Saxon-Carolingian settlement of Liebenau

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Excavation area of ​​the Saxon-Carolingian settlement of Liebenau (August 2019)

The Saxon-Carolingian settlement of Liebenau is a settlement that existed in the 8th and 9th centuries in what is now Liebenau in Lower Saxony . The excavation of the area, which has been ongoing since 2015, provides information on Saxon settlements in the Carolingian period in the Central Weser region .

location

The former settlement is located on the southern outskirts of Liebenau on an inland dune running in a west-east direction between the Weser and the Great Aue . The settlement site was given up at an unknown point in time. Sand overflows preserved the remains of the soil and former horizons . Since the now wooded area was never used intensively for agricultural purposes, the remains of the settlement were well preserved.

After the Second World War , the dune was gradually removed for sand extraction. Since ceramic, bone and slag finds were found during the sand mining, a special excavation was carried out on the area in 1971 . It took place in the course of the excavations of the old Saxon cemetery of Liebenau, about two kilometers to the west . Sand mining was then ended and the site was placed under monument protection.

Excavations

During the special excavation in 1971 and another excavation in 1973, three pit houses standing next to each other were discovered. Finds recovered during the excavation were a disc brooch , a comb, a knife, a key, spindle whorl , loom weights and shells of freshwater mussels . A waste pit was filled with iron slag. With 350 broken vessels, the number of ceramic finds was high.

In 2015 there was a three-week teaching excavation of the Department of Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Göttingen with volunteer excavation helpers as part of the “ehrenWERT” project of the Hannover Monastery Chamber . The excavation was carried out under the direction of the archaeologist Tobias Scholz in cooperation with the local archeology of the Schaumburg landscape and local authorities. In this post positions of buildings and inventories found and waste pits. Documented traces of wagon wheels point to a former traffic route. The finds included ceramic fragments, metal slag, burnt clay , mussel shells and spindle whorls. Using a glass bead, a knife blade, an arrowhead and a pillow-shaped rectangular fibula, the site was dated to the late 8th and early 9th centuries. The finds of ceramic shards from the 8th and 9th centuries amount to over 10,000 pieces.

Excavation workers who took part in the excavation in 2015 founded the association RAUZWI - Lebendige Aräologie Mittelweser in 2016 . Further excavations on the former settlement area took place in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the University of Göttingen in cooperation with the RAUZWI association. During the excavation in 2018, the row of posts of a nave was exposed. In 2019 there were 160 kg of slag and 60 kg of metal objects.

rating

The inhabitants of the hamlet-like settlement area, the number of which is estimated between 30 and 100, were arable farmers, cattle breeders and fishermen. They used the nearby rivers for fishing and for collecting edible mussels. They also worked in iron. The local archaeologist of the Schaumburg landscape responsible for the site, Daniel Lau, sees a trading post in the settlement.

Web links

Commons : Saxon-Carolingian settlement of Liebenau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leif Rullhusen: A living story that awakens the spirit of research in Blickpunkt Nienburg from July 23, 2015
  2. ↑ Gerd Lübbers: Medieval settlement near Liebenau, Nienburg district, Lower Saxony at: Circle of Friends for Archeology in Lower Saxony from 2016
  3. ^ Excavation of a Saxon-Carolingian settlement near Liebenau, LK Nienburg at hobbyausgrabung.de
  4. ↑ The new association "Rauzwi" was founded in: Die Harke on October 7, 2016
  5. ↑ 2015 excavation, 2017-2019 excavations at RAUZWI - Lebendige Archäologie Mittelweser e. V.
  6. ↑ Altsachsensiedlung was significantly larger than expected in: Die Rarke from August 22, 2018
  7. ↑ Max Brinkmann: Old Saxony settlement larger than expected in Blickpunkt Nienburg from August 25, 2018
  8. ↑ Sandstorms forced them to give up in: The Rake from August 27, 2019

Coordinates: 52 ° 35 '29.1 "  N , 9 ° 5' 30.2"  E