Prehistory of Baden-Württemberg

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The lion man from the Lone Valley of the Swabian Alb is one of the most important prehistoric testimonies in Baden-Württemberg, presented and documented in detail in the Ulm Museum
Roman stone of the three gods from Straubenhardt with Mars (left), Apollo (right) and Minerva (below); Original in the Württemberg State Museum

The prehistory in the area of ​​the German southwest, today's Baden-Württemberg , has become known to the broader public through some finds, such as that of the lower jaw of Homo heidelbergensis , the mammoth ivory sculpture Löwenmensch or the hilltop settlement Heuneburg . Due to the major climatic changes caused by the Mindel , Riss and Würm glaciers , the area between the Alps and the Main was not continuously inhabited. Manifold traces of human settlement can be found archaeologically in the German southwest from the time of the Celts and Romans until the appearance of the Alemanni . This representation also reaches early history . The triumphant advance of Christianity and the slow disappearance of pre-Christian cults and traditions are an outstanding event of late antiquity .

prehistory

The entrance to the Vogelherd cave in the Lonetal , one of the most important and richest karst caves in Baden-Württemberg in terms of prehistory

The Prehistory called the oldest period of human history, are in the no written sources yet.

Situation of early prehistory in Baden-Württemberg

In the state of Baden-Württemberg , research concentrates on the existing open-air stations as well as on the numerous caves in southern Germany . Caves and abrises offered people protection from moisture, cold and wind, which is why they are of high relevance for traces of Paleolithic settlement.

But also for reasons of conservation, most of the Stone Age sites are in caves and abrises. These are concentrated in the landscape of the Swabian Alb .

Outdoor discovery sites and outdoor stations for hunter-gatherer communities are, for example, on the Federsee , the Schussen spring , in the lower Remstal ( Kleinheppach ), near Börslingen and in Breisgau .

The earliest finds of the Paleolithic come from warm periods between the glacial periods when the climate was temperate. For the Middle Paleolithic , one assumes an average population of 1000 people in southwest Germany. The times given are rounded values.

Archaeological cultures and prehistoric periods

In Baden-Württemberg, too, the system of early history has followed the three-period system developed by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen since the 19th century , which divides in particular European prehistory into the Stone Age , Bronze Age and Iron Age . In the 20th century, the three-period system was expanded and, above all, greatly differentiated.

Since Robert Rudolf Schmidt introduced the French classification and nomenclature of the great periods of the Paleolithic for Baden-Württemberg archeology during excavations in the Blautal in 1906, the following epochs also apply:

Robert Rudolf Schmidt is one of the pioneers of Swabian prehistory, having received his doctorate in 1907 with a thesis on The Ice Age Dwellings in the Swabian Alb . This made him the first in Germany to receive a doctorate on a topic on older prehistory.

Paleolithic (Paleolithic)

Most of the finds from the Paleolithic can be found in the Swabian Alb area . Further finds were made in the central Neckar area and on the Upper Rhine on the border with Switzerland .

Old Paleolithic (around 600,000 years ago)

Homo heidelbergensis

The lower jaw of Mauer entered the nomenclature of prehistoric research as Homo Heidelbergensis and is one of the oldest traces of human settlement in Baden-Württemberg

The oldest evidence of human settlement are already 600,000 years old and among the oldest fossils of Hominini within Europe. In 1907, the lower jaw of Mauer was found in Mauer near Heidelberg , the type specimen of Homo heidelbergensis , from which the Neanderthals later emerged.

Acheuleans

From the Acheuléen during excavations at the Heidenschmiede in the middle of Heidenheim an der Brenz, around 50 artefacts from this culture were uncovered: hand axes , hammers and hand tips made of silica lime, drills made of brown and gray jasper, numerous scrapers , scrapers , saws and multi-purpose tools mainly made of gray, brown and white jasper. A scraper made for left-handers with a right-sided blade is striking .

Middle Paleolithic (250,000 years ago)

The Homo steinheimensis is one of the most important prehistoric exhibits Baden-Württemberg and is considered the forerunner of Neanderthals

Homo steinheimensis

Another find important for human history is 350,000 years younger than the lower jaw of Mauer; it was made in Steinheim an der Murr ( Ludwigsburg district ) in 1933 . This means that this "Steinheimer" stands between Homo heidelbergensis and the Neanderthals. It was probably a woman. Due to the abundance of edible plants, the gathering of plants and small animals may have outweighed the hunting of large game. The use of digging sticks and hand axes is suspected, but has not been conclusively proven for this find.

At about the same time, the site of discovery is likely to be in the travertine quarries of Bad Cannstatt. There is no evidence of human remains here.

Basically: “Only a few Middle Paleolithic layers of the Swabian Alb are well dated, and we can often determine the relative sequence of events with some certainty. Only at the end of the Middle Paleolithic do we have reliable age determinations using the Thermoluzens and radiocarbon methods. "

Moustérien

An epoch of the European Middle Paleolithic is called Moustérien . The Moustérien in the strict sense begins around 120,000 years ago and lasts until around 40,000 years ago. In Baden-Württemberg as in Europe, it is associated with the Neanderthal culture .

The finds from Böckingen (district of Heilbronn ) are among the oldest tools in the Moustérien . These are hand ax cuts, which were probably intended, among other things, for chopping and skinning large game. There were no human finds, but due to the age it is assumed that the finds can be assigned to the Neanderthal. The Heidenschmiede site in Heidenheim an der Brenz also features 4,000 artefacts from this era. These include hand tips , points, scrapers in many different forms, scratches and awls , all mostly made of silica lime , a few made of jasper . Flint scrapers from the Moustérien were also found on the Zuffenhausen site near the Hofacker brickworks, together with mammoth bones.

Around 60,000 years ago.

The first traces of settlement of a group of hunters can be found in the Bockstein cave in the Lone Valley , 6 kilometers from the Vogelherd cave , which hunted horses , woolly rhinos and mammoths with their hunting weapons made with tools . Due to the age, it can be assumed that the finds can be assigned to the Neanderthals . The finds were dated to 50,000 to 70,000 BC. Dated. This makes the Bockstein Cave one of the oldest settlements in southern Germany. The neighboring Vogelherd cave also shows sparse traces from this time. In the Hohlenstein , the thighbones of a Neanderthal man could be found in middle Paleolithic layers. So far it is the only find in Baden-Württemberg that can be assigned to this group of people.

Indirect traces from this time were discovered in the Heidenschmiede and in the Irpfelhöhle in the Brenztal and in the Haldensteinhöhle in the Lonetal. The Schnaitheim hand ax is an impressive testimony to this cultural level. In the Blue Valley, on the other hand, the Great Grotto , the Geißenklösterle and the Sirgenstein Cave released finds from this era. In the Lauchert valley , the Göpfelstein cave and the Nikolaus cave show important traces and finds from this time.

Blade tip group between 50,000 and 35,000 before today

The Middle Paleolithic ends with the leaf tip group . This creates a transition industry of the Paleolithic between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic from around 50,000 to 35,000 BC. Chr. Designated. The term leaf tip has been used since around 1900 for symmetrical flint tips of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic with beech or willow leaf-like shape.

Blade tips are leaf-shaped, slender in longitudinal section, almost straight, worked more or less completely bifacially (both surfaces) and axially symmetrical with one or two tips. Compared to the hand ax or hand ax blade , they have a slimmer longitudinal and cross-section. Unfortunately, there is only sparse evidence of the leaf tip group on the Swabian Alb. A well-known example in Baden-Württemberg is the Haldenstein cave in the Lone Valley . Gustav Riek found two very carefully worked leaf tips here. There are no skeletal finds that can be clearly assigned to the leaf tip group, so it remains open whether the carriers of the culture stage are Neanderthals or early anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). Traditionally, however, the leaf tips are assigned to the late Neanderthals.

Intermediate epoch after the Middle Paleolithic

There is no evidence of an encounter between modern humans and native Neanderthals on any of the classic Middle Paleolithic sites in the Swabian Alb area. Instead, "all the well-studied sites in the Ach and Lone Valley ... show a gap in the settlement between the last Neanderthals, who produced artifacts of the Middle Paleolithic, and early modern humans, who referred to the legacies of Aurignacia including works of art, jewelry, musical instruments and numerous new ones Go back tool shapes "

Upper Paleolithic (approx. 40,000 years before today)

Aurignacia

The carved mammoth from the Vogelherd cave , on the one hand much hunted, on the other hand also artistically represented by the hunters of the Aurignacien
Video: Art in the Stone Age

As it appears, the bearers of the Aurignaciens “immigrated to a heavily depopulated or even deserted area. The population density of the new human form increases rapidly, and at several places of discovery ... the concentrations of the lost material alone in the Aurignacienschichten are clear, in some cases by more than ten times higher than in the mittelpaläolithischen layers of Neanderthaloid "In Palaeolithic an increased development intensity is detectable.

The earliest evidence of complex artistic activity in the Upper Palaeolithic are flutes around 40,000 years old. In the Prehistory Museum Blaubeuren , three relatively complete flutes can be viewed: two come from the Geißenklösterle and one from the hollow rock , which are among the oldest musical instruments in the world. The various ice age flutes of the Blau- and Achtal could be made audible. The differences are due, among other things, to the material: one flute is made of swan- wing bone , the second is made of griffon vulture , and the third is made of mammoth ivory.

In total, there are finds and relics of 24 flutes from this period in Baden-Württemberg (until 2016). The flutes were probably blown over the sharp edge of the shaft or a notch and sounded pentatonic .

The oldest art carvings come from the Vogelherd cave near Stetten ( Heidenheim district ); they are around 32,000 years old. Numerous tools such as scrapers and hand axes have been found here. The fully plastic wild horse found there, as well as the Venus from the Hohlefels from Schelklingen , which represent the world's oldest verifiable sculptures , also extend into this era . "The ivory art certainly reflects a skill and a tradition that has been passed on over many generations"

Further evidence of this time can be found in the small barn on the Albtrauf of the Eastern Alb and in the eyeglass cave near Blaubeuren . The six sites, which are grouped under the term caves and ice age art in the Swabian Jura , released artifacts from this time. But also in the Laucherttal - with less spectacular finds from the Göpfelstein cave - this epoch can be proven.

In general, the spread of the Aurignacia in Baden-Württemberg is directly related to the spread of anatomically modern humans. Some innovations in material culture have their origin in Aurignacien in southern Germany. The oldest evidence comes from the Swabian Alb . The Tübingen archaeologist Michael Bolus states: “It is striking that here at such an early age, around 40,000 years ago, the whole 'package' of innovations can be proven, including […] art objects, jewelry and musical instruments attached to the most of the other Aurignacia sites are significantly rarer or completely absent. […] In innovation centers like the Swabian Alb, the Aurignacien […] was fully trained and finally passed on ”.

Gravettias

The Schelklingen phallus is one of the most important finds from the Gravettia of Baden-Württemberg

The Gravettian is the most important archaeological cultural stage of the middle Upper Palaeolithic . Gravettian hunters and gatherers have also left their mark on Baden-Württemberg. The dating of sites of the Gravettian range from about 34,000 to 30,000 BC. Chr.

The Gravettia follows the Aurignacia and falls into the cooling phase before the second cold maximum of the Würm glacial period .

The transition is very easy to understand due to the seamlessly preserved layer sequences in the cave sites in the Ach Valley. At the same time there seems to be a continuity between Aurignacia and Gravettia; In any case, no sterile layer can be seen in the Alb caves between these cultural epochs. While mammoth ivory was the preferred working material in Aurignacia, mammoth bones and antlers were clearly preferred in Gravettia.

For the first time, clay is also used and hardened in a fire. The so-called back stump in tool manufacture enables stone tools to be shanked in wood, bones and antlers. It can be assumed that this simplified both the manufacture of weapons and the handling of the hunting equipment. Numerous artefacts from this epoch appeared mainly in the Hohle Fels, in the Geißenklösterle and in the Brillehöhle.

In contrast to the Akhtal, there is no clear evidence of a longer human presence during the Gravettian in the Lonetal.

In the case of a conspicuous layer of Gravettia, one speaks of the statuette horizon , a Europe-wide phenomenon in which, in addition to jewelry, three-dimensional, human-like artifacts, but especially plump female figures , so-called Venus figurines , are found. The list of paleolithic Venus figurines includes over twenty such representations from Gravettia.

  • A pendant from the Gravettia , as it could be dug up in the eyeglass cavity

  • Three pendants from Gravettia, also discovered in the eyeglass cavity

  • A bullet tip from the eyeglass cavity that is around 25,000 to 28,000 years old

  • A fur trigger made from a reindeer rib, a typical tool from the Gravettian, around 25,000 to 28,000 years old, also from the eyeglass cavity

Solutréen

The Solutréen is not necessary due to the maximum cold in Baden-Württemberg, which this card clearly underlines. To the east of Solutré (main site 12) there is no evidence of the cultural level.

The Solutrean omitted in southern Germany due to the cold maximum. Already around 24,000 years ago the climate began to cool down considerably, so that a maximum of cold was reached around 20,000 years ago. Nicholas Conard observed during the excavations: "Even from 28,000 years before present the Swabian Alb to current knowledge, was uninhabited, or was it only a few local people whose material legacies, however, are not known. The people only settled in the Swabian Alb again in the Magdalenian region, about 16,000 years ago. "

Magdalenian

In Magdalenian , which in Baden-Württemberg falls between 16,000 and 14,000 years BP, the Swabian Alb is inhabited again with an increasingly milder climate .

Not only tool production, but also making art reaches a new dimension. Above all, abstract female statuettes (formerly: Venus figurines) are considered the most important objects of the southern German Magdalenian.

  • The Venus from Gagat vom Petersfels (left), one of the testimonies from the Magdalenian era in Baden-Württemberg

  • Another Venus, the Venus vom Vogelherd , discovered in 2008 as a work of art by Magdalenian

  • A drumstick made of reindeer antler, about 12,000 years old, unearthed in the eyeglass cavity

  • The reindeer antlers from the Petersfels were reworked into a perforated rod in the Magdalenian era (below) and provided with decorative engravings (above)

Although there are no painted picture caves in Baden-Württemberg, such as in Lascaux , France , there are transportable small art in the form of brightly painted stones with rows of dots. This also marks the beginning of a painting tradition in southern Germany. The color used was red chalk , an iron-containing pigment found in the region.

Rich finds from the Magdalenian unearthed, among other things, the Glass Cave , the Petersfels and the Vogelherd Cave during excavations. Painted stones from the epoch are known from the Hohle Fels . Another Magdalenian site is located near Munzingen in the Freiburg and Breisgau Bay .

For the first time, needles with eyes appear. Personal jewelry is made in large numbers. Ornamental snails, mussels, animal teeth, even fossils such as ammonites were used as jewelry.

The first sparse forests emerged along the Danube . Silver birch , conifers and hazelnut bushes spread.

Late Paleolithic and Azilia

The late Paleolithic is considered to be the last epoch of the Würm Ice Age , which is occasionally referred to as Azilien - especially in France and Switzerland . The phase is dated between 14,000 and 11,600 before today, but the demarcation between the Young and Late Paleolithic in the German-speaking area is not uniform. The Azilien ends with the beginning of the Holocene .

A decline in the use of organic materials can be observed both in Baden-Württemberg and in Europe in general. Bones and antlers can hardly be found anymore as starting material, but jewelry and art are also increasingly missing. The transition from the late Paleolithic to the Mesolithic is fluid.

Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic)

The Mesolithic Age, also known as the Mesolithic , begins with the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 years ago. This significantly improved the conditions for plant-based food. Thus pure hunters became more collectors and especially fishermen .

Early Mesolithic (8000-6000 BC)

The time is marked by the production of the smallest cuts ( microliths ). These microliths were set in spearheads. An improvement in the strength of stones was achieved by tempering them in a fire at 270-300 ° C. By collecting and making chains and ribbons from fish teeth and ornamental snails, both body parts and clothing were decorated.

Overview of the find regions in Baden-Württemberg

The most important find regions of this time are the Rems-Murr area , the Upper Rhine Valley and the area around Lake Constance and Lake Federsee .

In the 1990s, a total of three Mesolithic sites were explored in the course of several archaeological excavations in the Siebenlinden corridor in the Neckar valley near Rottenburg am Neckar . The places belong to the early post-ice age, around 8000 to 7700 BC. Here, as an exception, mesolithic open-air sites have been preserved so well in the floodplain that fireplaces, locations of tents and workplaces can be proven.

Numerous finds from the Swabian Alb, which older research until the 1960s had called "coarse Mesolithic" (or Campignia ), are now regarded as natural frost splinters or as semi-finished products from Neolithic raw material extraction.

Beuronias

As a result of research in various caves in the Swabian Alb by Wolfgang Taute , the South German Mesolithic - known as Beuronia - was divided into several stages, which are defined by the predominant microlithic forms.

One of the most important sites in Baden-Württemberg is the mesolithic Rottenburg-Siebenlinden site .

Late Mesolithic (6000–4500 BC)

Due to the change in climate from the continental to the Atlantic climate, the vegetation changes. Hazelnut bushes are being replaced by mixed oak forests, which make it more difficult for hunters to hunt large game. Deer , wild boar and other large game only cover 20–30% of the food requirement. Plant-based products such as nuts, wild fruit and acorns take 40–50%. The stone cutting technique is refined and the spearheads are made from trapezoidal microliths.

The excavations in the Federseeregion are significant, where in 1988/89 at Henauhof near Bad Buchau ( Biberach district ) sections of a Mesolithic settlement area with seven fireplaces were examined. They produced extensive finds that are characteristic of the late Mesolithic period. Using the radio-carbon method, the square could be dated to the second half of the 6th millennium BC. This means that an overlap between the latest Mesolithic and the oldest Neolithic culture, ribbon ceramics , in southwest Germany, i.e. a temporal juxtaposition of end-Mesolithic hunters and ribbon ceramics farmers over several centuries, can be assumed.

Neolithic Age (Neolithic)

Chronology of the Neolithic Age 5500 to 2000 BC

The beginning of the Neolithic , technically the Neolithic, is defined in Central and Western Europe with the transition from hunter and gatherer cultures to sedentary farmers with domesticated animals and plants.

The transition to the Neolithic economy (technical language Neolithic Revolution or Neolithization ) took place differently around the world. Nomadic way of life was exchanged in the course of agriculture and livestock for sedentarism in village communities. Agriculture created the basis for a society based on the division of labor. Food production and storage led to greater independence from the natural environment and formed the basis for population growth. Not all of the archaeological groups and cultures listed below were evenly distributed over the entire current state of Baden-Württemberg. Nor does chronology mean that the groups and cultures have separated seamlessly.

The band ceramics at the beginning of the Neolithic was followed in the first half of the 5th millennium BC. The Middle Neolithic cultural complex with the Hinkelstein group from approx. 5000 to approx. 4900 BC BC, the Großgartacher culture from approx. 4900 to approx. 4700 BC. And the Rössen culture , then until about 4600/4550 BC. Chr.

The end of the Neolithic began with the regional processing of copper ( Copper Stone Age ), but only replaced by the Bronze Age .

Peasant culture

The first peasant culture emerges with cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, with people starting around 5500 BC. BC settled mainly on the fertile loess areas along the rivers. Barley and einkorn are grown as grain . Through the cultivation and the domestic animals , people settle down and build longhouses . The impetus for this came from Hungary and Austria from the Middle East. Even in the settlements of the rural, ceramic band cultures of Central Europe , there were also dogs that were found in graves and settlements, such as in Vaihingen an der Enz . These are not supposed to be wolf-like dogs, but rather medium-sized breeds.

Due to the more favorable food conditions, the population is increasing sharply.

Fishing culture

A fishing culture with special fishing techniques is developing in the waters of the state ( e.g. Federsee , Lake Constance ) .

Ceramics

Injured skull (cranium) of a 20 to 30 year old man from the time of the band ceramics , who was killed in the Talheim massacre , today in the Württemberg State Museum

The pottery is being developed. Cultural stages are then named after her, such as the first Neolithic with the band ceramics ; Many other ceramic forms also follow in the area of ​​what is now Germany's southwestern state, which are simultaneously described as European, but sometimes only regional archaeological cultural stages.

The invention of ceramics, especially pottery, in the 8th millennium BC. Christ is one of the most important achievements in human history. The clay, the raw material, was prepared, shaped, sometimes decorated and fired at a high temperature.

Neolithic cultures in the area of ​​Baden-Württemberg

Linear ceramic culture

Archaeologists from the State Monuments Office dig in 2015 in Kirchheim unter Teck for the Stone Age layers of the ceramic band

The linear ceramic band , which was also found in southern Germany around 5500 BC. Began, followed by stitch band ceramics , an archaeological cultural group that developed continuously from the culture of linear band ceramics. The decorations on the vessels were no longer scratched, but were made up of individual stitches. In the area of ​​Baden-Württemberg, elements of stitched ceramics can be found between and alongside other cultures, but there are no corresponding settlements.

There are numerous finds of linear ceramic culture in Baden-Württemberg, for example from Kirchheim unter Teck , Kronau , Ludwigsburg , Messelhausen , Mühlhausen am Neckar , Neckarzimmern , Obrigheim , Öhringen , Schwetzingen and Zaisenhausen as well as from Heiligenberg near Heidelberg and from Klingenberg near Heilbronn . Gerlingen is one of the oldest linear ceramic villages . Also caves such as the rogues cave in Eselsburger Valley have artifacts on the Linear Pottery.

The Talheim massacre is also dated to this period, which took place around 5100 BC in the area of ​​what is now Talheim near Heilbronn . Several people found violent deaths. In the City Museums Heilbronn , a separate exhibition area dedicated to this massacre that could be reconstructed on the basis of 34 Neolithic skeletal remains.

Menhir group

The Hinkelstein Group (also known as the Hinkelstein Culture ) is an archaeological regional group from the Neolithic Age in southwest Germany. It lies at the transition between the linear ceramics and cultures of the Middle Neolithic and dates from about 5000 to 4800 BC. It follows on from the younger linear ceramics. In addition, the similarity of the range of shapes and motifs due to influences from the stitch band ceramics cannot be overlooked. In addition to these archaeological finds, the non-existence of hilltop settlements is an indication that they were looking for their beginning at this time. The same phenomenon can also be found in the Großgartacher culture and linear ceramics. They only set in with the older Rössen culture . In southwest Germany in particular, the Hinkelstein group should be placed in the same context with the late line ceramics and early Bohemian stitch ceramics. With the outgoing Hinkelstein group, the Großgartacher group was created. Both coexisted for a while.

Like many other groups and cultures of the Middle Neolithic, the Hinkelstein group is mainly found near rivers. The areas of the upper and middle Rhine ( Rhine-Main area ) experienced their main settlement. In the area west of Lake Constance , between the Rhine and Main, there are further settlement areas. In addition, archaeologists uncovered sites of the Hinkelstein group in the Neckar basin . What is striking is the almost congruent distribution in the areas of the previous culture of linear ceramics.

The graves are characterized by rich jewelry. The dead were stretched out and found in a southeast-northwest orientation. The gaze of the buried turned to the northeast. Many of the graves were so-called flat graves . The dead were thus buried and buried at a depth of 70–90 cm. The buried were mostly given rich grave goods. In addition to ceramic vessels, archaeologists found a variety of decorative elements. This consisted of mussels, boar and deer teeth, stone and horn. Many of the graves were located in areas of the following Großgartacher culture and the Alsatian line ceramic pottery.

Großgartacher culture

Abdominal kink vessel of the Großgartacher culture from Stuttgart - Mühlhausen ; State Museum Württemberg , Stuttgart

The Großgartacher culture is an archaeological culture in the Middle Neolithic in the first half of the 5th millennium BC. In the Hinkelstein-Großgartach-Rössen cultural complex . It got its name from Alfred Schliz (1849–1915) after excavation work in Großgartach, today part of the municipality of Leingarten in the district of Heilbronn and was especially widespread in southwest Germany. The Großgartacher culture is in the period from about 4900 to about 4700 BC. Dated.

The Rössen culture

The Rössen culture is a Central European culture of the Middle Neolithic and, according to radiocarbon dates, was made from charcoal between 4790 and 4550 BC. Chr. Dated. It follows the Großgartach culture with overlaps . The eponymous burial ground of Rössen , city of Leuna , Saalekreis , Saxony-Anhalt is located on the eastern edge of its distribution area. Finds of the Rössen culture in Germany extend over Baden-Württemberg and ten other German federal states. It can be found, for example, in Korb , Lauffen am Neckar , Neuenheim , Sasbach on the western edge of the Kaiserstuhl , Tübingen , but also in the Lone and Achtal ( glasses cave ) and east of the Hohentwiel .

The term was introduced in 1900 by Alfred Götze , after the excavations carried out in Rössen since 1882.

Schwieberdinger Group

The Schwieberdinger group , sometimes also called the Schwieberdinger culture , was a Neolithic prehistoric culture around 4300-4200 BC. In the area of ​​today's Ludwigsburg region , but also in the area of ​​northern Stuttgart .

It is named after the eponymous site in Schwieberdingen in Baden-Württemberg . The term Schwieberdinger Gruppe was coined in 1938 by the prehistorian Armin Stroh .

There are only sparse finds of the Schwieberdinger group, including in Gerlingen . In the district of Zuffenhausen there is an 8-meter-long building in the Salzweg area as a relevant site of the Schwieberdinger group. Copper processing occurs here for the first time. The Schwieberdinger group had contact with the Rössen culture , but was not a group of theirs. Finds testify to mining huts and hilltop settlements.

Aichbühler Group

The Federsee in Upper Swabia , whose Moor zone houses Stone Age cultures in Federseemuseum be presented today and through the scientific archeology of Federsee basin is developed

The Aichbühler Gruppe (also Aichbühler Kultur ) is an archaeological regional group in southern Germany at the transition from the Middle Neolithic to the Young Neolithic . The dating is around 4200 to 4000 BC. The Aichbühler Group is preserved by wetland settlements and is one of the oldest pile-dwelling cultures north of the Alps.

The term was introduced by Hans Reinerth in 1923 , after it was found in Aichbühl near Bad Schussenried , on the Federseemoor in Upper Swabia . Archaeological digs have been carried out there since 1875. The Aichbühler Group is widespread in the area of ​​the Federsee and the upper Danube . It is replaced by the Schussenried group , which was founded on the Federsee around 4050 BC. Is archaeologically comprehensible and is the subject of archeology of the Federsee Basin .

The most important settlement is the Riedschachen I site on the south bank of the Federsee (excavations 1919–1930). Here one found a row of rectangular houses on stilts with a threshold substructure and a forecourt on the narrow side facing the sea. There were four or five houses in a row. In the mostly two-room houses, ovens and stoves, clay floors and benches as well as reed and bark roofs were found. Grain cultivation, livestock farming and hunting are evidenced by organic remains.

Schussenried Group

Ceramic mug of the Schussenried culture

The Schussenried Group , sometimes also referred to as the Schussenried Culture , was a early Neolithic culture that was widespread in southwest Germany around 4200-3700 BC. Chr.

The group was named after the location in the Riedschachen high moor near Bad Schussenried in the Federsee area in 1960 by Jürgen Driehaus .

Preferred places to live were the banks of lakes and rivers. The houses were one or two rooms. There were villages of up to 40 buildings with the dimensions 6 meters long and 4 meters wide. The floors were made of wooden beams with clay screed, the outer walls were made of split timber or wicker walls. There was an oven and a fireplace. Some villages existed for up to 200 years, and caves also served as dwellings for a short time. The Schussenrieder lived from agriculture, animal husbandry (mainly cattle and pigs) and fishing , while hunting hardly seems to have played a role. The Neolithic village near Ehrenstein has been offering illustrative material for this cultural stage since 2020 as a museum.

Typical ceramics were decorated jugs with handles. Triangles and ribbon motifs were found on the patterns. They were made without a potter's wheel using the bulge technique. There were also undecorated goods. Schussenried jugs can be found in Central Europe, Western Austria and Bohemia.

The Michelsberg near Untergrombach and the Michelsberg culture

A tulip cup from Michelsberg, an important example of the Michelsberg culture ; this original is in the Landesmuseum Württemberg

The eponymous place of discovery , the "Michelsberg" (actually Michaelsberg ), is around four kilometers south of Bruchsal in the suburb of Untergrombach. The abbreviation of the name “Michelsberg” was made by archaeologists in the early publications around 1900 and has been retained ever since. The dating is from around 4400 to 3500 BC. Christ appointed.

The first prehistoric finds were made in 1884 by Karl August von Cohausen . The first excavations by the Karlsruhe Antiquities Association took place in 1888. Inside the facility on the Michelsberg there were more than 100 settlement pits. The development consisted of wooden buildings with clay plaster . Characteristic of the ceramics of the Michelsberg culture are pointed, undecorated tulip cups and the so-called baking plates . Finds such as barley and emmer confirm arable farming . The bones of cattle , pigs , sheep and goats are evidence of livestock farming . Also dog bones were found. The bones of deer and fox testify to the hunt.

Research to date has considered the Michelsberg culture to be a culture that rejects copper, but there is occasional evidence of copper processing ( Heilbronn-Klingenberg ).

Other important sites of the Michelsberg culture in Baden-Württemberg can be found in Bruchsal Aue , Ilsfeld , Klingenberg and Obereisesheim .

Pfyner culture

A wooden bucket from the Reute-Schorrenried moorland

The Pfyner culture arises on the southern edge of the late Michelsberg culture and follows the Hornstaader group in the Lake Constance region . In Baden-Württemberg, the Reute-Schorrenried bog settlement is of importance here. It is a wetland settlement from the 38th century BC. In the Bad Waldsee district of Reute . Reute-Schorrenried became famous for the discovery of a copper dagger.

The settlement shows elements of the Pfyn culture, which is particularly widespread in Eastern Switzerland, but also from the Altheimer group from Bavaria. It is therefore assigned to the Pfyn-Altheimer group , of which there are several sites from this time in Upper Swabia.

Flat-bottomed, barely decorated vessels are typical of the Pfyn culture.

Investigations and excavations by today's State Office for Monument Preservation provided evidence that in Wangen am Bodensee , a district of Öhningen , settlements of both the Pfyn culture (3900 to 3500 BC) and the Horgen culture (3400 to 2800 BC) ) passed. In 1850, council clerk Kaspar Löhle discovered the very first pile construction site on Lake Constance in Wangen Bay. The Fischerhaus Museum and a replica pile dwelling house provide an overview of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “ Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps ” in Öhningen.

Horgen culture

About 20 pile dwellings , including with Horgen Culture were in Sipplingen on Lake Überlingen discovered

The Horgen culture is a Neolithic culture between 3400 and 2800 BC. BC in western Switzerland and southern Baden-Württemberg , which is characterized by damp settlements and pile dwellings . The Horgen culture follows the Pfyn culture on Lake Constance and is considered the easternmost branch of the Seine-Oise-Marne culture in France.

The culture was named after the place Horgen- Scheller on Lake Zurich , where discoveries came to light during construction work in 1923. In 1934, the prehistorian Emil Vogt from the Swiss National Museum recognized that the finds are characteristically different from other epochs. Other important sites are Sipplingen on Lake Constance or Bad Buchau am Federsee . In the years 1987 to 1990 essential investigations of the place of discovery took place, whereby large parts had to be worked under water.

The Horgen culture is characterized by coarse, thick-walled, cylindrical ceramics. This type of ceramic can also be explained by a change in usage behavior. As leftovers in the ceramics of the Horgen culture show, the thick-walled vessels were also used for warming and heating food; the use therefore went beyond storing food.

→ see also: List of menhirs in Baden-Württemberg

Goldberg III group

Articulated wall bowl from a grave in Unterjettingen in the Boeblingen district , exhibited in the Württemberg State Museum

The Goldberg III group is an end neolithic cultural group in the eastern part of Baden-Württemberg ( Ostalb ), in the western part of Bavaria and in Upper Swabia . It existed at the same time as the late Horgen culture between about 2900 and 2500 BC.

The name is derived from the third settlement discovered on the Goldberg near Riesbürg in the Ostalb district . The term Goldberg III was introduced in 1937 by Gerhard Bersu . Goldberg III, the last Neolithic settlement on Goldberg in the third millennium BC, probably consisted of more than 50 houses.

The Goldberg III group can be proven in the ceramics of a grave find in Unterjettingen , but also in the Federsee in Seekirch -Stockwiesen and Alleshausen -rundwiesen.

Bell Beaker Culture

The bell beaker culture can be viewed in the Bruchsal City Museum ; Here typical ceramics of this end-Neolithic culture in the gently rounded shape of a bell

The bell -beaker culture is an end-Neolithic culture that was found in southern, western and central Europe (in the east as far as Hungary) from 2600 BC. And about until 2200 BC. Lasts. It represents a culture at the transition from the Neolithic to the Copper Age and the Bronze Age .

In 1900, the prehistorian Paul Reinecke , who was then working in Mainz, used the term “bell beaker” (ceramic vessels with a flat base and S-shaped profile, mostly decorated across the entire area) and introduced it to German terminology. Christian Strahm (Freiburg) coined the term bell cup phenomenon to avoid the expression culture , because: the classification of the bell cup culture as an independent archaeological culture is controversial.

Gordon Childe saw the bell-beaker people as missionaries who, coming from Spain , spread across the Atlantic edge of Europe and brought with them the knowledge of copper metallurgy . Stephen Shennan ( University College London ) in particular takes the view that the typical bell beaker furnishings are the prestige goods of a new upper class . The bell beaker culture has left numerous traces on the Zuffenhausen district , especially its typical ceramics. It was widespread in the entire Stuttgart area .

In the area of ​​Baden-Württemberg, the bell-beaker culture is a prerequisite for understanding the regional cultures that existed there ( e.g. Singener Group , Neckar Group ) in the following Bronze Age ; at the same time, the bell beaker culture leads to the Copper Age with its use of metal .

Stilt houses

Reconstructed lake dwellings from the Stone Age, but also from later periods can in Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen on the northern shores of Lake Constance are studied

Under the name Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps , which were built from the 5th to the 1st millennium BC. The UNESCO lists 111 sites of prehistoric pile dwellings in Switzerland , Germany , Austria , Italy , France and Slovenia as world cultural heritage sites . Of these, 15 important sites are in the area of ​​today's state of Baden-Württemberg, which lead into different epochs from the Neolithic to the Copper Age to the Bronze Age .

The sites with the remains of the pile dwellings were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011.

In Baden-Württemberg, this includes not only places on Lake Constance and Federsee , but also, for example, the Neolithic village near Ehrenstein on the Swabian Alb and the Schreckensee near Wolpertswende .

Copper Age

In the German-speaking prehistory, a period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age is referred to as the Copper Age or Copper Stone Age , in which copper mining and basic metallurgy techniques were used to a greater extent.

Archeology defines the beginning of the Copper Age primarily through the economic importance of the metal, which is usually associated with copper mining, but in individual cases is also defined through the processing of imported copper. In the Central European structure of the Neolithic by Jens Lüning , the lower stages of the Young Neolithic , Late Neolithic and End Neolithic correspond to the Copper Age.

Finds

In this sense, finds in Baden-Württemberg are also assigned to the Copper Age.

Corded Ceramic Culture

Finds from the cord ceramic culture in the Höri Museum in Gaienhofen am Untersee from Lake Constance , dated to around 2,600 BC, from the pile dwelling village in Hornstaad-Schlössle

As Corded Ware culture , even Corded Ware , collectively known one of the most important cultures of the Copper Age . The corded ceramics are named after the characteristic vessel decoration, in which circumferential groove patterns were impressed into the moist clay with a cord ; other common features are burial customs and battle axes .

The dates for Central Europe range from approx. 2800 to 2200 BC. Chr.

The cord ceramics were set up by Friedrich Klopfleisch as an independent group opposite the older ribbon ceramics (1883/1884) and named after the typical decoration. Alfred Götze defined an older and a younger level as early as 1891. In 1898 Karl Schumacher was able to use the stratigraphy of south German pile dwellings to show that cord ceramics were to be placed at the end of the Neolithic and the transition to the Bronze Age .

There are numerous places known in Baden-Württemberg with finds of cord ceramics, such as Kirchheim near Heidelberg , Königshofen , Leingarten , Messelhausen , Öhningen , Tübingen , Zuffenhausen , but also in Zabergäu and Vogtsburg in the Kaiserstuhl . Cord ceramics are also shown in a single grave in the Kuhbachwald in Gemmingen , which is assigned to the tumulus graves in Kraichgau .

Bronze age

Expansion of metal processing in Europe and the Middle East, the darker areas are the historically older regions with metal production . Baden-Württemberg is also clearly marked by the material bronze .
The stool grave of Althausen in German Order Museum of Bad Mergentheim with four human skeletons to 2500 BC

The roots of the Bronze Age lie in the Neolithic Age , when people were already familiar with metalworking in their younger periods. However, they were limited to solid (pure) metals such as gold , silver and copper . In the transition period to the Bronze Age, the Copper Age or the Chalcolithic era is also used regionally . Bronze is an alloy consisting of 90% copper and 10% tin , and is much harder than copper.

An early Bronze Age settlement can be proven on the round mountain above the Ermstal . The Wasserburg Buchau is a late Bronze Age wetland settlement on the Federsee , which is around two kilometers northeast of today's city of Bad Buchau . The Petershöhle (near Beuron) also has Bronze Age ceramics.

Bronze Age and Society

What the Bronze Age cultures have in common is that the need to organize a " metallurgy chain " led to serious upheavals in the structure of society. Access to and mastery of resources (metals, metallurgists, communication and trade routes) led to the formation of an upper class and thus presumably to a social differentiation with inheritable leadership positions. With the bronze it was possible for the first time to accumulate wealth, which was also easily transportable. Bronze ingots were used as a means of payment. The emergence of strongly fortified settlements and the invention of the sword are often interpreted as an indication of an increase in military or predatory conflicts.

The unequal distribution of the metal deposits, especially the very rare tin required for production, led to a “global” trade network which, in addition to goods, spread cultural ideas.

Along with bronze, the first evidence also appears in southern Germany for the processing of gold , which is reflected in the form of grave goods, for example in the Tübingen district .

In the later Bronze Age there is evidence, for example in the Swabian and Franconian Alb, that human sacrifices were common, with the remains of women, children and young people typically predominating, as at the Buchau moated castle.

Early Bronze Age cultures in what is now Baden-Württemberg

Singen group

Essential impulses for the development of the Early Bronze Age in southern Central Europe came from the European southeast and also followed the course of the Danube . Significant cultural groups of the Early Bronze Age are the Singener Gruppe on Lake Constance and the Upper Rhine . This group is dated between 2300 and 2100 BC. The group was in contact with other Early Bronze Age regional groups and was included in the so-called sheet metal circle .

Adlerberg culture

The Adlerberg culture , also known as the Adlerberg group, is an early Bronze Age regional group in southern Germany .

The name refers to the Adlerberg, a flat elevation on the southern outskirts of Worms in Rhineland-Palatinate . The distribution area extended along the northern Upper Rhine and includes areas in southern Hesse, eastern Rhineland-Palatinate and northern Baden-Württemberg. The artifacts known so far come mainly from graves and depot finds , no settlements have been found. In Baden-Wuerttemberg there are traces in Ladenburg . The Adlerbergkultur existed parallel to the southern Singen group.

Arbon culture

The Arbon culture is an archaeological culture of the early Bronze Age between 1800 and 1600 BC. BC, which was widespread around Lake Constance and neighboring regions of northern Switzerland , Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria . It is characterized by characteristic ceramics with zones covered with geometric patterns using scratching and engraving techniques. The name Arbon-Kultur was coined in 1987 by the Freiburg prehistorian Christian Strahm. The eponymous site is the stratigraphic Horizont II of Arbon-Bleiche in Arbon, Switzerland .

Neckar Group

The Neckar group on the middle course of the Neckar is so far only occupied by relatively few find complexes. It refers to an early Bronze Age regional group in Baden-Württemberg and was named in 1988 by Rüdiger Krause . The distribution area extended roughly from Tübingen in the south to Heilbronn in the north. The sites are often along the Neckar .

The menhir of Weilheim , also called Weilheimer stele , is a menhir discovered in the ground in 1985 in the Weilheim district of Tübingen , which is stylistically assigned to the Neckar group.

The largest known necropolis to date has been excavated near Remseck-Aldingen . It consisted of 34 graves with 37 buried individuals.

Barrow culture in the Middle Bronze Age

Barrow culture as it becomes visible on the Kirchberg in Reusten in the Tübingen district

The barrow culture in southern Germany corresponds to the Middle Bronze Age . In Central Europe it lasts from about 1600 to 1300 BC in absolute chronological terms .

Because of the characteristic barrows , one speaks of a barrow culture . At the beginning of the 20th century, Paul Reinecke initially named the period due to the prevailing burial custom , the burial mound bronze age , South Germany , but changed this name to the south German burial mound bronze age in 1905 , which was the geographical focus of the research. On the Swabian Alb one can find evidence of burial mounds in the Nikolaushöhle , but also in Winterlingen . At Kirchberg in Reusten in the Tübingen district , the culture is particularly visible.

Urnfield culture in the late Bronze Age

Bronze Age urn from the urn field culture of Truchtelfingen , today in Berlin

The southern German prehistoric historian Ernst Wagner first formulated the term urn cemeteries in his work Tumulus and Urn Cemeteries in Baden in connection with late Bronze Age grave finds . This publication on the Bronze Age in southern Germany was commented on in 1886 by Otto Tischler in the West German magazine . Tischler spoke of "urn fields of the Bronze Age" and thus coined the term that is still important today and which gave its name to the urn field culture .

From 1927 Georg Kraft carried out further basic work from Freiburg with his description of Bronze Age grave groups in what was then Baden and Württemberg.

The Urnfeld culture is the most widespread Central European culture of the Late Bronze Age . It lasted from around 1300 BC. BC to 800 BC Since the burial rite - burning of corpses on a stake and burial of corpses in urns  - was also practiced in other cultures, the urn field culture is defined by other criteria, such as typical bronze and ceramic shapes.

River finds from the Fils come from the Göppingen region . For example, in Gerlingen , in Laiz near Sigmaringen , in Heidelberg , in Hörvelsingen , in Lauffen am Neckar , in Kuchen , in Sindelfingen , in Truchtelfingen and in Wutach the culture could be proven. But it can also be found in highland settlements in exposed locations in the Swabian Alb , for example at the Achalm near Reutlingen , on the Farrenberg near Mössingen and on the Lochen on the Hochalb near Balingen . The eyeglass cavity also contained artifacts from this era.

In southern Germany, too, the urnfield culture was replaced by the Hallstatt culture at the beginning of the Iron Age .

The surgeon school in Taubertal

In 1939 a stool grave (around 2500 BC) with four human skeletons was discovered in Althausen near Bad Mergentheim , which is exhibited in the Teutonic Order Museum in Bad Mergentheim. Another special feature of the Taubertal is shown by the presentation of a trephined skull. The Deutschordensmuseum is the only museum that shows this surgical technique. By 2014 eight healed trepanations (head openings) had been discovered in the Taubertal, this speaks for the great artistry of the local Stone Age surgeons, one can speak of a kind of "surgeon school" in the Taubertal.

Finds from the Bronze Age

Iron age

Spread of the Hallstatt culture (yellow) and the La Tène culture (green)
The warrior of Hirschlanden , art of the early Hallstatt period

In south-western Central Europe around 800 BC From the urn field culture the Hallstatt culture.

The beginning of the Iron Age is divided into:

Classification

  • Early Iron Age (Older Iron Age) (800–450 BC): Hallstatt culture , which takes its name from a burial ground in Hallstatt in Austria.
  • Late Iron Age (Younger Iron Age) (450 BC – end of 1st century BC): La Tène culture , which is named after a site on Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland; the population is called Celtic .

The division of the Iron Age into Hallstatt and Latène times was defined in 1874 by the Swedish prehistorian Hans Hildebrand . Paul Reinecke further subdivided the Hallstatt period into levels Ha A – D and the Latène period into levels LT A – D.

The Celts are mainly associated with the Hallstatt culture and the Latène culture.

Sites and objects

Important archaeological sites and finds from this time are in Baden-Württemberg:

Heidengraben, Ipf and Oppidum Finsterlohr

Remains of the mighty walls in the forest near Grabenstetten , which, under the name Heidengraben , have turned out to be part of an extensive Celtic fortification, an oppidum
The Ipf on the Eastern Alb is a Celtic hub in the long-distance transport network of the Iron Age

The Heidengraben , a ditch in the 1st century BC, can also be assigned to this period . BC-used. Celtic settlement , which on the Swabian Alb in grave Stetten was. Originally the term only referred to the remains of the fortification of the oppidum, which are still visible today as a wall. The oppidum had an outer and an inner ring of fortifications, and within the latter was the settlement known as Elsachstadt . This settlement had a considerable area of ​​1.53 km² and was located west of today's municipality of Grabenstetten.

As early as 1907, Friedrich Hertlein carried out excavations on the Ipf near Bopfingen . He examined two of the ramparts and the fortification of the plateau. Hertlein connected the finds with the similar fortification of the Heidengraben , which is addressed as fortification of an oppidum . New excavations in the immediate vicinity of the Ipf and on the Ipf by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Baden-Württemberg since 2000 and 2004 have brought clarity. The new research has confirmed that the Ipf was already in the Neolithic , but increasingly since the Late Bronze Age (1200–800 BC) . Chr.), Had an important function and experienced its heyday as a supraregional center of power in the late Hallstatt and early La Tène period (6th / 5th centuries BC). The Ipf was a junction in the long-distance traffic network in the Iron Age.

The Finsterlohr oppidum near Creglingen has been known for a long time, but little researched so far.

Viereckschanzen

In Baden-Württemberg, various four-cornered jumps from this period were discovered and examined. Most archaeologists consider the Viereckschanzen as fenced-in rural farmsteads that were inhabited by well-off farmers. These include, for example:

Transitional period to Roman antiquity

The end of the Iron Age and the transition to the Roman Empire (as part of antiquity ) is usually indicated with the incorporation of the respective area into the Roman Empire and differs depending on the province.

The space in ancient times and in the early Middle Ages

Roman Empire

A Roman giant column of Jupiter , found and erected in Ladenburg , what was then Lopodunum
Increasing expansion of the Romans in what is now Baden-Württemberg

In ancient times , the area between the Alps, Danube and Rhine became part of the Roman Empire . The two sons of Augustus , Drusus and Tiberius , conquered in 15 BC. Chr. The area south of the Danube.

Roman provinces and cities

The Roman provinces Raetia and Germania superior emerged in the southwest of today's Germany .

Cities were founded and fortified by the Romans in what is now the state of Baden-Württemberg, such as:

Settlement continuity is only likely for Baden-Baden, Ladenburg and Rottweil.

Manors, military camps and baths

Some other Roman foundations go back to military camps or Roman agricultural properties. The Villa rustika in the Burrenwald near Biberach and the Villa Rustica near Lauffen should be mentioned here. The Roman estate of Bargen bei Engen is considered to be particularly well preserved. The Roman manor of Büßlingen has been completely excavated . The Villa rustica von Meßkirch is the largest known courtyard of its kind in southern Germany. The Roman house in Walheim houses a completely preserved Roman strip house , which is considered to be the best preserved building of its kind north of the Alps.

Bathing facilities are also among the finds. The Roman bath near Wurmlingen , the Roman bath near Kressbronn-Betznau , the Roman bath in Weinsberg and the Roman bath in Jagsthausen should be mentioned here. The Roman bath ruin Badenweiler is the ruin of a Roman thermal bath in Badenweiler . It is one of the oldest buildings in Baden-Württemberg and is still one of the best preserved thermal baths north of the Alps.

limes

The new northern border of the Roman Empire on the connection line between the Rhine and the Danube was secured against onrushing Germanic groups with a fortification, the Limes , from the end of the 1st century .

This facility was strengthened in the following years, but from the 4th century onwards it could no longer withstand the constant attacks of the individual Germanic groups. The Germanic tribes increasingly settled in the area south of the Danube.

A part of the Roman population stayed in the country anyway and mixed with the immigrating Germans. Around 300, Roman sources no longer speak of the Agri decumates , but of Alemannia as the land of the Alemanni .

Roman finds from the area of ​​today's Baden-Württemberg

→ see also: Roman buildings in Baden-Württemberg

Alemanni

The Runde Berg near Bad Urach , an Alemannic hilltop settlement
The Alemannic Trossinger lyre

In the early Middle Ages the ethnogenesis of the Bavarians and the immigration of the Alemanni took place , with the Lech later forming the border between the two emerging tribal duchies. Bavaria and Swabia were incorporated into the dominion of the Franconian Empire under the Merovingians .

The Alemannic hill settlements are those in southern and southwest Germany that were used by the Germanic tribe of the Alemanni, especially in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. Most of these settlements are located on the edge of the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb , some of them were already used in prehistoric times. An important and well-researched example of this is the Runde Berg near Bad Urach . The zähringen castle (Gundelfingen) is an example of the southern Black Forest .

Most of the time, the early Alemanni built traditional post buildings with wattle walls plastered with clay. However, there is little evidence of the early Alemanni in Baden-Württemberg. In the Fürsamen bei Heidenheim in the 4th century there was one of the largest known early Halemannic settlements in southern Germany. Extensive traces of settlement from the early Halemannic period were found on the entire excavation area. In addition to the numerous longhouses made of wood and half-timbered construction , several pit houses and storage structures built on stilts have been identified. Almost all residential buildings were oriented with the long axis to the north.

The Lauchheim burial ground is one of the few burial grounds that were not only in continuous use for over 200 years - during most of the Merovingian era - but whose associated Alemannic settlement “Mittelhofen” has also been almost completely excavated. The grave field of Validlingen breaks off in its occupancy in the year 510 AD.

Alemannic incursions

The region west of the Lech could no longer withstand the constant Alemanni invasions and after the fall of the previous Iller border, the partial expulsion, but also the gradual assimilation of the Romansh population there into the areas of Raetia beyond the Lech, became part of the Alemanni settlement area .

From around 500 the Romans also abandoned the Danube border. However, social relationships in the Roman cities on the Danube were in part still maintained by church power structures (→ Saint Severin ).

Christianization

In order to evangelize the Alemanni, the diocese of Constance was founded in the 6th century, probably in 585 AD , by moving the bishopric from Vindonissa ( Windisch ) to Constance . This created a center for Christianization .

The monks Fridolin , Landolin , Trudpert and Gallus came as the first missionaries to the Alamanni on the Rhine and Lake Constance in the 6th century . Säckingen am Hochrhein and Schuttern in Ortenau are the earliest monasteries to be founded. This includes the monastery on the Bodensee island of Reichenau , which the traveling bishop Pirmin founded around 724 .

Alemannia becomes the Duchy of Swabia

A distinction was made between Alemanni and Suebi up to around 500, but from the 6th century the two names are expressly passed down as being synonymous. The Suebi name caught on, however, when the settlement area of ​​the Alamanni, which until then had been titled as Alamannia, became the Duchy of Swabia.

After the blood court in Cannstatt by the Franconian caretaker Karlmann in 746, the remnants of Alemannic independence came under increasing pressure from Franconian- Carolingian interests and were pushed back more and more.

By the 9th century, Alemannia was politically and culturally active in Eastern Franconia and between the 10th and 13th centuries was once again politically consolidated by the Staufer Duchy of Swabia .

Alemannic finds in the museums of Baden-Württemberg

Important museums on the prehistory of Baden-Württemberg

The Archäopark Vogelherd has an indoor and an outdoor area on the prehistory of Baden-Württemberg, which also conveys the prehistory in an educational way.
Celtic death bed from the Celtic collection of the Württemberg State Museum
Also, the Limesmuseum in Aalen has next to the museum building a spacious outside area, which leads through one term archaeological excavation site
The replica of an Alemannic stable house can be experienced in the Alemanni Museum in Vörstetten

The prehistory of Baden-Württemberg is conveyed in various museums through exhibits, presentations, special exhibitions and museum education .

General representations

First and foremost, the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart should be mentioned , which provides a comprehensive and differentiated overview of the topic with all epochs from all regions of primeval regional archeology. The same applies to the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe , which covers prehistory in the Baden region. The Archaeological Museum Colombischlössle in Freiburg im Breisgau also covers a broad historical area for Baden .

Early humans, Stone Age and Bronze Age

The Urmensch Museum in Steinheim an der Murr takes care of the representation of the early humans of Baden-Württemberg. The culture of the Neanderthals and the Stone Age cave culture is conveyed on the one hand by the Veringenstadt Local History Museum and on the other by the Ulm Museum . The Stone Age sites of the Swabian Alb can be found with numerous original exhibits in the Blaubeuren Museum of Prehistory . With informative indoor and outdoor stations, including walk- Vogelherd cave waiting Archeopark Vogelherdhöhle in the district of Heidenheim on. The museum at the Löwentor in Stuttgart shows life-size replicas of the prehistoric inhabitants of Baden-Württemberg in a good system. The Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen and the Archaeological State Museum of Baden-Württemberg in Constance focus primarily on the Stone and Bronze Age pile dwellings on the waters of the state.

Celtic museums

In addition to the Celtic collection of the Württemberg State Museum and the Heuneburg Museum, the Hochdorf Celtic Museum in Eberdingen, in particular, introduces the Iron Age culture, which is developed using the example of a “prince” of the Hallstatt culture who was buried at Hochdorf at great expense and with rich grave goods. The Franciscan Museum Villingen-Schwenningen is also dedicated to Celtic finds . The Upper Swabian Celtic Road connects corresponding archaeological objects.

Roman museums

The Limes Museum in Aalen depicts the Romans as an occupying power in southwestern Germany and its exhibits extend back to the Alemannic era. Both the Limes Museum and the Roman Museum with the Köngen Archaeological Park have indoor and outdoor areas. The Römermuseum Osterburken can be traced back to a Roman fort . The Roman Museum Stettfeld shows an astonishingly large Roman settlement in the Rhine Valley. As the only Roman city in what is now Baden-Württemberg, Rottweil had the privileged legal status of a municipality , which is presented in detail in the Dominican Museum in Rottweil . The Roman Open-Air Museum Hechingen-Stein shows what was once a spacious villa rustica . The Museum Römervilla is a Roman museum in Grenzach-Wyhlen around an excavated villa urbana .

The Sumelocenna Museum in Rottenburg am Neckar presents a diorama with around 650 pewter figures . The absence of a Roman museum in the Riißissen school shows mainly finds in the area around the Riississen fort .

Alemanni and Merovingian times

The Alemanni Museum in Ellwangen presents the culture of the Alemanni as it has come to light in rich archaeological excavations in the Eastern Alb. The Alamannenmuseum Weingarten does the same with a view of the Weingarten burial ground . The Alamannen Museum in Vörstetten in the Black Forest shows a stable house . The Auberlehaus Museum in Trossingen shows the Alemannic roots of the place with its exhibits.

Institutions serving the prehistory of Baden-Württemberg

Nicholas Conard as Tuebingen university lecturer in archaeological work in the Hohle Fels , where he participated in significant discoveries about the Ice Age art was involved
An octocopter from the State Monuments Office of Baden-Württemberg in 2015 capturing and documenting archaeological excavations in Kirchheim unter Teck by surveying the site from the air

Baden-Württemberg has outstanding archaeological sources from almost every epoch, which are also attracting increasing international attention. Several institutions are dedicated to this in a special way:

Prehistory of Baden-Württemberg at the state universities

Of the currently 24 institutes specializing in prehistory and early history in Germany, three are located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, all of which - with different priorities - also focus on the topics of state archeology.

  • Institute for Prehistory and Early History and Archeology of the Middle Ages at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg im Breisgau
  • Institute for Prehistory and Early History and Near Eastern Archeology (ZAW) at Heidelberg University
  • Institute for Prehistory and Early History and Archeology of the Middle Ages of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen with the Departments of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology (Faculty of Geosciences), the Department of Younger Prehistory and Early History (Faculty of Cultural Studies) and the Department of Medieval Archeology (Faculty of Cultural Studies)

The scientific research of the Stone Age in the Swabian Alb is mainly done at the University of Tübingen, which among other things presents the wild horse from the Lone Valley in the Museum of the University of Tübingen .

State authority

Foundation, endowment

Other important organizations

See also

literature

  • Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf: Ice Age Archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. von Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015. ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  • Hans Eberhardt, Erwin Keefer, Claus-Joachim Kind , Horst Rensch, Harald Ziegler: Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites from the Aichbühler Bucht. In: Fundber. Bad-Württ. 12, 1987, pp. 1-51.
  • Joachim Hahn , Claus-Joachim Kind , Karlheinz Steppan: Mesolithic Reindeer Hunters in Southwest Germany? The Middle Stone Age open air site in Rottenburg 'Siebenlinden I' (preliminary report). In: Fundber. Bad-Württ. 18, 1993, pp. 29-52.
  • Georg Hiller , Stefanie Kölbl (ed.): Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016. ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1 (on the ice age art of the Alb, German and English)
  • Claus-Joachim Kind : The rock stables A Upper Palaeolithic-Early Mesolithic Abri station near Ehingen-Mühlen, Alb-Donau district. (= Research and report. Pre- and early business Bad.-Württ. 23). Stuttgart 1987. ISBN 3-8062-0777-1
  • Claus-Joachim Kind: Ulm-Eggingen. The excavations from 1982 to 1985 in the ceramic band settlement and the medieval desert. (= Research and report. Pre- and early business Bad.-Württ. 34). Stuttgart 1989. ISBN 3-8062-0796-8
  • Claus-Joachim Kind: The last hunters. Henauhof Nord II and the end Mesolithic in Baden-Württemberg. (= Materialh. Arch. Bad.-Württ. 39). Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-8062-1324-0
  • Claus-Joachim Kind: The Mesolithic in the Neckar floodplain. The sites of Rottenburg Siebenlinden 1 and 3. (= Research and Ber. Pre and Early History Bad.-Württ. 88). Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-8062-1788-2
  • Claus-Joachim Kind: The last hunters and gatherers. The Mesolithic in Baden-Württemberg. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg. 35th vol., Issue 1, 2006, pp. 10-17. ( PDF; 3.2 MB )
  • Theodor Mommsen (Ed.): Jordanis, De origine actibusque Getarum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auct. ant. 1882.
  • Hansjürgen Müller-Beck (Ed.): Prehistory in Baden-Württemberg. Konrad-Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8062-0217-6 .
  • Jürgen Nakott: People like us. National Geographic Germany , December 2002, special edition.
  • Rudolf Noll (ed.): Eugippius, The life of Saint Severin. Writings and sources of the Old World, Berlin 1963.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Hiller and Stefanie Kölbl, Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016, p. 15, ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1
  2. ^ DAE Garrod: The Upper Palaeolithic in the Light of Recent Discovery. - Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1938, pp. 1-2.
  3. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 69, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  4. ↑ M. Kunter, J. Wahl: The femur fragment of a Neanderthal man from the barn cave of the Hohlenstein in the Lone Valley. In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg , Volume 17, No. 1, 1992, pp. 111-124.
  5. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 57, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  6. ↑ Hugo Obermaier: The man of the past. Allgemeine Verlags-GmbH, Berlin, Munich, Vienna 1912.
  7. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 71, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  8. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 58.59, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  9. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 60, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  10. ^ Susanne C. Münzel and Nicholas J. Conard, Sounds from distant times. The flutes of the Aurignacien from the Swabian Alb , in: The return of the lion man. History - Myth - Magic. Book accompanying the exhibition, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2013, pp. 98-103, ISBN 978-3-7995-0542-0
  11. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 107, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  12. ↑ Michael Bolus, Departure. The Spread of Modern Man , in: The Return of the Lion Man. History - Myth - Magic. Book accompanying the exhibition , published by Ulmer Museum , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2013, pp. 74–79, quoted on p. 77, ISBN 978-3-7995-0542-0
  13. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, pp. 78–81, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  14. ^ Georg Hiller and Stefanie Kölbl, Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016, p. 17, ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1
  15. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 78, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  16. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard , Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 82, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  17. ^ Georg Hiller and Stefanie Kölbl, Welt-Kult-Ur-Sprung, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ulm 2016, p. 17, ISBN 978-3-7995-1168-1
  18. ↑ Ekke W. Guenther, "Is the Munzingen reindeer hunter station a loess magdalenia?" PDF file on the website www.quartaer.eu
  19. ^ Ice Age archeology on the Swabian Alb. The sites in the Ach and Lone Valley and in their surroundings , ed. by Nicholas J. Conard, Michael Bolus, Ewa Dutkiewicz and Sibylle Wolf, Kerns Verlag Tübingen, 2015, p. 85, ISBN 978-3-935751-24-7
  20. ^ A. Bentley, R. Krause, TD Price, B. Kaufmann: Human mobility at the early Neolithic settlement of Vaihingen, Germany: evidence from strontium isotope analysis. In: Archaeometry. 45, 2003, pp. 471-486.
  21. ^ Walter Meier-Arendt: The Hinkelstein Group. The transition from the early to the middle Neolithic in southwest Germany . Roman-Germanic research, De Gruyter, Berlin, 1975. ISBN 3-11-004758-6
  22. ↑ Anthony Denaire, RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE WESTERN EUROPEAN NEOLITHIC: COMPARISON OF THE DATES ON BONES AND DATES ON CHARCOALS. RADIOCARBON 51-2 / 2009: 657-674
  23. ↑ Rolf Dehn: A burial ground of the Rössen culture of Jechtingen at the Kaiserstuhl. In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg , 4th year 1975, issue 1, pp. 25–27
  24. ^ Finds in the Neolithic village in the Ehrenstein district , Blaustein municipality, Alb-Danube district
  25. ^ Albrecht Bonnet : The Stone Age settlement on the Michelsberg near Untergrombach. Publications of the Grossh. Bath. Collections for antiquity and ethnology in Karlsruhe and the Karlsruher Altertumsverein 2 (1899), pp. 39–54
  26. ↑ Erdwerk Bruchsal- "Aue". DFG project "Settlement Structures of Michelsberg Culture in Kraichgau", accessed on August 15, 2016.
  27. ↑ Museum Fischerhaus: The pile dwellings of Wangen (accessed on March 28, 2020)
  28. ↑ archaeologie.zh.ch: Download. SubContainerList. SubContainer1.ContentContainerList.0013.DownloadFile.pdf (application / pdf object)  ( page can no longer be called up , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 1@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.archaeologie.zh.ch   , accessed July 5, 2017
  29. ^ Niels Bleicher: New foundations for dating the Goldberg III group in Upper Swabia. News sheet Arbeitskreis Unterwasserarchäologie 13, 2006, pp. 83–86
  30. ↑ Preservation of monuments. UNESCO world heritage. Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps in Baden-Württemberg. State Office for Monument Preservation, Stuttgart 2011, p. 5
  31. ↑ Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps (accessed June 27, 2017)
  32. ^ Johannes Müller: Copper, megaliths and new technologies. University of Kiel, pp. 301–332, excerpt online ( memento from May 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), in: Albrecht Jockenhövel (Ed.): WBG Weltgeschichte. A Global History from the Beginning to the 21st Century, Volume I: Foundations of the Global World. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2009
  33. ↑ Jens Lüning: New thoughts on naming the Neolithic periods. In: Germania. Volume 74/1, 1996, pp. 233-237 ( online ).
  34. ↑ Martin Furholt: Absolute Chronology and the Origin of Cord Ceramics. In: jungsteinsite.de , article from December 16, 2003 (PDF; 5.2 MB)
  35. ↑ Almut Bick: The Stone Age. Theiss, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-8062-1996-6
  36. ↑ Wolf Kubach: Buried, sunk, burned - sacrificial finds and cult sites. In: Bronze Age in Germany. Special issue 1994: Archeology in Germany, pp. 65–74. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8062-1110-8 . P. 73 f.
  37. ^ Rüdiger Krause : A new burial ground of the older Early Bronze Age from Remseck-Aldingen, Ludwigsburg district. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg. 1988 (1989), ISSN  0724-8954 , pp. 156-160.
  38. ^ Hans Hildebrand: Sur les commencements de l'age du fer en Europe . Congrés internationale d'anthropologie et d'archéologie préhistorique 2, 1874, p. 592 ff (report of the international anthropological-archaeological congress in Stockholm)
  39. ↑ The Brockhaus Archeology. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig / Mannheim 2009, ISBN 978-3-7653-3321-7 , s. v. Iron Age , p. 171.
  40. ↑ See Rüdiger Krause: The Ipf. Early Celtic prince seat and center of Celtic settlement in the Nördlinger Ries. 2nd Edition. Archaeological information from Baden-Württemberg, issue 47, Stuttgart, 2007.
  41. ^ Römerbadruine Badenweiler> Brief information. schloesser-magazin.de, archived from the original on October 14, 2007 ; accessed on November 13, 2016 .