Circular trench
Kreisgraben is an archaeological term of art that refers to a plant which as a circular ditch in the ground emerges. The term is not limited to a specific size of the finding or a specific interpretation. Circular trenches occur in many eras, areas and cultures . The essence of these findings, which are now perceived as a ditch, for the people of that time may have been the rampart or mound piled up with the excavated material, which, however, has mostly not been preserved.
Circular ditches are typical in the Middle Neolithic of Central Europe, often around 100-200 m in size , which are interpreted as structures with a cultic and social function. Especially in the Netherlands and Westphalia, circular ditches appear in the younger Bronze Age - alongside other forms such as grave mounds with double circular ditches or bowl- hole ditches - as encircling cremation graves and are a characteristic of the Lower Rhine grave mound culture . In the early Middle Ages, circular trenches were occasionally used to enclose body graves; they are considered to be a sign of more elaborate burials.
See also
- Burial mound with double circular moat
- Burial mound with a keyhole
- Circular graves of the individual grave culture
supporting documents
- ^ Arie Dirk Verlinde: The graves and grave finds of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age in Overijssel IV. Reports van de Rijksdienst voor het oudheidkundig bodemonderzoek 35, 1985, pp. 233-411. - Klemens Wilhelmi: Two Bronze Age district grave cemeteries near Telgte, Kr. Warendorf. Soil antiquities of Westphalia 17, Münster 1981.
- ^ Max Martin: The Franconian cemetery of Basel-Bernerring. Basel Contributions to Prehistory and Early History 1. Basel 1976, pp. 20–29. - Hermann Hinz : The Franconian cemetery of Eick, Rheinkamp community, Moers district. Germanic Monuments of the Migration Period Series B, Volume 4. Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1969, pp. 61–63.