Grave field of Groß Timmendorf

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The grave field of Groß Timmendorf is an urn cemetery in the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand ( Ostholstein district ) and is located on the western outskirts of Groß Timmendorf on the “Derbergschen Koppel” and borders on the “Dorfstraße” that leads to Pansdorf .

Since the 1960s, the grave field has been built over in sections by single-family houses. Until its destruction in 1993 it was the largest necropolis of the Iron Age in northern Germany . It was scientifically examined in 1960, 1976 and 1993 by the Schleswig-Holstein State Monuments Office.

At the Timmendorfer Waldfriedhof there is another urn grave (with the mapping LA 13) and in the immediate vicinity there is a megalithic grave from the Stone Age (LA 14).

Significance of the burial grounds in Northern Germany

Central questions of the archaeological analysis of grave fields are - besides the chronological classification of the graves - the social structures in which the prehistoric and early historical societies lived. The burial customs, such as grave goods , the construction of the grave and the occupancy structure of the grave fields provide information about this .

The transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age around 500 is characterized by several factors: the deterioration in the climate, the use of native lawn iron and the Celtic expansion, which led to a diversion of the flow of goods between north and south, as well as promoting the company's own metal production. The large number of burial grounds in northern Germany - from the younger Bronze Age (800 to 500 BC) and throughout the pre-Roman Iron Age - show an astonishing continuity of settlement despite the historical upheavals. The settlements are assigned to the Jastorf culture , named after the urn cemetery in Jastorf near Uelzen.

The production of the ceramic urn vessels in uniform sizes in the respective age groups of the deceased indicates the already existing socio-cultural rules of these societies. This also applies to the handling of grave goods. All fibulae found (garment closures) come from grave inventories. Since almost all fibulae show signs of burn, it is assumed that they were part of the death costume. They were found on the embankments in the urns, where they were apparently deliberately placed. No primers have come down to us from settlements.

The analyzes of the social structures ( social structure ) of the settlement communities of the Jastorf culture suggest segmentary societies (flat social structure). A form of chief or minor kingdom could not be determined. The grave field of Groß Timmendorf indicates, according to the size and occupancy of the grave fields, a small-regional community as well as a solid sedentary lifestyle with animal husbandry and agriculture. The communities did not yet form closed settlement areas.

In contrast to the pre-Roman Iron Age, the following 1000 years left hardly any archaeological traces in the north. It was the time of centuries of migrations and the confusion that went with it.

Discovery and development of the cemetery of Groß Timmendorf

The cemetery of Groß Timmendorf was discovered in 1892 by a farmer in his paddock. The site of the cemetery in Groß Timmendorf was also reported in the Lübeck Generalanzeiger from 1892: There is a large cemetery in Groß Timmendorf. The graves are covered by circular rock stones. In the middle, about ½ meter below the surface, there are black urns with remains of human bones and various accessories such as chains, bracelets, brooches. A large number of urns with grave goods were excavated and sold.

Between 1893 and 1894, the first excavations were carried out by the Kiel “Museum of Patriotic Antiquities”. The investigations were discontinued because of the high claims made by the owner of the land area of ​​the burial ground.

In the 1920s, more urns were recovered. Some of them went to private collections and the museums of Oldenburg and Berlin. Because of the missing assignment of the urns and the grave goods to the burial ground and the no longer existing burnt bodies, their scientific importance was low.

The first large-scale excavations were carried out in 1959/1960 by Hans Hingst from the State Office for Prehistory and Early History, during which 437 individual sites and graves were uncovered and documented. It was also shown that the Iron Age urn cemetery overlaid a settlement from the Bronze Age. In the deeper layers flint knives and tools such as spoon scrapers, heart-shaped arrowheads and fire stones were found. Post marks suggest house floor plans.

The entire burial ground is divided into various burial complexes in the form of hollows with a diameter of 40 to 80 meters, which are clearly demarcated from each other. In the hollows are the graves, which are covered by circular stone packings. The stone packings in sizes from 0.5 to 4 meters in diameter lie close together in large numbers and thus form a stone paving cemetery (see photo in). In the center of these stone circles are the urns, which were enclosed by rolling stones the size of a double fist. There were also grave pits made of stone slabs with remains of ash without a container. In contrast to the existing clay, the soil in the graves consisted of humus-infused sand.

The vessels made of fine clay were bulged as well as two-part bottles and provided with additions such as plate brooches, belt fasteners and needles.

Further excavations of 160 graves were carried out in 1976/1977 after larger parts of the grave field had previously been destroyed by construction work. The development of the grave fields took place parallel to the construction projects. In 1993 the remaining part of the grave field was examined and another 479 graves were uncovered and documented. The following occupancy periods of the grave fields were determined:

  • Groß Timmendorf 1, from 1960: 550 - 200 BC Chr.
  • Groß Timmendorf 2, from 1976: 550 - 50 BC Chr.
  • Groß Timmendorf 3, from 1993: 550 - 150 BC Chr.

A total of 6150 m² was exposed and 1058 burials were documented. Approx. 200 to 250 graves were destroyed and therefore remain undocumented. With around 1,300 burials, it is one of the largest burial grounds in the Jastorf culture area.

Results of the archaeological analysis

In contrast to the body burial in the early Neolithic and the early Middle Ages, cremation mostly took place in the Iron Age. The diagnosis of corpse burn is therefore much more difficult. The age provisions were mainly historical morphometry on bone thin section that allow relatively good age determinations. The level of development of the dentition is also a reliable indicator of age, especially for younger people.

The studies of the urn fields show gender-specific differences, which, however, do not correspond to normal demographic conditions, according to a majority of female individuals. There are also differences in the number of grave goods, which are usually higher for women and children, which indicates the cultural significance of gender.

The different sizes of the urns (the capacity of the urns for the corpses of children, adolescents and adults) allow a rough distinction to be made between the ages of death for these three age groups. The studies of the age at death show a high death rate in childhood and adolescence, which tends to decrease over the course of the older to the younger pre-Roman Iron Age (Groß Timmendorf 1 to Groß Timmendorf 2).

Information about the social structures of the people is possible due to the grave goods, which are available in a little less than half of the graves. These are mainly small metal additions, such as clasps and needles, which allow a distinction to be made between poor and rich graves (Groß Timmendorf 3).

The distribution patterns of the graves (Groß Timmendorf 1) show occupancy groups from all age structures and both genders, which indicates relatives and household associations. From these investigations it is concluded that in the largely autonomous settlement communities only minor social differences prevailed, ie had a segmental form of society.

Current condition of the burial ground

After the investigation of the burial ground, the corpse containers were recovered and have since been in custody at the Schleswig-Holstein State Archaeological Office in Schleswig . The remains of the burial ground were removed and the area filled in. In the period that followed, single-family houses were built there. Most of the burial ground has been destroyed. Only under the village street are there probably still some branches of the burial ground and could possibly have outlasted the time.

21 archaeological finds in the municipality of Timmendorfer Strand, which also include the two urn grave fields in Groß Timmendorf (LA 17) and at the Timmendorfer Waldfriedhof (LA 13), are in the files of the State Office for Prehistory and Early History of Schleswig-Holstein (LVF) "Archäologische Landesaufnahme" (LA) recorded (see the associated map of the locations of the sites with their mapping numbers in).

literature

  • Hans Hingst, Urn cemeteries of the pre-Roman Iron Age from Südholstein, Ibid. 67, Neumünster 1989
  • Hans Hingst et al., Urn cemeteries from Schleswig-Holstein. Corpse burn examinations and cultural analysis, Germania 68, 1990, pp. 167–222
  • Lars Fischer, Andres Dobat: Forging, repairing and “recycling”. Techniques of iron processing in the pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Germany using the example of the cemetery of Gross Timmendorf, Ostholstein district. In: Offa. Vol. 57, 2000, ISSN  0078-3714 , pp. 117-143.
  • Lars Fischer: The pre-Roman Iron Age burial ground of Groß Timmendorf, Kr. Ostholstein. Studies on chronology, spatial structure and social change. Kiel 2001 (Kiel, University, dissertation, 2000).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Bauch: Archaeological finds in the community of Timmendorfer Strand, Chronicle Timmendorfer Strand, 2nd edition 1979.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Steffen Knöpke: Horizontal social structures on the urn cemeteries of the pre-Roman Iron Age. , Bamberg conference, 2004, pp. 127-136 (accessed on February 28, 2018).
  3. ^ [1] , Thomas Riis, Economic and Social History Schleswig-Holstein: Living and Working in Schleswig-Holstein before 1800, Verlag Ludwig 2009.
  4. ^ [2] , Jochen Brand, In Search of the Jastorf Primer. The Ancient Iron Age Plate Brooches of Northern Germany, Archaeological Museum, 2011.
  5. ^ Georg Schipporeit - Timmendorfer Strand and Niendorf, Verlag Gronenberg, 2002.
  6. ↑ a b Rimtautus Dapschauskas: The western group of the Jastorf grave field of Mühlen-Eichsen - investigations into ceramic typology and grave construction , Jena, November 9, 2012.
  7. ↑ [3] , Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen, Homo sapiens in the Iron Age in Northwest and Central Germany, in Studies on the World of the Iron Age: Festschrift für Rosemarie Müller, January 1, 2006 (670 pages).

Coordinates: 53 ° 59 ′ 18.7 "  N , 10 ° 44 ′ 31.5"  E