Belleben III district moat
The Belleben III district ditch is a district ditch of the Late Bronze Age Saale estuary group near Belleben , a district of Könnern in the Salzland district , Saxony-Anhalt .
location
The circular moat is located east of Belleben, halfway to Piesdorf near a power line .
Research history
The facility was discovered during an aerial survey by the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology of Saxony-Anhalt . In 2005 a test excavation was carried out by the Institute for Art History and Archeology of Europe at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg under the direction of André Spatzier . Due to the proximity to the power line, no geomagnetic survey was carried out. The excavation was carried out on an area of 30 × 10 m.
Findings
The facility has a diameter of 75 m and consists of two trenches. Both were created as steep-walled trenches. The outer one has a depth between 1.20 m and 1.80 m and a width between 2.70 m and 4.20 m. The inner one has a depth between 1.90 m and 2.00 m and a width between 3.30 m and 3.60 m. The inner ditch does not have a regular circular shape, but runs straight in parts. Both trenches were filled with humus , in the lower area there was partly inundation of clay and dark humus soil.
Around two dozen round, Late Bronze Age settlement pits were discovered around the moat during the archaeological excavation .
Finds
The most important type of finds are ceramic vessels that came to light both in the pits and in the trenches. These include cups with an omphalos bottom, cylindrical and conical neck vessels, as well as vessels with vertically and diagonally grooved shoulder zones. Numerous bones were also found in the trenches.
Dating
Using the radiocarbon method, some of the boils could be dated to 1420–970 cal. BC. The circular moat can be assigned to the Saale estuary group via the ceramic .
literature
- Ralf Schwarz: Pilot studies - Twelve years of aerial archeology in Saxony-Anhalt. State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2003, ISBN 3-910010-72-5 .
- André Spatzier: Circular moats of the 4th-1st centuries Millennium BC In Central Germany. Preliminary report on the 2005 excavations in Saxony-Anhalt. In: Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt. NF Volume 6, 2012, pp. 71-89 ( online ).
- André Spatzier: After Bandkeramik and Lengyel - circular moats in Saxony-Anhalt and Central Europe from the early Neolithic to the early Iron Age. In: François Bertemes , Harald Meller (ed.): Neolithic circular moats in Europe. International workshop in Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt) 7. – 9. May 2004 (= conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory Halle. Volume 8) State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt - State Museum for Prehistory, Halle (Saale) 2012, ISBN 978-3-939414-33-9 , pp. 363–388 ( Online ).