Subsequent burials of the bulb amphora culture

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Subsequent burials from the time of the spherical amphora culture (KAK) were discovered in some large stone graves in Lower Saxony . The spherical amphora culture (KAK) (3100-2700 BC), which was primarily widespread in northern central Germany and east of it, reached the Lüneburg Heath and the Wendland in Lower Saxony in the west . To the east of the Drawehn , which borders the Lüneburg Heath in the east, burials of the culture come from flat graves , to the west of it and in the rest of the KAK distribution area they were also available as subsequent burials in megalithic structures of the funnel cup culture (TBK). These interventions in the facilities of the TBK are primarily recognizable by the ceramics found.

Ceramic types of subsequent burials

The spherical amphora

The sphere amphora as a typical ceramic gave the culture its name. The vessels usually have a spherical belly, which lacks the base. Sometimes they are squeezed together, bottle-shaped or sack-shaped. What they all have in common is the high, conical neck set off from the spherical belly. Two small handles bridge the shoulder area. Sphere amphorae differ not only in shape and size, but also in the decoration that often covers the neck and shoulders.

In Lüneburg language, most of them wear a pattern made up of impressions from horseshoe and angle stitches, arranged in triangles and chevron bands. The shoulder is covered with a fringed pattern arranged in groups, which in turn is finished off with horseshoe and angle stitches. The cross-stitch pattern belonging to this group has so far only become known on a shard from one of the large stone graves in Rohstorf . The amphorae from Diersbüttel, district of Lüneburg, and Ostedt, district of Uelzen, are included in the decoration with circumferential line impressions. Square and rounded punctures, which are grouped into carpet-like ornaments, decorate the neck and shoulder of an amphora from Siecke , Lüneburg district. In addition, furrow-piercing techniques are occasionally used (Rahmstorf, Harburg district). One amphora is undecorated (Rohstorf, Lüneburg district).

Wide-bodied pots

The group of wide-mouthed pots, which are based on the spherical amphora in their decoration, is represented by several finds. These are vessels with a retracted, rarely double-cone-shaped body and a stepped base. At the height of the high shoulder bend there are four horizontally pierced handles facing each other. Horseshoe and furrow-piercing technique is carried by a pot from Masendorf, Uelzen district, string ornamentation from one from Rohstorf, Lüneburg district, two more from the same location are undecorated. In Rahmstorf, Harburg district, a more bowl-shaped pot was found, decorated with a carpet-like pattern of elongated punctures and an undecorated specimen.

Hemispherical shells

Hemispherical bowls with a cylindrical or inwardly curved neck and two dense shoulder loops have so far only been found in an undecorated specimen made from raw peat and a decorated one made from cream peat. The zigzag band of triangles placed against each other and filled with horizontal rows of furrows is related to the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture of central Germany. Irregular rows of horseshoe-shaped arches are impressed above the ribbon. A bowl of cream peat can also be added to the KAK. The shell has a sloping wall and a stepped foot. It differs from the corresponding forms of the individual grave culture through the finely muddy clay characteristic of the KAK, the sounding hard fire and the reddish polished surface.

Find places with subsequent burials

The majority of the finds come from destroyed facilities, so that statements are hardly possible. However, three findings are out of line.

Diersbüttel

The excavation in a small stone chamber in Diersbüttel , Lüneburg district, revealed parts of a (cleared) burial of the KAK lying close together at the entrance, namely fragments of a string-decorated amphora and a thick-nosed flint ax with curved narrow sides and an asymmetrically ground edge. Somewhat away were the shards of a vessel of the old deep engraving ceramics and a giant beaker of the individual grave culture. An undecorated funnel cup with a blade of a thin-nosed ax of the funnel cup culture (TBK) placed over the mouth was found in the chamber .

Raw peat III

The conditions in stone grave III of Rohstorf are clearer. During the prehistoric times, a plate had come loose from the underside of the middle capstone. Standing upright, she blocked access to the southern part of the chamber. Here on the pavement there were fragments of a funnel beaker of the ancient deep engraving ceramics and above, separated by layers of sand, finds from the KAK, but not from the individual grave culture, which are represented in large numbers in the northern, accessible part of the burial chamber. The plate must therefore have come loose during or after being occupied by the KAK, but in any case before it is used again by the bearers of the individual grave culture. The objects of the spherical amphora culture recovered in the southern burial space are a wide-mouthed pot with four handles and a string decoration and a thin-leaf, asymmetrically ground flint ax.

Hünenbett IV by Oldendorf

The stratigraphic findings of Rohstorf are confirmed again by observations in Hünenbett IV in the Oldendorfer Totenstatt . Separated by layers of sand and above the burials of the KAK were those of the individual grave culture. One of the two burials of the KAK was deposited in the cleared middle part of the chamber, the second in another place directly above those of the TBK. The additions to the KAK included two spherical amphorae or their shards, a clay drum with eyelets under the rim and a thick-nosed flint ax with curved narrow sides.

Compared to central Germany, the burials on the Lüneburg Heath are not richly endowed with gifts. There are sometimes more than 10 vessels, including several spherical amphorae and hatchets, as additions to a burial, but usually there are three to four. If one takes this standard as a basis, the large number of vessels (5) and stone axes (3) belonging to the KAK in stone grave III of Rohstorf and Rahmstorf (6 vessels) could be used for just one burial without any evidence of this would.

Time position

The findings from Diersbüttel, Oldendorf and Rohstorf resulted in stratigraphic observations on the temporal position of the KAK in the Neolithic of the Lüneburg Heath. In Rohstorf and Diersbüttel the KAK is younger than the Alttiefstichkeramik, in Oldendorf also younger than the phase of the Central German Walternienburg Group. The hemispherical bowl from Rahmstorf with the ornamentation typical of the Bernburg culture, in turn, documents the link between the later Bernburg culture and KAK. There are a number of documents from the flat grave cemetery in Pevestorf in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in northeastern Lower Saxony .

The KAK also put an end to the TBK in the Lüneburg Heath. According to the findings, it can be expected to occur in the course of the most recent phase of TBK (2900-2800 BC), which can be paralleled with the late Bernburg culture. The spherical amphora culture begins earlier than the individual grave culture . In Lower Saxony it takes a very short period of time before it is replaced by the individual grave culture.

literature

  • 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 .
  • Erika Nagel: The phenomena of the spherical amphora culture in the north of the GDR (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of the districts of Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. Volume 18). German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1985.