Grave field of Groß Siemz

location

The cemetery of Groß Siemz is in the office of Schönberger Land in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .

During the investigation of an Iron Age settlement in Groß Siemz, a burial ground from the younger Bronze Age (around 1000-550 BC) was discovered. The site, bounded on three sides by running waters, is located on an elongated elevation.

Stone circles

The most striking remains of the burial ground were over 50 stone circles . Due to the later use of the area, many circles were incomplete, but the location of distant stones could often be determined by the stone traces. The stones were the size of a head or a double head and surrounded circular areas up to 10.5 m in diameter. The majority, however, was between 1.6 and 5.0 m. The stone circles surrounded the foot of the not preserved burial mound . It is unclear whether the stone frames were supposed to prevent the mounds from flowing apart or whether religious ideas played a role. In the middle, occasionally slightly offset, there was an urn grave - especially in the smaller complexes .

In addition to the barrows, shallow graves sunk underground were uncovered. On the excavated part (about 12,000 m²) of the burial ground, over 60 people were buried. Further grave sites had been cleared through agricultural activity and the expansion of the neighboring Iron Age settlement. This also applies to the empty stone circles, which otherwise had at least one grave. Thus about 100 people were buried on the area. Several hundred individuals can be assumed for the burial ground that extends beyond the line boundary of the A20 motorway .

Urns and gifts

In undisturbed graves, the urn usually stood on a floor stone. It was surrounded by several stones and covered by a capstone. The vessel contained the cremation of the corpse burned on a pyre. As a result of the corpse burn examination, seven urns contained the bones of more than one person. In two cases there were two small children each. Once a toddler was buried with two adults. In the remaining four cases, the corpse burn belonged to two adults. In most cases, the investigations speak in favor of deliberate multiple burials , possibly also in favor of collective cremation at the stake. The urn used almost exclusively was the cone-necked vessel typical of the younger Bronze Age and rarely decorated here. In one case, a grid pattern was incised below the opening of the vessel; in other vessels, handle knobs were placed on the vessel shoulder. As is customary for the younger Bronze Age, the graves rarely contained grave goods. Most of them are fragments of bronze decorative pins. The needles are named after the shape of their head. In the finds from Groß Siemz, vase-headed needles with spherical, bowl or washer heads could be distinguished. A finger ring, a fragment of a neck ring and numerous small pieces of metal made of bronze were also found.

Grave robbery

Some graves were probably robbed in prehistoric times. In one case the stone packing was found completely intact except for the capstone, but in the interior there was a halved vessel. There was relatively little adult corpse burn in the remains of the vessel and next to it. Presumably an opening of the grave took place here. It cannot be clarified whether the metal additions were targeted or whether the peace of the dead was disturbed for other reasons. Similar observations are also available from other graves in Groß Siemz. Two settlements of floor and side stones contained neither the remains of the vessel nor the corpse burn. Apart from the missing capstones, they resembled the stone packings of urn graves. Comparable findings from other burial grounds are generally regarded as mock graves (cenotaphs). According to the observations in Groß Siemz, mock graves could also be interpreted as robbed.

Black pits

Between the graves and in the edge area of the grave groups, smaller, filled pits were often found, mostly with black material containing a lot of charcoal. They are known as fire pits. Presumably the remains of the pyre that did not end up in the graves were deposited in the pits . This is supported by admixtures from small pieces of corpse incendiary and bronze fragments.

Results of the corpse burn determination

The investigation of the corpse burns provided further information about those buried in Groß Siemz. About as many women as men were buried in the excavated part. What is unusual is the small proportion of children buried at around 20%. Otherwise values of around 50% are usual for grave fields of the Younger Bronze Age. The complete absence of young people is striking. Most adults died between the ages of 40 and 60. This observation is also striking. In other populations at the same time, an adult hardly reached the age of 40 on average. Perhaps the remains of certain age groups were buried in other locations. Stone placements in which several urns stood close together provide clues to special human fates. This applies in three cases in Groß Siemz. At least one of the vessels contained the cremation of a toddler, while another female adult was buried. Apparently mother and child were buried here together.

Three burial precincts

The division into groups of graves is a common phenomenon in northern Central Europe during the Younger to Late Bronze Age. The distribution of the grave sites on the excavation plan of Groß Siemz shows a division into three groups.

A concentration of 11 to 12 barrows and seven flat graves were in the east,
another of eight to 13 barrows and two flat graves in the southwest.
the group in between comprised most of the complexes with 29–30 hill and 13 flat graves.

The black pits (fire pits) were largely located within the areas separated by 10–20 m wide free zones. The groups probably represent the grave districts of different families. Smaller grave-free zones within the three districts allow further subdivision, especially for the medium concentration. A row of pits separated the southern from the northern section. The northern one, in turn, can be further subdivided, so that a more complex system can be assumed.

A row of cultic pits

A structure of 36 elongated pits runs linearly over a length of 125 m - across the burial ground - from southwest to northeast. Due to the arrangement, they can be viewed as individual trench sections. They were predominantly 0.7–1 m wide and up to 5 m long. Its filling consisted of black material containing fire, at least in the lower area. Most of them also contained a large number of fire-worn stones. Only in exceptional cases did the sites contain other finds such as calcined bones. The interruptions between the trenches were usually only a few decimeters wide, but could also reach several meters. 14C-dating of charcoal samples from different sections of the row of trenches point uniformly to the end of the 9th century BC. According to this, the pits were created within a short period of time, probably even in one go. With its classification in the 9th century BC, the complex existed at the same time as an older phase of the burial ground (around 1000–600 BC). In addition, it is striking that no grave was disturbed by the row of pits and, conversely, no grave segment was disturbed by a grave. Obviously, the course of the trench row was also in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. When most of the smaller burial mounds were built, respected. Use of the trench sections is no longer documented for this time. There must therefore have been a superficially visible marking, of which, however, no traces were found. The reason for the creation of the grave structure is certainly to be found in the religious area and it can be assumed that it was related to the cult of the dead, which cannot be further explored today. Although similar structures are known from the Scandinavian region and northern Central Europe ( rows of trenches, e.g. Triwalk ), the dimensions of the individual pits are completely different. The reference of rows of pits to a burial place, which has been proven in Groß Siemz, is also unique so far.

literature

Ingo Lütjens: The burial ground of Groß Siemz, district of Northwest Mecklenburg . In: Uta Maria Meier (Red.): The A20 motorway - Northern Germany's longest excavation. Archaeological State Museum and State Office for Land Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lübstorf 2006, ISBN 3-935770-11-1 , p. 65ff.