Cappel pestle
The Cappel pestle (also the Cappel piston ) is a stone tool from the Stone Age that was found near the village of Cappel near Fritzlar in Northern Hesse . Today it is in a private archaeological collection in Obervorschütz and is an important example of Stone Age finds in Northern Hesse.
The pestle is made of feldspar , is 16.50 cm long and tapers parabolically from the right friction surface from 4.50 cm to 3.50 cm on the left friction surface. Its weight is 358 grams . It is probably around 3000 BC. To date. Similar finds of stone axes are exhibited in the Fritzlar Museum Hochzeitshaus . A comparably well preserved pestle is not known.
The bone-shaped tool was used to grind and grind plants, bark, bones and minerals. However, the associated mortar or grating stone is missing . Both sides of the piston surfaces are significantly roughened. The middle handle shell is ergonomically adapted for better handling. A snake-shaped, slightly red-colored motif is carved into the handle; whether this has a ritual meaning is unclear. The head ends have been rubbed off to increase the friction between the piston and the mortar. Scratches can be explained by damage to other stones and the processing in the field.
The pestle was found in the spring of 1955 by Ernst Schönewolf (1930-2002) while working on seedbeds in the gravel on the edge of a loess- containing field in the Edertal near Cappel . The site is in Rain , above a natural wall in the Eder valley. No other finds from the same field are known. The tool could therefore have been washed up by the Eder during a flood .
literature
- Joseph Bergmann: Prehistory and Early History Collection in the Fritzlar Local History Museum . Hessischer Museumsverband eV Kassel (Ed.) 1975, pp. 40–46