History of the settlement of the marshes
The history of settlement in the marshes of the northwest German coast to explore is facilitated by the excellent preservation conditions for organic materials. They create the opportunity to follow the dispute between the inhabitants of the North German March and the forces of nature over thousands of years.
requirements
The Pleistocene surface was covered with sea sediments from the Atlantic , when the North Sea had penetrated to the current Geestrand due to the sea level rise that lasted until the turn of the century . Due to the type of deposit, the surface of the marshes is only a few decimeters above the level of the mean high water. Unprotected, this geologically young country was subject to the influence of the sea. Today, dike protection and artificial drainage have transformed the marshes into a cultural landscape in which the forces of the sea are switched off.
Settlement period
There was no dike protection in prehistoric times. Settling the marshes was a risk because of the risk of flooding. Nevertheless, the evidence of man's presence on the marshes goes back to the Neolithic Age (4000–1500 BC). However, evidence of more intensive farming use in Schleswig-Holstein is only available for the 1st millennium AD. The investigation of settlements that existed between the Roman Imperial Era (0–450 AD) and the Viking Age (800–1050 AD) was able to show the landscape and settlement appearance and the way in which the inhabitants adapted to their environment .
Uses
The march, unchanged by human intervention, was criss-crossed by a network of steep-walled tidal channels in which the water flowed towards the sea or land. The surface of the land, made up of clayey-sandy deposits, was covered with salt marshes (e.g. juncetum gerardi) where flooding often occurred, but these are suitable for grazing. In poorly drained areas, this vegetation was replaced by reed swamps that could merge into low and high moors . Tree growth, on the other hand, could only occur in regions remote from the coast. Remains of prehistoric settlements were found on the raised embankments of the priele . The coarser sediments of the near-surface subsurface were, in contrast to the fine-grained ones in the hinterland , relatively well drained in normal weather , so that they provided a suitable base.
traffic
The incentive for settlement seems to have been the location on navigable waters. While the marshland was difficult to pass in bad weather, the tidal creeks, the flowing rivers and the North Sea offered favorable opportunities for the use of watercraft. The prehistoric marshland settlement was therefore facing the sea. On every investigated marshland settlement of the Roman imperial period, fragments of Terra Sigillata were found , an indication of relations with the Rhine estuary . No shard of this ceramic was found on the simultaneous remote geest settlements in Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland . The early rotating hand mills, which replaced the millstones that had been in use on the Cimbrian Peninsula , can also be found in all the marshland settlements of the older Roman Empire. They consist of lava basalt and are imports from the Eifel .
Nutritional base
Livestock farming already formed the economic basis of the self - sufficient inhabitants of the marshland in prehistoric times . Cattle and sheep predominated. The horse, on the other hand, withdrew because it could only be used to a limited extent. Pigs were not as strongly represented as on simultaneous Geest settlements. Here the lack of the acorn mast in the sea march was a noticeable factor. Despite the danger of flooding, arable farming was practiced in the most favorable places near the settlements . In the fields the broad bean seems to have been the main crop alongside barley ; in addition, the cultivation of flax and the consumption of panicle millet and rye could be proven.
House building
The early historical march settlers lived in stable houses, which in principle do not differ from those that can be found today in the North Frisian Utland. From the Roman Empire to modern times, the living and stables were separated by a cross corridor. In the stable part a corridor ran along the center axis of the house. The cattle stood in boxes on either side of the aisle. The walls were made of wickerwork, sometimes also of clois . Kleisoden predominated in the residential areas furthest to the west.
Water supply
Since all deepenings of the marshes were filled with salt water during flooding, the supply of fresh water was crucial for the existence of the settlements. That is why you can find cisterns for rainwater in them as well as wells that open up the near-surface horizon with brackish groundwater . This type of water supply seems to have been neglected in the area of the estuaries. In Schleswig-Holstein the difficulties of cultivating marshland can still be studied today. The residents of the Halligen are in the same position as the early historical settlers during storm surges . After the storm surge of 1962, the procurement of fresh water for the Halligen was a problem that could only be solved with government help.
distribution
An accumulation of prehistoric and early historical marsh settlements can be found in the Elbe estuary , in the Elbe-Weser triangle ( Feddersen Wierde ) in Dithmarschen and in Eiderstedt . They appear as flat settlements but also as terps . Terms such as warf, Wurt, Werft and Wierde are also used for terp in Friesland . These were founded as flat settlements and owe their increase to the accumulation of organic and inorganic substances. On the North Frisian coast, settlement options were limited to a few areas near the coast. Behind it lay an extensive alluvial land covered with moors and swamps in the 1st millennium AD , which was poorly suited for agricultural use.
Changes
The development of this land took place in connection with large-scale dikes and artificial drainage from the beginning of the 2nd millennium. In the High Middle Ages, the impassable swamps and moors became a cultural landscape, which, however, fell victim to the violence of the sea as a result of a series of storm surge disasters.
On the floor of the North Frisian Wadden Sea, parts of the surface of the old cultivated land have been preserved. They come to light in favorable places at low tide . The Halligen, on which characteristic features of the ancient economy emerge, are geologically young, and partly grew up above the sunken cultural areas of the Middle Ages. There is no evidence of a Hallig economy tradition going back to prehistoric times at these points. However, it could be proven that the step from an intensive to a more extensive economic method was made under the pressure of the increasing influence of the sea.
literature
- Albert Bantelmann : The development of the landscape on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. Shown using the example of North Friesland. A functional history through five millennia . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1967, ( Offa books NF 21, ISSN 0581-9741 ).