Presse/2012/Monrepos/PM_Breitenbach_25.09.2012.pdf
  4. ↑ International team digs in Breitenbach - Article at the MZ , from August 24, 2009 (accessed on: July 9, 2012)
  5. ↑ a b Wilcke, M. 1925. The palaeolithic site at the Schneidemühle near Breitenbach (Zeitz district). Sounds of home. Leaves and flowers from the Saaleau and Orlagau (supplement to the “Pößnecker Zeitung” and the “Ziegenrücker Kreisanzeiger” August 2, 1925). pp.270-272
  6. ↑ a b c Porr, M. 2004. People like us. The Aurignacia site of Breitenbach. In: H. Meller (Ed.), Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Catalogs for the permanent exhibition in the State Museum. Hall
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Richter, J. 1987. Upper Palaeolithic finds from Breitenbach / Kr. Zeitz in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. Quaternary 37/38 : 63-96
  8. ↑ Grünberg, J. 2006. New AMS Dates for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Camp Sites and Single Finds in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia (Germany). Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 72 : 95-112
  9. ^ Street, M & T. Terberger. 2003. New Evidence for the Chronology of the Aurignacian and the Question of Pleniglacial Settlement in Western Central Europe. In: Francesco d'Errico, João Zilhão (Ed.): The Chronology of the Aurignacian and of the Transitional Technocomplexes. Dating, Stratigraphies, Cultural Implications . Proceedings of the 6.I Symposium of the XIVth Congress of the UISPP, Liege 2001. Trabalhos Arqu. 33 (Lisbon 2003) 213-221
  10. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.calpal.de
  11. ↑ Groiß, J T. 1987. Fossil finds from the Aurignacien von Breitenbach, Zeitz district, district Halle. Quaternary 37/38 : 97-100