Clay drum (archeology)
Clay drums are double-conical hourglass, egg cup or tulip-shaped ceramic objects without a bottom, which are provided with a ring of eyelets (up to 15) on one side. They are typical of the southeast groups of the funnel beaker culture (TBK), especially the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture , but can also be found in the more southern successor groups of the Michelsberg culture . They are often richly decorated and, in contrast to collar bottles, are often found in a shattered state.
Locations
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Around 200 clay drums were found in German megalithic systems (e.g. Barskamp , Oldendorf in the Lüneburg district ), in settlements of the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture (on the Dölauer Heide ) and in huts for the dead . Also from the Lower Franconian burial ground of Großeibstadt comes an ornate, zerscherbte clay drum. For the Wartberg culture they are z. B. in the gallery graves of Calden and Warburg . About 20 copies come from Denmark, Kuyavia and the Czech Republic.
Cultural classification
The biconical or tulip-shaped “clay drums” found so far belong to several end-Neolithic cultures: spherical amphora culture , funnel-beaker culture , including the groups Walternienburg-Bernburg culture , Havelland culture , Salzmünder culture , Schönfeld culture and Wartberg culture . In the Wartberg culture, gate drums were mainly found in gallery graves .
interpretation
In 1974, Hermann Müller-Karpe asked whether the drums were actually musical instruments. It can also be a funnel for libation victims, over the opening of which no fur, but a cloth was stretched. Finds in Großeibstädt indicated the introduction of a liquid that was not precisely determinable. This assessment has not yet been able to prevail.
literature
- J. Schween: Drums and Holy Horns In: Archeology in Germany 2002/2.
- M. Stock: Music in the Neolithic Age. In: H. Meller (Ed.), Beauty, Power and Death. 120 finds from 120 years of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Accompanying volume for the special exhibition 2001, Halle (Saale), p. 192f.
