Wartberg culture
The Wartberg culture (also Wartberg culture , Wartberg group) is a culture of the late Neolithic ( late Neolithic ), named after its eponymous place of discovery , the Wartberg ( 306 m above sea level ) in northern Hesse near the Kirchberg district of Niedenstein . The main focus of the Wartberg culture is in northern Hesse (in the Fritzlarer Börde and the Gudensberger Kuppenschwelle ), eastern Westphalia and western Thuringia. A southern extension of the distribution area into the Rhine-Main region has not yet been proven with certainty.
definition
The Wartberg culture is a cultural group of the north-west German early Neolithic. It dates from 3500 BC. BC to 2800 BC BC , at the same time as the Walternienburg-Bernburg culture of the eastern neighboring area and the megalithic construction phase of the funnel beaker culture to the north . Locations are the Wartberg near Kirchberg, the Hasenberg near Lohne , as well as the Güntersberg and the Bürgel near Gudensberg . There are also the ring wall system on Burgberg near Niedenstein and the earthworks in Calden (both in northern Hesse).
Findings
Settlements
All known settlements are hill settlements. As was usually the case in the early Neolithic, house remains are sparse.
Smashed bones were found on the Wartberg , most of which come from cattle , deer , pigs , horses , bears , deer , sheep , goats and beavers . In addition, broken human bones were found. Originally it was assumed that there was a sacrificial site on the Wartberg, but in view of the numerous shards and the remains of wall plastering, these are traces of a hilltop settlement.
Arrowheads were found on the Hasenberg near Lohne and collar bottles from the Wartberg culture on the Güntersberg near Gudensberg .
Burials
Between 3500 and 2800 BC Large stone graves were built by the supporters of the Wartberg culture, especially in East Westphalia and North Hesse, which differ from the TBK facilities known from north-west Germany, especially structurally, but also in terms of additive customs. The gallery graves, sunk into the ground and overgrown, were used as collective burial places and accommodated up to 250 burials in their 2–3 m wide, often 20–30 m long chambers. Access was via a vestibule on the narrow side (Züschen type) or a corridor on the long side (Rimbeck type). A perforated door stone with a “soul hole” separated the access area from the actual burial chamber (Fig. 1). The previously known distribution pattern allows regional groups that are about 30 km apart, each with several graves.
Examples of such gallery graves are the stone chamber grave from Züschen near Fritzlar , the stone box from Lohra , the gallery grave from Warburg-Rimbeck and the stone chamber grave from Altendorf . Other stone chambers can be found in Hadamar-Niederzeuzheim and in Hachenburg ( Westerwald , Rhineland-Palatinate ). The latter was dismantled in the neighboring town of Niederzeuzheim, in Oberzeuzheim, and reconstructed in the Hachenburg palace gardens. The close connection between the grave and the settlement area is special. Many North Hessian settlement sites could be assigned a grave within sight. The stone chamber grave of Züschen is in the immediate vicinity of the settlement on the Hasenberg. Two megalithic tombs refer to the earthworks in Calden.
The gallery graves indicate an influence of Western European megalithics that cannot be proven by other analogies .
Earthworks
As in the previous Michelsberg culture , interrupted earthworks are used. One example is the Calden complex , where two trenches and a palisade enclose an area of 14 hectares. C14 dates prove the construction of this monument around 3700 BC. In the late phase of the Michelsberg culture and a subsequent use in the older Wartberg culture.
Material culture
Ceramics
The ceramic is usually very thick-walled and coarsely skimmed. Sabine Naumer wrote about the collection in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Kassel :
"In the column on the Wartberg culture, a small cup with a one-sided loop handle surprises you (approx. 3000 BC). This practical form for drinking and scooping is an indispensable part of our everyday life"
Stone tools
The flint arrowheads are stalked, the sides of the arrowheads form small "wings" next to the stem. Wiedaer slate is a popular raw material for axes , and slate knives are new among stone implements .
Storage locations of the finds
- Hessian State Museum in Kassel
- Regional Museum Fritzlar
- Wolfhager Land Regional Museum
literature
- Dirk Raetzel-Fabian: Calden. Earthworks and burial places of the early Neolithic. Habelt, Bonn 2000. ISBN 3-7749-3022-8 .
- Dirk Raetzel-Fabian: The first farming cultures. Neolithic in Northern Hesse . 2nd edition. Early history in the Hessian State Museum in Kassel. Vol. 2. Kassel, 2000, pp. 105-138. ISBN 3-931787-11-7 .
- Waldtraut Schrickel: Western European elements in the Neolithic grave construction of Central Germany and the gallery graves of West Germany and their inventories. Catalog of the central German graves with Western European elements and the gallery graves of Western Germany. Contributions to the prehistoric and early historical archeology of the Mediterranean cultural area 4-5. Bonn 1966.
- Waldtraut Schrickel: The finds from the Wartberg in Hesse. Kassel contributions to prehistory and early history. Vol. 1. Elvert, Marburg 1969.
- Waldtraut Schrickel: The gallery grave culture of West Germany. Origin, structure and relationship to neighboring cultures. In: Fundamenta A3. The beginnings of the Neolithic from the Orient to Northern Europe. Part 5b: Western Central Europe. Cologne, Vienna 1976, pp. 188-239.
- Winrich Schwellnus: Wartberg group and Hessian megalithic. A contribution to the late Neolithic of the Hessian mountainous region. Materials on the prehistory and early history of Hesse 4. Self-published by the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse, Wiesbaden 1979.
References
- ^ Waldtraut Schrickel: The finds from the Wartberg in Hesse. Kassel contributions to prehistory and early history. Vol. 1. Elvert, Marburg 1969.
Web links
- Dirk Raetzel-Fabian (PDF file; 2.20 MB)
- Wolfhager Land Regional Museum