Mönchengladbach-Geneicken (archaeological site)
The late Paleolithic - Mesolithic site of discovery Mönchengladbach-Geneicken is located in the Niersauen in the Rheydt district and was dated 11,500 BC. Dated. Around 9500 BC An aurochs was shot a few meters away .
The site has been known for a long time, but new investigations were carried out in 2013 and 2014 as part of the construction of a rainwater retention basin south of Rheydt Castle on an area of 2723 m². Ten activity zones were exposed by members of the penknife groups. In addition, the remains of an aurochs from this era were found in the Rhineland for the first time.
The hunters and gatherers primarily pursued wild horses and red deer , but also smaller mammals such as beavers and foxes . Remnants of these were mainly found on the edge of the settlement area. In the places where a particularly large number of stone artefacts were excavated (up to 95% of the finds), many bones were also found. Fireplaces were found in two places.
All in the processing of Silex - mostly from Nordic Flint, which is rare in the Rhineland - resulting artifacts , such as haircuts , blades , Absplisse, cores and mere rubble were represented. Regular blades were preferred for the manufacture of the spring and back knives , and for the other devices mostly tees. However, not all concentrations of this type indicate a strike area, but also indicate waste disposal. Vetschau / Orsbach flint from the Aachen area was also found, along with Maass gravel and Maasei flint from local sources. The raw materials coming from further afield indicate, through their even distribution over the four find concentrations, that these existed at about the same time.
From around 9500 BC. Mesolithic findings come west of the late Paleolithic find area. There more than 150 bones of an aurochs were found on an area of more than 25 m², 80% of which were preserved. This aurochs is the oldest find of its kind in Germany. Two microliths between the remains show that the approximately 18 to 20-year-old female was killed by Mesolithic hunters. As was customary at that time, the pieces of meat were brought into the warehouse, the slaughterhouse waste was thrown into the shallow water, a channel filled with water. The marrow was removed from the long bones by smashing them .
Two Mesolithic finds that were discovered along with a fireplace, numerous flint artifacts and individual bones, 10 to 20 m from the channel, could be related to the auroch hunt.
literature
- Simon Matzerath, Thomas Otten , Michael Schmauder: Back to the roots of our modern civilization , in: Archeology in Germany 5 (2015), pp. 62–63, here: p. 63.
- Summary of the lecture by Martin Heinen Excavations for the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic in the Niersaue near Mönchengladbach-Geneicken , report on the 23rd meeting of the AG Mesolithic 2014 in Landshut , 21. – 23. March 2014, pp. 3–4.
- Martin Vollmer-König: The archaeological cultural property in two water law procedures using the example of Mönchengladbach-Geneicken , Hamm 2004.
- Renate Gerlach , Martin Heinen, Britta Kopecky, Martin Vollmer-König: A Challenge: The Mesolithic Site Geneicken , in: Archäologie im Rheinland (1998) 35–38.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 43.8 " N , 6 ° 28 ′ 53.5" E