Settlement archeology
The settlement archeology is a branch of modern archeology .
It examines earlier settlements and desolations , house and settlement forms and the prehistoric settlement of entire regions. For this purpose, the forms, functions and developments of individual habitats and the settlement system are researched by means of archaeological prospecting and excavations . Today's historical-genetic settlement archeology has developed in close cooperation with settlement history and settlement geography . So settlement sequences of several centuries or millennia are researched in individual places. Changes and constant elements can be examined and compared with other explored settlements. Settlement archaeological methods are used, which, among other things, make use of strictly scientific archaeobotany and zoology or phosphate analysis to clarify settlement archeological questions, mostly in the area of prehistory and early history .
Settlement archeology as ethnic archeology
The term settlement archeology initially referred to a research direction whose most important representative was the national scientist Gustaf Kossinna , who developed his "settlement archeology method" from 1887 onwards. Kossinna and his students developed cultures, cultural provinces and ultimately settlement areas of ethnic groups through types and their socialization . This equation of " archaeological culture ", ethnicity and race led, especially during the National Socialist regime, to a serious and dubious amalgamation of archaeological research with the ethnic - racist ideology. A key phrase of Kossina's teaching was " Sharply delimited archaeological cultural provinces cover at all times with very specific peoples or ethnic groups ". When asked about the “ethnic interpretation” of prehistoric finds, answers were sought by combining “archaeological” with “historical” methods. Kossinna named as the basis of his “settlement archaeological method” that it “makes use of the inference by analogy, insofar as it illuminates ancient, dark times through inferences from the clear present or from epochs that are also still old but characterized by rich tradition. It illuminates prehistoric times through those who stand in historical light ”. In the post-war period, the empirical collection of facts and their chronological- spatial order was declared to be the most important research goal, thus setting the course for today's German archeology. Theoretical approaches took a back seat.
Modern settlement archeology
Since the 1920s, however, there has been an increasing number of works in which individual regions have been archaeologically processed. At the same time, more emphasis was placed on examining the settlements themselves. This pioneering phase of modern settlement archeology included researchers such as Gerhard Bersu , Hermann Stoll , and Robert Rudolf Schmidt , who were mainly active in southern Germany. During the excavations at Federsee, for example, the natural sciences were involved early on ( pollen analysis , moor geology and geomorphology , dendrochronology , C14 dating , archeozoology and archaeobotany , paleoclimatology , materials research , etc.). However, the ideological abuse of this discipline was particularly evident here, especially in the Third Reich under the leadership of Hans Reinerth . However, important impulses for the establishment and methodological definition came primarily from the north: the excavations in Haithabu and the investigations of Wurten on the North Sea coast such as B. the Feddersen Wierde by Werner Haarnagel were formative here. The formulation of this redefinition of settlement archeology is associated with the name Herbert Jankuhn , who himself was a supporter of Kossinna's settlement archaeological method under National Socialism and who had a close connection between worldview and science.
Newer tendencies
In recent times, the view has increasingly gone beyond the individual settlement and landscapes and spaces are being analyzed, mostly using geographic information systems (GIS). Therefore, the term landscape archeology is sometimes preferred today . The natural sciences, which have long played a major role in settlement archeology, have increased in recent times; geography, geology, zoology, botany and anthropology have recently been joined by soil science, which is reflected, for example, in the field of geoarchaeology .
Primary literature
- Gustaf Kossinna : The origin of the Teutons. On the method of settlement archeology. Kabitzsch, Würzburg 1911.
- Herbert Jankuhn : Introduction to Settlement Archeology , Berlin / New York 1977.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marc von Lüpke-Schwarz: Archaeologists as Ideologists , Die Zeit No. 11/2013 of March 7, 2013.
- ↑ Gustaf Kossinna: The origin of the Germanic peoples. On the method of settlement archeology. Kabitzsch, Würzburg 1911, p. 3.
- ↑ Gustaf Kossinna: The origin of the Germanic peoples. On the method of settlement archeology. Kabitzsch, Würzburg 1911, p. 2.
- ↑ Dirk Mahsarski: Herbert Jankuhn (1905-1990), A German Prehistoric Between National Socialist Ideology and Scientific Objectivity , Rahden / Westf. 2011, pp. 169-172.
- ^ Anne Chr. Nagel : Review of: Mahsarski, Dirk: Herbert Jankuhn (1905-1990). A German prehistorian between National Socialist ideology and scientific objectivity. Rahden / Westf. 2011 , in: H-Soz-Kult , November 16, 2012.