Mesolithic burial place of Groß Fredenwalde

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The Mesolithic burial site of Groß Fredenwalde is a burial ground on the vineyard near Groß Fredenwalde in Brandenburg . With its Mesolithic burials between 6400 and 4900 BC. It is considered to be the oldest cemetery in Germany and Central Europe . The buried are attributed to the last hunters and gatherers shortly before the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution in what is now northern Germany .

discovery

Ascent to the vineyard in Groß Fredenwalde

The burial site was discovered in 1962 while digging a pit for a signal mast on the top of the vineyard. Here were the skeletal remains of six people to light that have been recovered poorly. They were well preserved due to the calcareous soil at the site. There were two men, aged 30–39 and 40–49 years, with a height of about 161 centimeters. A woman 40–49 years old was 152 centimeters tall. Three children were aged 3-4 years, 4-5 years and 7-8 years. The buried were sprinkled with red ocher and furnished with numerous grave goods that show influences from Northern Europe. These included bone pricks , flint blades and flint cuts. One of the few surviving photos shows a row of pierced animal tooth pendants on one of the skulls, apparently strung on a ribbon.

Excavations

More recently, follow-up examinations of the burial site have been carried out through excavations in 2012, 2014 and 2019. Since 1962 a total of 10 burials have been found so far (2019), including five children and four adults.

The 2014 excavations found the remains of three individuals, two of which were exceptional burials. These include a burial discovered in 2014 of a man around 25 years old who was around 156 centimeters tall. It was made around 5000 BC. Brought upright in an open pit. After the body crumbled, the pit was filled in and a fire was lit over it. Flint artefacts and two bone tools as accessories indicate that he was a craftsman.

Also in 2014, the burial of a small child from the time around 6400 BC was recorded. Discovered. The child, about six to a year old, was ritually sprinkled with ocher. The type of burial reflects the appreciation of young children in the Mesolithic community. The grave was secured as a block salvage and brought to the workshops of the excavation technology and field archeology course at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences for further investigations . According to anthropological research, the child probably died of malnutrition . It is the earliest known child burial in Central Europe .

In 2019 another grave was secured by a block rescue. It is being examined at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences. So far nothing more is known about the contents of the grave. The 2019 investigations led to the result that the buried were not only hunters and gatherers, but also fishermen and lived on a nearby lake.

Research history

The finds discovered in 1962 were dated in 1992 using the radiocarbon method , which they moved to around 6000 BC. Chr. Pointed. It was not until 2012 that anthropological studies of the individuals took place.

The excavations at the burial site on the vineyard, which began in 2012, were initiated by the archaeologist Thomas Terberger from the University of Göttingen , who specializes in the Palaeolithic and Middle Stone Age. They are professionally supported by the anthropologist Bettina Jungklaus . It was only through these investigations that the great importance of the site became clear. The dates of the burials speak for a period of use of the burial place of around 1500 years. In 2014 the discovery was announced to the public.

Since 2018, the investigations have been continued as part of a two-year research project headed by Thomas Terberger. The German Research Foundation is funding the project. It serves to research the transition from the Mesolithic with its non-sedentary cultures to the Neolithic with agriculture and cattle breeding. The University of Kiel , the Berlin University of Technology and Economics, the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation and the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology are involved .

rating

As far as we know so far, the burial site in Groß Fredenwalde is the oldest cemetery in Germany. The burial of a person in a standing position is unusual, which has no parallels in Central Europe. Burials with a similar position of 45 degrees in the grave pit are known from the cemetery of Zvejnieki in Latvia and of Oleni Ostrov in Russia. Otherwise, Mesolithic burials can be found in central Europe and southern Scandinavia in a sitting position.

From the burial place of Groß Fredenwalde, the researchers hope to gain knowledge about the Neolithization in Central Europe . With genetic analyzes by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Man in Jena, they want to clarify whether the late hunters and gatherers were mixed up with the first farmers of linear ceramics .

literature

  • Bettina Jungklaus, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger:: Standing upright to all eternity - The Mesolithic burial site at Groß Fredenwalde, Brandenburg (NE Germany) in: Quartär 62 , 2015 pp. 133–153 ( Online )
  • Bettina Jungklaus, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger: New investigations on the Mesolithic burial of Groß Fredenwalde, Brandenburg - first results . In: JM Grünberg / B. Gramsch / L. Larsson / J. Orschiedt / H. Meller (eds.), "Mesolithic Burials - Rites, symbols and social organization of early postglacial communities", International Conference Halle (Saale), Germany, 18th ‑ 21st September 2013 Halle / Saale. Conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory Hall 13 / I 2016 (Staßfurt 2016) 419–433 ( Online )
  • Bernhard Gramsch, Ulrich Schoknecht: Groß Fredenwalde, district Uckermark - a Mesolithic multiple burial in northern Germany . Publications on Brandenburg State Archeology 34, 2000, 9–38
  • Nadja Lüdemann, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger: Upright into eternity? in: FAN-POST 2020 of the Friends of Archeology in Lower Saxony , pp. 5–8 ( online )
  • Bettina Jungklaus, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger: The Mesolithic burial place on the vineyard near Groß Fredenwalde, district of Uckermark. Announcements of the Uckermärkisches Geschichtsverein zu Prenzlau 23, 2016, 4–14 ( online )
  • Bettina Jungklaus, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger: Surprise on the vineyard. New research on the Mesolithic burial site in Groß Fredenwalde, district of Uckermark. Archeology in Berlin and Brandenburg 2013, 39–43
  • Bettina Jungklaus, Andreas Kotula, Thomas Terberger: Germany's oldest burial ground. Archeology in Germany 5/2016, 8–13 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bettina Jungklaus, Thomas Terberger, Andreas Kotula: New investigations into the Mesolithic burial of Groß Fredenwalde, Brandenburg - first results . ( academia.edu [accessed March 29, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation : Stone Age man decays upright in the grave. In: scinexx.de. February 17, 2016, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Mesolithic grave recovered. Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology, June 7, 2019, accessed on August 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Complete Mesolithic grave recovered. In: Antenne Brandenburg . June 7, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Sabine Tzitschke: Uckermark Stone Age people were fishermen at rbb on August 30, 2019
  6. ↑ Bettina Jungklaus: Groß Fredenwalde, Mesolithic burial ground. In: anthropologie-jungklaus.de. Retrieved August 11, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Germany's oldest cemetery is being explored in more detail. In: RBB-Kulturradio . November 2, 2018, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Thomas Richter: Joint project led by the University of Göttingen explores Germany's oldest cemetery. In: Information Service Science . November 2, 2018, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  9. ^ Project “The Mesolithic Burial Grounds of Groß Fredenwalde (Brandenburg) - Late Hunter-Gatherers in a Changing World”. German Research Foundation, accessed on August 11, 2019 .

Coordinates: 53 ° 7 '26.3 "  N , 13 ° 47' 48.2"  E