Globe amphora culture

Globe amphora culture

Age : Neolithic Absolutely : 3100 BC BC to 2700 BC Chr.
expansion
Ukraine up to the Leine (Aller) in Lower Saxony
Leitforms
Sphere amphorae, wide-mouthed pots with a standing base

Amphora of the spherical amphora culture, discovered in 1979 during earthworks at Schloss Friedrichsfelde , now Märkisches Museum Berlin

The sphere amphora culture (KAK) is a Central European culture of the Late Neolithic / End Neolithic . It existed from about 3100 to 2700 BC. Chr. Was named them after the typical clay vessels with spherical body, cylindrical, usually decorated neck and Ösenhenkeln the neck. The term Kugelamphoren-Kultur was coined in 1900 by the Berlin prehistorian Alfred Götze .

Research history

In 1746 a stone box was discovered while plowing near Sittichenbach , Amt Sittichenbach , in which "the skeletons and bones of five people" lay. Three faced west and two faced east. Of the two found vessels, one survived until the Second World War, which is classified as a richly decorated spherical amphora according to the photograph.

In the following decades, during work / looting / destruction of megalithic stone graves, vessels reminiscent of spherical amphorae were noticed. The finds became more frequent in the second half of the 19th century. J. Schmidt reported in 1894 on the investigation of a stone box in Beckendorf-Neindorf , Oschersleben district .

In 1900 Alfred Götze compiled all known information and combined the finds into a group whose distribution corresponds to the later postulated western group of the KAK. In addition to the amphorae, he also counted the wide-bodied pots and the bowls he called bowls in the ceramic inventory. He also recognized that thick-nosed flint axes and chisels belonged to this culture. He sought the origin of the group in the "Nordic Stone Age Province", and chronologically he looked at them because of their relations with the Bernburger type "as a relatively late sections of the Late Stone Age affiliated group" as he sees younger than the Corded Ware was (Götze: Neolith. In: Studien. Z. Ethnol. Anthropol. 32, 1900, p. 177).

In the first three decades of the 20th century, the debate about the origin, chronology and nature of the KAK formed a focus of research.

Based on A. Götze and G. Kossinna, P. Höfer (1911), H. Mötefindt (1915) and others searched for the origin of the KAK in the area east and north of the Harz Mountains , with the Havel area playing a special role. The KAK is also older than the cord ceramics.

• 1918: Nils Åberg provided a second compilation of finds, but did not go beyond the previously known facts in the explanations.
• 1922: Gustaf Kossinna presented a comprehensive list of sites in tabular form, distinguishing between a western and an eastern group. Although an evaluation he had announced was never published, this classification, albeit modified, is still used today.
• 1927, in summary: PLB Kulpka declared the KAK as belonging groups based on mergers with Bernburger ceramics and named them style IV of its passage grave ceramics. He advocated a down-to-earth development of the KAK and considered it to be older than the Schnurkeramik and the Schönfeld culture .
• 1938: In his considerations on the megalithic culture, Sprockhoff considered the KAK with its origins in the Middle Elbe and in the Havel region. He also believed he recognized elements that indicated their continued existence into the early Bronze Age.
• 1938: H. Priebe presented a comprehensive study of the western group of the KAK, which today still offers a solid basis. For him, the western group forms a unified whole. Chronologically, he arranges the group at the end of the Neolithic (New Stone Age), emphasizing relationships with the Baalberger , Bernburger, Schönfelder and Schnurkeramischen cultures.
• 1950s: U. Fischer presents fundamental work on the Neolithic in the Middle Elbe-Saale area. Chronologically, he considers the KAK to be younger than the cord ceramics.
• 1964: V. Weber's analysis shows:

• 1.) The western group still forms a unified group.
• 2.) The KAK arose in the area of ​​today's Poland on the basis of the eastern funnel cup culture, and the western group is a detached, younger phase of this culture.
• 3.) In chronological terms, the western group is characterized as a short-term phenomenon that is supposed to correspond to "a more recent phase, but not the end of the Cord Ceramics".

• Ewald Schuldt describes the subsequent burials of the spherical amphora culture in megalithic systems of the funnel beaker culture (TBK) for an essentially identical form of use.
• 1973: H. Behrens sums up the state of research achieved in the monograph The Neolithic in the Middle Elbe-Saale area. In the same decade, Kirsch, Müller, Rosenstock investigated further sub-areas of the KAK.
• 1985: H. Nortmann: He sees the western group in Germany and Bohemia , the eastern group in Poland and the Ukraine . Western Poland can be seen as a transition area. Due to his style analysis, he rejects the hypothesis of a monocentric genesis of the KAK. He also considers the east and west groups to be relatively chronologically indivisible.
• Berlin 1985: E. Nagel : published the apparitions of the KAK in the north of the GDR.
• 1988: H.-J. Beier deals with the KAK in the Middle Elbe-Saale area.

chronology

Absolute: so far, 3200/3100 to 2700/2600 BC has been used as an approximation. Chr. (1995)

Relative: temporary contact with the Walternienburg - Bernburg culture and with the Schnurkeramischen cultures. The KAK marks the transition from the middle to the late Copper Age (Saarbrücker Chronologie).

Cultural: The KAK was formed in the area of ​​the eastern funnel cup culture and forms a basis of the cord ceramic culture. The early, still traditional KAK can be found at the monumental graves of the funnel cup culture. The end of the KAK can be seen in the form of the stool graves without gifts in the contact zone of the KAK with Western cultural groups. This is then also the zone of the so-called A-horizon of the stone battle axes of the early Corded Pottery. The KAK is not only to be understood as a self-confident, dynamic culture, but also as a process of change within the societies that came into contact with the early eastern steppe cultures. Marija Gimbutas assumed an Indo-European origin. The burial customs, the extremely few copper finds, and new genetic studies speak against this.

distribution

Sphere amphora culture (orange) with the neighboring groups Cord Ceramic Culture (reddish), Baden Culture (violet) and Yamnaja Culture (yellow).

The KAK was widespread from the Ukraine to the Weser and Leine rivers (as evidenced by subsequent burials of the spherical amphora culture ) in Lower Saxony . The 20 or so sub-groups described can be divided into a Bernburg group (originated in the Bernburg culture ), a Bohemian group (Řivnáč culture), a Altmark group reaching to Ostholstein ( Warnow - Schwentine - Fehmarn ) and a Weser group around Hanover to Hameln, one Elbe-Havel group (including Spree and Dahme area) with a transition area on the Oder with expansion to the Peene or into Oderhaff and to Western Pomerania (Polish coast), an Oder-Warte-Weichsel group with expansion to the Haff coast as well into the Lubin-Volhynia-Gruppe (Wollin) and Bug-Dniestr-Sereth-Gruppe, which reaches the Black Sea near Odessa (Usatovo culture) and thus the area of ​​the late pit grave culture .

In addition to the Elbe-Havel and Bernburg groups, the Warte-Weichsel group shows the greatest concentration and probably also developed the typical spherical vessel shape. Thanks to the new mobility, all groups were in trade contact with one another with carts that were now pulled by horses. They expand the trading network that has existed since the funnel beaker culture and which has been further expanded by Schnurkeramik.

Beyond the core area, individual finds and mixed ceramic finds have been found in graves. Contacts show the Bernburg group to the Goldberg group or Altheimer group as well as to the Wartenberger group and the Bohemian group (Řivnáč group) to the Chamer group on the Danube, which themselves played an essential role in the expansion of the bell-cup culture . This contact intensified more and more during the Corded Ceramics, so that it was mixed almost everywhere in Central Europe.

This dynamic cultural expansion gave rise to the discussion as to whether the sponsors of the KAK were the first steppe expansion that could play a key role in understanding the cultural complexes of the Copper Age or Early Bronze Age. The question must be answered with yes and no. An expansion into the Asian steppe region took place, but is mainly linked to the pit grave culture and other Ural cultures. However, traces of expansion can be seen as far as the Abkhazian coast of the western Black Sea region, which points to cultural transfer via the Crimea.

Material culture

Ceramics

Amphora of the spherical amphora culture, discovered in 1979 during earthworks at Schloss Friedrichsfelde , now Märkisches Museum Berlin

The spherical amphora can be bulbous in shape, but it can also be sagged or warped in some other way. An attempt was made to derive the shape from a pig's bladder. There is also the wide-mouthed pot with a standing base and often clearly separated short neck. The necks of the amphorae and pots are often richly decorated. Typical ornaments are diamond and triangular fields, combinations of hanging and standing triangles, recessed angular and diamond bands. Finger dots, circumferential bulges and dovetail handles complete this inventory as plastic decorations.

The color of the vessels varies from yellowish-reddish to gray and brown tones to black, with gray and brown dominating. Large "settlement vessels" are generally more lean and less burned than the other containers. The average wall thickness of the spherical amphorae is approx. 0.5 cm, and the wide-mouthed pots approx. 0.6 cm; Values ​​of 0.8 cm and more are essentially limited to the larger vessels, mostly from settlement areas.

Vessel shapes

These are the ones

1. Spherical amphora,
2. the bowl-like vessels (a. wide-bodied pot, b. bowl, c. bowl, d. wart cup, e. real bowl),
3. Settlement ceramics (pot with raised fold),
4. Cup and
5. Special forms.

The spherical amphora and the wide-mouthed pot are the most common types of ceramic in the KAK.

1. Sphere amphora: It is the eponymous guide vessel of culture. Definition by A. Götze (1900). On average, the height of a spherical amphora is between 15 and 20 cm, but there are also some that are only eight centimeters high; on the other hand, a spherical amphora from Baalberge has a considerable height of 34 cm. They are always spherical vessels with a cylindrical or sometimes slightly conical neck, which is only designed to swing out slightly in exceptional cases. The floor is sometimes slightly flattened. The formation of regular stand areas is rare. The neck is clearly separated from the body of the vessel, and a neck-shoulder-throat is relatively common. The handles each consist of two horizontally drilled little eyelets that sit symmetrically opposite each other in the neck-shoulder bend. The handles are often fluted, and on some spherical amphorae the lower handle attachment is enlarged by the application of plastic ribs (dovetail handles). The decoration of the spherical amphora is limited to the neck and shoulder. Both parts are usually always decorated together. Only a few of the spherical amphorae are undecorated.

P. Faßhauer investigated the production method of the spherical amphorae and carried it out experimentally (1956). He assumed that the lower part was produced using the form key process and that the shoulder and neck area were then bulged. The appearance of decorated and undecorated vessels as well as vessels with oval or sagging belly are for him "no characteristics that allow conclusions for the derivation of a typological development of form". He viewed them as the result of the individual skills of the potters. Regarding the genesis of the form, it can be said that a derivation from the Neolithic cultural milieu seems just as possible as from the vessel shapes of the eastern funnel-shaped culture. Perhaps containers made from organic raw materials (calabash) ultimately inspired the KAK wearers to develop the amphorae with a bent belly profile into the round-bellied spherical amphorae.

2. Bowl shapes: The bowl shapes , which differ only slightly, are finely divided. These are the a.) Wide-mouthed pot, b.) The "bowl" - bowl, c.) "Bowl". The differentiation criteria are 1. for handles that are crossed or in pairs, some of which also functioned as eyelets, and 2. for a straight or round base and a correspondingly adapted lower part. What they have in common is the retracted neck area where the handles are located. Furthermore, in the not uncommon case of ornamentation in the neck and shoulder area, the ornamentation is located, similar to the spherical amphorae. Furthermore, the bowl shapes include the d.) Wart cups, and e.) The real bowl.

a.) wide-bodied pot: second most common vessel shape. The height varies from 54 cm with a diameter of 48 cm to a height of only twelve centimeters with a diameter of 13 cm. In general, the wide-bodied pots are larger than the spherical amphorae, i.e. on average between 20 and 30 cm in height. The wide-mouthed pots always have a standing surface, which can often be designed as a separate standing base. Their lower part is usually profiled with sloping walls and the shoulder, which is often rounded, is offset. Particularly characteristic are the four horizontally pierced handle eyelets in the shoulder area. Occasionally there are also vessels with vertically pierced handles. Here, too, the decoration is limited to the neck and shoulder area.

b.) Bowl - bowl: The shape of the bowl, called bowl by Götze, was the third characteristic bowl of the KAK for him. All bowls have a dome-shaped undecorated lower part on which a short, usually clearly separated neck sits. Usually it is designed with a slightly conical curve. The designation of the vessel as "bowl" as used by H.-J. Beier used is incorrect in the strict sense of the word, since bowls are, by definition, considered to be vessels with a mouth diameter at least twice their height. This value is often just below that for the “bowls”. In addition, at the level of the break, these vessels often have two handles in the form of handle lugs that are close together and that make use as a bowl more likely than a bowl. The retracted neck part also gives this impression. Nevertheless, it is difficult to make a clear distinction, which is why this type of vessel is referred to in the following as a “bowl”. The size of a bowl varies between H = 14 cm / D = 28 cm and H = 8 cm / D = 12 cm. The difference between a bowl and a wide-bodied pot is that the wide-bodied pot has a straight base compared to the bowl and four cruciform knobs. Otherwise, the bowl acts like a hollow in the neck area.

c.) Bowl : These vessels have a drawn-in, more or less funnel-shaped protruding rim, which is clearly separated from the slightly bulged lower part, and have a standing base. H. Priebe (1938) saw in this type of vessel "intermediate forms between bowl and bowl". Basically, the bowl is nothing more than a variant of the bowl, only that it has a straight surface. Bowls are mostly undecorated, and handling is rather rare. The bowls can be divided into two groups according to their rim formation: 1. Vessels with a funnel-like protruding rim (funnel rim bowl); 2. Vessels with a conical to steep neck, which can sometimes be slightly curved. A derivation of the funnel rim bowls from the indigenous substrate does not cause any great difficulties, since vessels with funnel-like mouths occur in almost all Middle Neolithic cultures.

d.) Wart cups : The wart cup is less common and very rarely decorated with notches. Due to its stylistic similarity, it was added to the real bowls by Priebe (1938), but classified as a special group due to its double size and the usual grip or ornamental lugs that are regularly distributed on the edge. The characteristic feature of these one-part, sloping-walled vessels with a flattened or recessed bottom is the wreath that sits just below the rim. The warts are usually equidistant from one another.

e.) Real bowl: Approximately two to three percent of the total ceramic can be counted as real bowls. There are two types:
aa) The single-part, sloping-walled bowl without a handle.
bb) Two-part bowl with an offset neck (shoulder bowl).

3. Settlement ceramics: In addition, the so-called "pot with high-lying upheaval" can be identified for the Middle Elbe-Saale area. A regional subgroup of the KAK may emerge in this type of vessel, since these are only found in that region. With them, the rare ornamentation is limited to the shoulder area. The height of this type of vessel varies between 12.5 and 44 cm, with the average in the range between 20 and 30 cm. H. Priebe (1938) counted the pot with a high-lying transition to settlement ceramics. Even today, around ¾ of these types of vessels come from settlements. As with the wide-bodied pots, the rather simple shape and rare decoration indicate a functional importance in everyday household life.

4th cup : The KAK knows the cup, but this type of vessel is far from being as popular as it is with other cultures. In their place the bowl-like vessels seem to have been in use. Some cups can be seen as alien forms borrowed from the Bernburg culture. In their proportions the vessels are quite uniform. The height-width index varies between 0.79 and 0.85, and the vessel height is between 11.7 and 15.4 cm. They have a detached, mostly undecorated, slightly curved neck part. A small horizontally pierced handle sits at the level of the fold, which is usually decorated. In addition, at the height of the handle, there are often opposite short rows of knobs or pairs of flaps on the sides. In addition to multi-row puncture tapes, there are also circumferential rows of hanging or standing triangles and recessed angle tapes.

5. Special shapes: A good one percent of ceramics is called a special shape, as it cannot be assigned to any of the types mentioned above. This is, among other things, the so-called baking plate , the importance of which is assumed to be either a vessel lid or a base for preparing or receiving food (H. Behrens: clay disks ("baking plates") from the Central German Neolithic. In: Jschr. Mitteldt. Vor. 47, 1963 , P. 127 ff.). The "clay drum" is important. It is an extremely rare find in the western group of the KAK (on the other hand it is found a little more frequently in the eastern group). The corresponding findings indicate that these are influences from the neighborhood. A clear allocation to the KAK has not yet been successful.

Ornamentation and decoration technique

The decoration is always limited to the upper half of the vessel. Mostly spherical amphoras and wide-mouthed pots are decorated. There are also vessels with only neck or shoulder decorations. In the case of some vessels, it was still possible to prove that the decoration was filled with a light dye. It can be assumed that most of the decorated vessels were originally encrusted. In many cases, however, these remains were not preserved, or when they were found it was neglected to examine them before mechanical cleaning.

Adding plastic trim is not all that common. The detectable elements can be divided into three groups:

1. The attachment of small warts and lumps, which can sometimes form rows around the circumference, is mainly limited to the bowls and wart cups.
2. The shoulders of the small eyelet handles can be extended by small ribs so that they form swallowtail handles, which also occur in the Baalberg culture.
3. Occasionally, especially on wide-bodied pots or pots with a raised fold in the neck area or on the shoulder, bulges that are partly decorated and partly undecorated can occur.

In the decorating technique, an imitation of other types of decoration can sometimes be seen. For example, this applies to the imitation of the string ornament, which in this case consists of line stitches. More important than the investigation of individual phenomena is the identification of the more or less regularly recurring main patterns and the analysis of their distribution and the frequency of their use in certain areas. H. Nortmann (in Prehist. Z. 60, 1985) examined the ornamentation of the KAK on a large scale in a study. a. to the following results:

1. "... the horizontal arrangement of similar motifs" is "the main principle of ornamentation ... The interruption of the horizontal, the addition of vertical but still circumferential lines, the renouncement of a distinctive bottom end, the similar expansion in width and height gave cause to modify the guiding principle, ... "
2. The following six main pattern groups were set up for the western group: A. borders, B. diamond fields, C. triangular fields, D. combination of diamond and triangular fields, E. combination of hanging and standing triangles, F. fringes.
3. The similarities between the Eastern and Western groups of the KAK are of a very general nature.
4. The western group can still not be broken down chronologically.
5. The eastern group cannot be divided into relative chronological order either. The previous proposals did not stand up to scrutiny.
6. “Based on the ornamentation, two regional style groups were highlighted within the distribution area of ​​the KAK: a western group in Germany and Bohemia, an eastern group in Poland and the Ukraine. ... In addition, there are small-scale units that are indicated by concentration or the lack of features. "
7. "... Between the western and eastern groups" there are "such serious differences that a monocentric genesis cannot be thought of"

A comparison of the frequency of occurrence of the most important types of decoration within individual local groups leads to interesting conclusions:

1. Individual types of decoration were used differently in different regions. For example, the use of string decoration in the Middle Elbe-Saale area is three times more frequent than in the Altmark-Lüneburg area and even seven times more frequently than in Mecklenburg.
2. The values ​​for Mecklenburg are generally lower than for the other two groups. This means that the proportion of undecorated ceramic must be higher here.
3. The different frequency of occurrence of different types of decoration in individual areas indicates regional differences and is thus in a certain contradiction to the thesis of the uniformity of the western group of the KAK, i.e. This means that a greater cultural independence of the local groups can be expected - ethnic sub-groups with a high self-esteem (“clans”), who form a larger culture.

Other ceramic finds

Since settlement sites of the KAK have hardly been investigated so far or mostly only older, incompletely documented excavations are available, it is not surprising that z. B. has become little known in relation to the spindle whorl. Every now and then there are indications of perforated clay discs and clay beads, which are probably to be counted as jewelry on the body and clothing. The occurrence of small elongated clay cylinders, all of which were found broken, should be pointed out in the Rietzmeck settlement. Sometimes a perforation could still be recognized in the middle. Punctiform puncture marks are reminiscent of the decoration of amber discs, so that these could perhaps be pierced amulets.

equipment

The available raw materials form the material basis of the devices. Much of it has passed due to its organic basis. Nevertheless, from time to time finds such as B. the ax with a complete shaft from the stone box from Niedereichstädt , Querfurt district.

Stone tools

Neck comb axes of the spherical amphora culture from Schleswig-Holstein

The raw material for stone tools comes from the area, and the variety of colors is correspondingly colorful.

• Flint ax: The four types that occur form closely related shapes, so that they appear as a relatively uniform artifact type, which is referred to as a flint rectangle ax. In any case, they are thick-nosed, relatively thin-bladed axes with a rectangular cross-section and a slightly curved edge. Their average length is between eight and twelve centimeters.
• Flint chisels: Perhaps these devices are a special form of the somewhat larger axes and were accordingly machined in a similar way. Since the thick-nosed flint chisels have so far only been found in connection with KAK ceramics, it seems permissible to assign these as characteristics of the KAK.
• Small devices and cuts made of flint : The following devices can be found in graves so far: blades, blade scrapers, scrapers , scrapers , sheeters and unretouched cuts. Including arrowheads with a retracted base.
• Neck ridge ax : This interesting type of ax made of rock is part of the western group of the KAK. KH Brandt regards them “as a fusion of elements of Central European axes and Nordic double ax variants”.
• Stone hatchet, ax and similar devices: These instruments, made from rock, correspond in shape to flint hatchets. The chisel is also represented here.
• Other stone tools: knocking stones, friction plates, runner stones, etc.

Bone and antler implements

Awl for piercing leather (or opening the veins of animals for slaughter and sacrifice). A bone dagger from Schönbeck with a length of 21.6 cm and a bone ax from Zörbig indicate the presence of unusual bone artifacts.

Jewellery

Pierced animal teeth, shell discs and antler pendants. Some of it served purely decorative purposes, other objects had magical powers and others were used for representation, such as the amber objects. These were always found in graves with conspicuous grave structures or generally rich furnishings. The most common of these are the small amber pearls. There are also amber disks with a diameter of up to 5 cm. It is not uncommon for them to have smaller peripheral holes in addition to the large central hole, which are certainly of symbolic importance. Miniature axes made of amber, which occur frequently in the north and east of the KAK, have not yet been documented for the Middle Elbe-Saale area. The extent to which the amber disks are related to a sun cult can only be guessed at.

Objects made from other organic substances

In the Middle Elbe-Saale area the already mentioned 50 cm long shaft of a flint ax made of birch wood, which is kept in the RGZM. There is also a report of the discovery of some thin boards tied together with bast, which, however, disintegrated during the rescue. The remains of wood have been interpreted as part of a shield. Of course, boards and beams were used not only for building houses, but also for building graves.

Metal objects

The copper finds are sparse. But they prove its existence and it can be assumed that copper was processed independently in the KAK. The finds are a pearl (lost), unidentifiable copper fragments, a small sheet of copper - in the eastern group of the KAK a small awl and the fragment of a curved piece of jewelry. This "hostility to metal" is likely to have been controlled by a corresponding burial custom.

Settlements

Compared to most of the other Neolithic cultures, the KAK has three special features:

1. References to large settlements are very rare.
2. Grave mounds or grave fields are not known.
3. The settlements found so far remain below 200 m above sea level.

For the Middle Elbe-Saale area, Beier (1988) differentiates between four types of settlement:

1. Settlements on dunes and high water-protected hills in the Elbe valley (eight sites)
2. Settlements on the high banks of rivers and streams (eight sites)
3. Settlements in the floodplain or on flat terrain (eight sites)
4. Settlements on small heights or in the area of ​​gently sloping slopes (30 sites), which clearly represent the most common type of settlement.

All in all, it can be stated that prominent points in the area were visited, which offered a certain natural protection. The close grave ritual relationships between KAK and TBK indicate that some settlement areas may have been used jointly by both cultures.

Since mainly old excavations are available, little is known about the settlement structure. The approximately seven meter diameter circle of post positions, in which there were two stone placements with a fireplace in between, is interesting. This was found in the middle of the Dessau-Kleinkühnau settlement . An interpretation as a “henge-like cult structure” (for consultations and ceremonies) seems tempting, but should be avoided with regard to further interpretations.

The Bernburger culture and the KAK are similar in house construction with post construction with shallow post pit depths. According to the position of the post holes, these houses have modest dimensions of around 4 × 2.5 m. There are no signs of walling or palisade around a settlement.

Economy

Due to the spread from Ukraine to the Elbe, it was previously assumed that the carriers of the KAK were cattle-breeding nomads who immigrated from Eastern Europe. The shape of the eponymous spherical amphora also contributed to this. More recent grain finds and settlement findings make it clear that the carriers of the KAK were probably more sedentary farmers, with whom the focus in agriculture changed in the direction of increased animal husbandry .

In addition to pigs, cattle come first among domestic animals. In addition, there are cattle burials in almost every grave, in some cases regular cattle burials (e.g. Schönebeck, Dölkau, Plotha, Stobra), in Poland (Husynne Kolonia, district Zamość, Sahryń, district Werbkowice, Sandomierz, district Tarnobrzeg and Zdrojówka, Koło district) on a cultic veneration. The boar teeth that are often found are certainly hunting trophies. Fishing will have played an important role in the waterfront settlements. In the Altmark-Lüneburg area, the following animal species are attested in connection with the KAK: cattle, pigs, sheep / goats, dogs, various birds and mussels.

funeral

Numerous KAK burials are known. Smaller grave fields are the exception, the individual grave is much more common. The graves are often outside the settlement. Overhanging is rarely proven and is considered atypical for KAK. A grave mark (be it stone or wood) cannot be ruled out. When it was found in Derfflinger Hügel near Kalbsrieth (in the Kyffhäuserkreis ), stone settlements with intense scorch marks on both sides of the long sides of the stone box, which the excavator calls "altars" and are probably related to the cult of the dead, are noticeable. The conspicuous eastward orientation of both the grave fields and the dead in the grave itself probably reflects certain ideas of salvation in relation to the sun.

• In contrast to the more western and collective burial cultures, the KAK maintains individual burials, although there were also multiple burials, which are the exception.
• There are no unmegalithic wall chamber tombs in the KAK, but some tombs contain elements of the wall chamber tomb. To the west of the Oder, this applies to the stone-packed double grave of Butzow in Brandenburg, the stone setting of Schönefeld, Jüterbog district, Börtewitz, Döbeln district and the cattle burial of Plotha, Weißenfels district.
• Although there were close relationships between Bernburg culture and the KAK, the independence of both cultural groups cannot be doubted (on the one hand, cross-cultural necropolises such as Pevestorf , Lüchow-Dannenberg district, on the other hand, territorial separation at the Barby cemetery ).
• The graves were preferably placed on the slopes of hills (old roads?) Or on the high banks of rivers and lakes. If possible, east-facing slopes were sought. This explains why subsequent burials of the KAK (in the Middle Elbe-Saale area) were found in burial mounds, either east (Kalbsrieth), east-southeast ( Baalberge and Latdorf ) or south-east ( Ködderitzsch and Böhlen) of the central burial . Other cultures also preferred to place subsequent burials in the eastern area of ​​the burial mounds.
• The east-west orientation of the graves dominates with corresponding deviations, whereby the head of the deceased is usually in the east.
• The dead were generally buried in a crouched position, with left, right, sitting and back stools. The flexion of the stool is usually moderate, seldom weak or extremely pronounced.
• Compared to women's and children's graves, the burials of men dominate. For this reason, the KAK is assigned a strong patriarchal social structure. In terms of the age structure of the buried, the KAK is similar to other Neolithic cultures.

An analysis of the tomb complexes in terms of age and gender gives the following results:

1. There is no gender or age-specific orientation of the burials
2. Men, women, children and multiple burials occur both in shallow graves and in stone boxes.
3. The statement that women and children can never be clearly identified in the graves is incorrect.

In the case of reburial in the megalithic complexes in the north, there can be no question of over- or under-representation of a gender - here Erika Nagel clearly emphasizes the uniformity.

Grave types

1. Body grave, shallow grave: Most common grave type. The digging depth varies between 0.5 and 1 m. The grave pit has a rectangular to oval shape. When buried individually, the graves are 1.5–2 m long and 1–1.5 m wide. There are also multiple burials. The highest number of neighboring shallow graves is five. This small and rare collection does not yet allow us to speak of burial grounds.
2. "Urn", fire pits or fire fill grave : According to the conservation and Fund conditions is to find this grave type rare. These are vessels with corpse burns that were placed in a small box made of stone slabs, although in some cases they were satisfied with just a cover stone. The corpse burn in the urn grave of Ködderitzsch, Apolda district, involves an adult woman as well as a newborn and animal bones (sheep / goat or pig). Incidentally, burn marks and sometimes charred animal and human bones often appear in Polish body graves.
3. Wooden chamber grave : The rectangular grave pit is clad with wooden beams. The construction of the wooden chamber grave differs from the stone box only in the construction material. The wooden chamber grave has only been observed once for sure.
4. Stone box: These are mostly grave chambers of the same size as the flat graves. The walls are clad with stone slabs. Clay, plaster or loam coating on the panels (e.g. Kalbsrieth, District Artern, Baalberge, District Bernburg and Schönebeck), the jointing of individual panels and the paving of the grave sole testify to the great care taken in the manufacture of the boxes. In Menz it was possible to prove that the stone material of the stone box was brought in from a distance of approx. 6–8 km. According to their dimensions, the stone boxes are divided into two types: large (length of approx. 2 m) and small (length of 1.5 m and less). The solitude is particularly noticeable with the stone boxes.
5. Subsequent burial in a megalithic grave or other grave: This custom was common in areas where grave structures of older cultures (especially the funnel cup culture) exist, i.e. in the North German Plain between East Lower Saxony and Poland. The custom was not carried out regularly or only briefly or only in special cases. Ball amphorae in Bernburg graves as well as in gallery graves (e.g. Wartberg) do not necessarily have to be interpreted as a subsequent burial, as the common occurrence of KAK ceramics and local goods is documented in the corresponding cultures (e.g. Wartberg group).
6. Cattle burial : Entire cattle burials connect the KAK with the TBK. H. Behrens dealtwith animal burial in the Neolithic and its interpretation. Cattle burials are not that common, but they stand out for their size, proximity to stone boxes and the attention that the KAK people paid to them. In one case, the pit was paved with rubble. Apparently, cattle in the KAK distribution area had a special cultic quality. For some cattle burials of the KAK, the (past) addition of a wagon or plow is suspected.

The cattle burials are often related to a human burial and are thus reminiscent of the graves of the early Middle Ages, where high-ranking personalities with their horses, e.g. Some were also buried with their servants.

A statistical evaluation of the age of the cattle shows that the young animals predominate. Of 22 animals in the Middle Elbe-Saale area (1988), 17 were under two years old. Given the economic importance of a cattle in the early Neolithic, the cultic background of these burials becomes clear. In no case can these animals be interpreted as food sacrifices or food, as is generally assumed for animal remains found in graves. The cattle received the same careful treatment as the human dead. Among the included vessels, the high proportion of bowls, which otherwise recede somewhat under the ceramic forms, is remarkable. Beier (1988) assumes that these are cultic drinking vessels for the animals.

When the majority of buried animals appear, they are usually related to one another, for example facing antithetically or lined up. The animals lie in a spacious pit, the floor of which sometimes shows clear traces of fire. The west-east orientation with the head in the west was favored and thus stands in contrast to human burials, whose heads normally rest in the east. This persistence in alignment cannot be a coincidence and is based on cultic ideas.

Additions

Ceramics dominate the grave goods. Furthermore, flint axes, chisels and small appliances, other stone tools, tools and jewelry made of bones and amber and remains of animals were given away as meat.

• Apparently there was an offer rite with fixed rules. Vessels and animal remains were preferably placed near the head. If there were several objects, they were arranged in groups or put down in groups. Occasionally there may be vessels in the angle between the thigh and lower leg or behind the back of the dead person.
• Animal heads or animal runs are sometimes added, which Behrens (1964) interprets as a pars-pro-toto offering. The same could also apply to the (few) cremation graves, as bone material from animals was also found in the corpse burn, although this could also be a matter of burnt food.
• Axes and chisels were originally all buried in the grave, mostly near the head or in the area of ​​the upper body.
• Gender segregation: Since men's graves are strongly overrepresented and women's graves are strongly underrepresented, it is difficult to identify gender-specific graves, especially since the majority of the graves are disturbed and mostly poorly observed. But the hatchet is certainly a characteristic of men's graves, although there are some that do not have hatchets. The number of vessel additions for men varies between one and eight, whereas for women it is between one and two.
• A social staggering could be seen from the number of vessel additions. Few graves with four or more vessels are compared to a large number of graves with one or two vessels. Interestingly, these “poor” burials are essentially the graves of children, women and young men. The large number of graves with an intermediate position of three vessels, so to speak, indicates that the social fine differentiation cannot have been particularly great.
• Partial vessel additions can also be recorded for the KAK. This can be assumed above all for the necks of spherical amphorae found in well-observed grave complexes, which give the impression that they have been carefully separated from the rest of the vessel body. One will have to interpret this as the remains of a funeral meal or as evidence of the cultic fragmentation.
• Metallic additions must have been extremely rare. Only one grave is known in the Altmark-Lüneburg area, where the presence of copper jewelry could be proven by traces (Pevestorf, K5). From the monolith grave of Mokre comes a copper oval earring made of round wire and hammered square ends. This custom of giving copper objects to the dead only in exceptional cases will probably be the main reason for the culture's “hostility to metal”.
• Crow stones: In Mecklenburg the rare burial boulder - "crow stones" - is striking. These are flint stones polished smooth by the moving water and probably owe their strange name to their black color. They occur individually, in pairs, but also several times (up to five). E. Schuldt addresses them in various publications as "Gnidelsteine". Since folklorists usually understand a gnidelstone to be an oval, smooth glass body from the early Middle Ages, the term “crow stone” is certainly more sensible to use. Incidentally, the crow's stone is also known in Mecklenburg folklore: because of the spark of fire dormant in the flint and its unusual shape, the idea of ​​supernatural origin and such power was associated with it.

Cults / religion

• The special role of the cattle in the cult has already been pointed out. The presence of a pars-pro-toto thought can be determined as well as the cultic fragmentation and the funeral meal.
• There must have been a clearly differentiated grave custom. This was certainly based on the status of the person (possession / influence etc.) and probably also on the type of cause of death. Correspondingly, the number of grave goods as well as the cost of the burial complex itself were dealt with. The fact that women extremely rarely received such a large burial expense as some men does not have to mean a cultic immaturity, but rather is due to the importance of the economic situation of the man in the KAK , but also in the Copper Age in general.
• Dzierzykraj-Rogalsk (1947) and Kowalczyk (1962), among others, point to finds of charred and broken human long bones as signs of ritual cannibalism (observed mainly in graves in the sense of an addition). The question of whether it is cannibalism in the sense of the admission of the deceased into the circle of the living or whether it is cannibalism dedicated to the divine powers has not yet been clarified.
• The human sacrifice in the sense of the grave gift is indicated above all in the Polish stone boxes, where the main dead man was sometimes given several people into the grave. It is generally noticeable that either the presumed "master" or his "guardian of the dead" was seated upright. Whether one can speak of collective graves in these cases appears to be doubtful - these are more likely to be special burials that would be referred to as princely graves in later epochs.
• Furthermore, the menhir idea seems to have been familiar to the people of the KAK, as this u. a. the grave findings with menhir and the dead of Vojcechovka oriented towards it shows.
• Trepanation was known to the KAK sponsors . From Ketzin there are five trephine defects on three skulls that were survived and healed. The reasons for such an intervention are in the field of therapy, i. H. Trepanation promised to alleviate and cure various symptoms of the disease, although there are indications that some of the surgeons were familiar with the crossover of nerves in the head.

literature

• Sonja Barthel u. A .: Type tables for prehistory and early history. Cultural Association of the German Democratic Republic and others, Weimar and others 1972, ( digitized version ).
• Hermann Behrens : The Neolithic-Early Metal Age Animal Skeleton Finds of the Old World. Studies on their interpretation of nature and historical problems (= publications by the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. 19). German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1964.
• Hermann Behrens: The Neolithic Age in the Middle Elbe-Saale area (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. 27, ISSN  0072-940X ). German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1973.
• Hans-Jürgen Beier : The sphere amphora culture in the Middle Elbe-Saale area and in the Altmark (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. 41). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-326-00339-0 .
• Hans-Jürgen Döhle, Björn Schlenker: An animal grave of the spherical amphora culture from Oschersleben, Ldkr. Bördekreis. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Vol. 80, 1998, ISSN  0075-2932 , pp. 13-42.
• Ulrich Fischer : The Stone Age graves in the Saale region. Studies on Neolithic and Early Bronze Age grave and burial forms in Saxony-Thuringia (= prehistoric research. 15, ISSN  0176-6570 ). de Gruyter, Berlin 1956.
• Alexander Häusler: The graves of the spherical amphora culture in Volhynia and Podolia and the question of their origin. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Vol. 50, 1966, pp. 115-140.
• Michael Koch: Contribution to the knowledge of the combined animal-human burials of the eastern funnel beaker cultures in the time horizon of the spherical amphora culture, in particular of the cattle graves. In: Valeska Becker, Matthias Thomas, Andrea Wolf-Schuler (eds.): Times, Cultures, Systems. Commemorative publication for Jan Lichardus (= writings of the Center for Archeology and Cultural History of the Black Sea Region. 17). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-941171-34-3 , pp. 231-241, ( article at Academia.edu ).
• Friedrich Laux : Subsequent burials in large stone graves: The globe amphora culture. In: Heinz Schirnig (Ed.): Great stone graves in Lower Saxony. Lax, Hildesheim 1979, pp. 117-121, ISBN 3-7848-1224-4 .
• James P. Mallory : Globular Amphora Culture. In: James P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams (Eds.): Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn, London et al. 1997, ISBN 1-884964-98-2 .
• Torsten Monday: sphere amphora culture. In: Hans-Jürgen Beier, Ralph Einicke (Ed.): The Neolithic in the Middle Elbe-Saale area. An overview and an outline of the state of research (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. 4). Beier & Beran, Wilkau-Hasslau 1994, ISBN 3-930036-05-3 , pp. 215-228.
• Detlef W. Müller: An urn grave of the spherical amphora culture from Ködderitzsch, Kr. Appolda. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Vol. 60, 1976, pp. 217-234.
• Johannes Müller : Radiocarbon chronology - ceramic technology - osteology - anthropology spatial analysis. Contributions to the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in the Middle Elbe-Saale area. In: Report of the Roman-Germanic Commission. Vol. 80, 1999, ISSN  0341-9312 , pp. 25-211.
• Johannes Müller: Sociochronological studies on the Young and Late Neolithic in the Middle Elbe-Saale area. (4100-2700 BC). A socio-historical interpretation of prehistoric sources (= prehistoric research. 21). Rahden, Leidorf 2001, ISBN 3-89646-503-1 (also: Berlin, Freie Universität, habilitation paper, 1998).
• Erika Nagel : The phenomena of the sphere amphora culture in the north of the GDR (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of the districts of Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. 18, ISSN  0138-4279 ). German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1985.
• Evžen Neustupný: The Eneolithic of Central Europe. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Vol. 63, 1981, pp. 177-187.
• Emilie Pleslová-Stiková: Chronology and settlement forms of the Rivnác culture and spherical amphora culture of Bohemia. In: Annual publication for Central German prehistory. Vol. 63, 1981, pp. 159-171.
• Joachim Preuss (Ed.): Neolithic in Central Europe. Cultures - Economy - Environment. From the 6th to the 3rd millennium BC, overviews of the state of research. Volume 1, 2, Part B: Overviews of the status and problems of archaeological research. Beier & Beran, Weissbach 1998, ISBN 3-930036-10-X , pp. 401-407.
• Hans Priebe : The western group of spherical amphorae (= annual publication for the prehistory of the Saxon-Thuringian countries. Volume 28). Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle 1938.
• Karl W. Struwe : Ball amphorae from Holstein. In: Offa. Volume 12, 1953, pp. 1-13.
• Marzena Szmyt : Distribution and contacts of the spherical amphora culture: A look at the polycultural peripheries. In: Germania. Volume 81/2, 2003, pp. 401-442 ( online ).
• Herbert Ullrich: Skeletons and trephined skulls of the spherical amphora people from Ketzin, Kr. Nauen. In: Publications of the Museum for Pre- and Early History Potsdam. Vol. 6, ISSN  0079-4376 , 1971, pp. 37-55.
• Manfred Woidich: The western globe amphora culture. Investigations into their spatio-temporal differentiation, cultural and anthropological identity. De Gruyter, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-030929-4 .

Web links

Commons : Kugelamphoren-Kultur  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• A KAK children's grave
• A grave of the KAK
• Results from the Middle Elbe-Saale area animal grave
• DAI timetable for classification ( memento from September 27, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )
• jungsteinSITE: Information on Neolithic research

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weber 1964, p. 188.
2. ^ Marija Gimbutas : The Living Goddesses . University of California Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-520-22915-0 , p. 188.
3. ↑ Tassi, F. et al. (2017): Genome diversity in the Neolithic Globular Amphorae culture and the spread of Indo-European languages. Proc. R. Soc. B 284: 20171540. doi : 10.1098 / rspb.2017.1540
4. ↑ Manfred Woidich: The western globe amphora culture. Investigations into their spatiotemporal differentiation, cultural and anthropological identity (= Topoi. 24). de Gruyter, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-030929-4 (also: Berlin, Free University, dissertation, 2012).
5. ^ KH Brandt: Unknown neck comb axes. In: Materialh. Original and early history Lower Saxony. 16, 1980, pp. 1-14.