Hole rod from Grube-Rosenhof
The decorated, well-preserved cult or perforated rod from Grube-Rosenhof (LA 58) is made of red deer antler and dates from the 5th millennium BC. It was discovered during the 2002 excavation in Grube in the depression of the Oldenburg trench in Ostholstein , which Sönke Hartz carried out. The hole rod was recovered from a depth of 3.9 m below sea level. In the Oldenburger Graben, organic materials have been excellently conserved on the wet soil sites that are partially below sea level.
construction
The right-hand spear bar has a length of 58 cm. The proximal end separated from the skull was slightly rounded. About 10 cm behind this end, a double-conical hole about 3.5 × 2.5 cm has been drilled through the substantia spongiosa (the spongy interior of the antlers). The tip of the rod has broken off and the edges have been slightly rounded. The heptagonal faceting in the middle part of the rod is striking , to which there are no parallels so far. Their ridges are provided with 280 parallel short notches arranged transversely in different groups. Under the microscope, grooves or “chatter marks” can be seen on the side surfaces, such as those that occur when smoothing with a flint blade. Unprecedented is a 26 cm long ash wood handle that stuck in the shaft hole. Apparently, its tapered end was originally fastened with linden bast, as indicated by discoloration around the shaft hole. According to the sediments, the find area was a shallow water zone. So there is much to suggest that it was deliberately dumped in the vicinity of the settlement area.
The perforated rod could be dated through its find layer in the middle section of the Ertebølle culture (Jarbock phase - between 4800 and 4600 BC). Radiocarbon dating of the wooden handle showed an average date of around 4680 BC. Chr.
purpose
The purpose of the perforated bars is unknown. There are two possible uses.
- a functional-technological use. It can be used as a digging stick when looking for fruits, roots or tubers. Some comparison pieces also show a damaged or missing seat, which is occasionally accompanied by scratches. These damaged areas could have been caused by hitting stones in the ground. Whereby the cross bar doesn't make any sense. The use as a tillage implement for sowing can be ruled out, as there is no evidence of grain cultivation for the Ertebølle period. Comparable pierced devices are already known almost 10,000 years earlier from the environment of the Upper Paleolithic reindeer hunters and are associated with the stretching of spear shafts .
- a use in a spiritual-religious context is more difficult to prove. The oldest interpretation is that of a "command baton", which could have been worn by chiefs as a sign of rank or as an insignia. A convincing interpretation would also be the use of shamans in magical-religious rituals. Numerous ethnographic analogies can be cited here. Since the perforated rod was lavishly decorated by Grube-Rosenhof, the focus should have been on the ornamentation itself. So far, the regular markings have been interpreted as counting marks. There are also bars with complex patterns (e.g. Tägerup, Scania, Sweden and Vedbæk, Zealand, Denmark). A combined use in the sacred as well as in the profane environment can be ruled out through ethnological comparisons. Some of the pierced antler sticks (Amose, Denmark; Szczecin-Grabowo, Poland) show depictions of animal hunts.
In some places the rods (including the hole rod from Grube-Rosenhof) have polishes that indicate that the devices were worn in a belt on the body. It is difficult to decide which category this extraordinary hole rod belongs to, as little is known about the world of the Mesolithic. The specimen from Grube-Rosenhof is a unique testimony of its time with its faceting, line ornamentation and wooden shaft.
literature
- Frederick Feulner: The Mesolithic perforated antler rods in the southwestern Baltic region . Starigarder Annual Reports of the Friends of the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory CAU Kiel Vol. 6 2005 pp. 7-14
- Frederick Feulner & Sönke Hartz: One hole, seven corners and 280 notches - The cult rod from Grube-Rosenhof in Ostholstein In: Archäologische Nachrichten aus Schleswig-Holstein 2011 pp. 22-25
- Sönke Hartz: Oldenburger Graben treasure trove. Middle Neolithic settlement remains from Wangels (LA 505) in Ostholstein . 2005