Baales 2019 - Retuscheur im Acker - AiD

A doline with Mesolithic finds near Göttern (Thuringia, Middle Germany), 2011

The article deals with remains of a early mesolithic station in a doline. The Göttern site is of special importance as it is the first excavated hunting station in Thuringia.

A peculiar stone with the shape of a heart caught the attention of a young girl in 1916. Her father put it on display together with other fossils they had collected. Only after the collection was offered to the local museum in the early 1920s, was the piece recognized as a paleolithic biface. From the beginning however, doubts were raised as to the source of the raw material used and as to the unstratified position on a ‘Lower Terrace’ of the High Rhine River. A new analysis of the raw material reveals that it is a silcrete which can be traced to local sources in the Buntsandstein. A microwear analysis of the preserved edge reveals a specific stepped retouch and traces which provide evidence that indicate what the biface was potentially used for. According to the morphotype and size the cordiform biface is attributed to the ‘Upper/Final Acheulean’. A scenario of the quaternary environment on the promontory northwest of Bad Säckingen is presented. So, Neandertals were attracted to the area, with skills to knap an exceptional cordiform biface from a raw material outcropping in the region close by.

Anthropologie, 2006

1994

The remains of an Early and Middle Neolithic settlement were examined in an area of over 3000 m2 on the western edge of Gächlingen from 2001 to 2006. The site was severely threatened by modern agriculture and yielded the first ever settlement features from the Linearbandkeramik Culture found on Swiss soil. Though the structures were badly damaged by erosion and crop farming, the remains of at least 23 Neolithic buildings were uncovered. Unfortunately, the settlement history could only be partially reconstructed because many of the features had been so severely damaged during the long history of settlement and as a result of erosion, modern farming and bioturbation. This had also led to considerable commingling of the pit assemblages, which meant that it was not possible to build a detailed reconstruction of the settlement’s development. The excavations carried out so far have only uncovered a small section of the area that was originally covered by the prehistoric settlement. The surface finds that were scattered around the excavated trenches suggested that many more archaeological features must still be hidden below ground, which may yet change the current picture we have of the Neolithic settlement at Gächlingen. Judging by the Early Neolithic pottery, Gächlingen was one of the earliest examples of a farming settlement in the High Rhine area. The decorations and fabric of the Linearbandkeramik pottery suggest that the settlers had moved to Gächlingen from the River Neckar region. It is not yet clear if the indigenous people they encountered upon their arrival had already adopted the Neolithic lifestyle or whether they were still Late Mesolithic hunters and gatherers. A collection of sherds that belonged to the western European pottery tradition is of particular interest. It finds its closest parallels in the pottery of the La Hoguette type, but clearly sets itself apart, mainly by virtue of its rather peculiar decorative style. Its relative-chronological position as compared to Linearbandkeramik ware must remain open for the time being because of the problems with the archaeological context at Gächlingen. Analyses of clay samples, however, did at least show that the pottery had been made from local materials and that therefore it had not been imported in the context of cultural contacts. Whilst unfortunately we cannot make any statements about the economy (crop farming, animal husbandry) of the Gächlingen farming community because of the poor preservation conditions for organic materials, geoarchaeological examinations of soil columns showed that the Early Neolithic soils in the Klettgau region had probably not been overly fertile. It would therefore have required a significant effort on the part of the settlers to produce a good yield. Numerous lithic artefacts recovered from the site provided a rare glimpse into how the natural resources that were available in the region had been used at the time. This allowed us to make a detailed reconstruction of the use of flint deposits available in the region. Thanks to extensive geological surveys carried out on site and subsequent microfacial analyses it was possible to localise and characterise the individual deposits quite closely. We were also able to almost completely reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of flint production. The most striking insight was that the Gächlingen farming community had obviously used various deposits and had worked the raw materials using techniques specifically modified to suit the local flint. Another very interesting discovery was that raw materials from deposits south of the River Rhine had been processed at Gächlingen, which suggests that there were functioning communication networks in the region. The evidence also suggested that surplus was produced at the site, which could have been supplied to neighbouring regions. The analysis of the rock artefacts yielded interesting information. The raw material used to make the axe blades, for instance, does not appear to have been sourced locally. The closest deposits were located in the Hegau region (basalt) and in the southern Black Forest area (so-called knotenschiefer or nodular shale). Other materials may have been brought to Gächlingen from even further afield. The raw materials used to make querns or grinding stones, on the other hand, came from local natural deposits, from the area around Schleitheim and the neighbouring Wutach Valley, just under 5 km from the site as the crow flies. Unworked quernstone blanks found at the settlement suggest that large stones had been brought to the site as raw or half-finished objects which were then further worked on site to create serviceable implements. Numerous pieces of evidence suggested that Gächlingen must have played an important role within the Early Neolithic regional settlement landscape; the site may even have served as a central place. Besides the Linearbandkeramik settlement traces, remains of Middle Neolithic, Urnfield-period, La Tène-period, Roman and early medieval settlements also came to light on the western edge of Gächlingen. Certain sherds could also point to the presence of a Late Neolithic settlement. The intensive settlement activity on site shows that over the course of several thousand years Gächlingen was one of the most favoured places to settle in the region and that the choice of location for the first settlement had obviously not been a coincidence. Although it was not possible due to the poor preservation conditions to answer numerous questions regarding the chronology and history of the settlement, the finds and features from Gächlingen have nevertheless allowed us to gain considerable new insight into the lifestyle of the earliest farmers in the High Rhine region. A completely new light has thus been shone on the Neolithisation of the northern foothills of the Alps. Future discoveries and research will complete this rather sketchy picture and extend the chapter on the changeover from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of sedentary farming with the addition of numerous important aspects as yet unknown.

A.Thévenin (ed.) & P. Bintz (dir.), L'Europe des derniers chasseurs. L'Epipaléolithique et Mésolithique. Peuplement et paléoenvironnement de L'Èpipaléolithique et du Mésolithique. Actes du 5e Colloque international UISPP, 18-23 septembre en Grenoble 1995. Paris 1999, 489-497., 1999

""Résumé. - La région des Basses-Alpes entre l'Iller et le Lech est connue sous le nom d'Allgäu. Pendant le Pléistocène final et l'Holocène ancien, la région de l'Allgäu et liée au développement culturel des Alpes souabes et de la Haute-Souabe. À quelques exceptions près, les sites de l'âge de pierre en Allgäu on été d´couverts par des ramassages ou fouilles non scientifiques effectués par des amateurs. Il s'agit pour la plupart de sites de plein air, où la couche de sédiments est généralment peu épaisse. Ce facteur, combiné aux conditions dans lesquelles ont été faites les découvertes, est souvent responsable de la non-préservation, ou plutôt de la non-récupération de matériel organique, ce qui rend l'analyse archéologique principalement dépendante des objets lithiques eux-mêmes. Le seul site-abri connu à ce jour dans la région a été fouillé par l'Institut de pré- et protohistoire de l'Université de Cologne entre 1984 et 1988. Les sites épipaléolithiques et mésolithiques se trouvent à des altitudes approximatives comprises entre 720 et 920 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer et sont généralment situés dans les mêmes conditions topographiques, donc sur des collines ou des terrasses aux abords de ruisseaux, de rivères ou de lacs. Le paysage des Basse-Alpes a été prinicipalement formé par la dernière période glaciaire. Ce n'est qu'au cours du Bölling que les glaciers ont complètement disparu et qu'une lente reforestration s'est amorcée. Seules des découvertes isolées pourraient indiquer une occupation pendent le Magdalénien. Jusqu'a présent seulement quatre inventaires sont connus de l'epoque épipaléolithique. Situé à Weissensee près de Füssen, à environ 920 m au-dessus du niveau de la mer, l'abri "Unter den Seewänden" reste seul site à avoir fourni des dates radiocarbone qui indiquent une occupation pendent l'Alleröd. Les inventaires de 12 sites représentant le Mesolithique ancien, donc le Beuronien A ou B du Sud de l'Allmagne (la période du Préboreal et du Borél ancien). le Beuronien C (la période du Boréal moyen et final), compris ici comme la prèmiere phase du Mésolithique récent, est présent dans trois inventaires. Neuf inventaires peuvent ètre attribués au Mésolithique récent classique présentant des lames régulières une occupation et/ou des microlithes rectangulaires (la période du Boreal final jusqu'a l'Atlantique ancien). Il y a peu d'évidence pour une occupation de la région pendant le Néolithique ancien. Quelques découvertes isolées - des haches et peu de céramique - indiquent des relations avec le Néolithique ancien d'origine danubienne. Mots Clés. - Èpipaléolithique, Mésolithique, Beuronien, Néolithique ancien, Linearbandkeramik, Großgartacher Gruppe, Stichbandkeramik, haches, céramique, analyses polliniques, céréales cultivés. Abstract. - The Lower Alpine region between the rivers Iller and Lech is known as the Allgäu. During the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene the Allgäu is obviously connected with the cultural development in the Swabian Alps and in Upper Swabia. With few exceptions, the Stone Age finds in the Allgäu have come to light through collecting or non-scientific excavating by amateurs. Almost all the sites are open air sites, where there is usually very little sedimentation. This fact, and the find circumstances in general, are responsible for the non-survival - or rather non-recovery - of any organic material. Archaeological analyses are mostly dependent upon the sone artefacts themselves. The only hithero known abri site in the region was excavated by the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory of the University of Cologne between 1984 and 1988. The late palaeolithic and mesolithic sites lie at heights between 720 and 920 m above sea-level and are generally situated in similar locations on top of hills and on terraces close to rivers, streams and lakes. The landscape of the lower Alpine region was mainly formed during the Last Ice Age. Once the area had become free of ice, a slow reforestation began in the Bølling period. Only singular finds could point to a settlement during the Magdalenian. From the Terminal Palaeolithic, 4 assemblages are known today. Situated about 920 m above sea-level, only the abri "Unter den Seewänden" in Weissensee near Füssen is dated absolutely by the radiocarbon method as belonging to the Alleröd period. The Early Mesolithic, Beuronian A or Beuronian B phase of Southern Germany (Preboreal period and Early Boreal period), is represented by 12 sites. The Beuronian C phase (Middle to Late Boreal period), understood here as the early stage of the Late Mesolithic, could be identified in 3 assemblages. 9 inventories are dated to the classical late Mesolithic with regular blades and/or rectangular microliths (Late Boreal period to Early Atlantic period). There is small evidence for the presence of people during Early Neolithic Times. Some single finds of axes and few ceramics point to connections with the Early Neolithic of Danubian origin. Keywords. - Late Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Early Neolithic, Linearbandkeramik, Großgartacher Gruppe, Stichbandkeramik, axes, ceramics, pollen analysis, cultivated cereals. ""

During the last hundred years or so the southern Munster embayment and the Ruhr region (North Rhine-Westphalia) produced several Late Middle Palaeolithic lithic assemblages from a distinct river sediment known as the Knochenkiese (Bone gravels). Within these sediments that form a major part of the early lower river terraces of Emscher, Lippe, Ems and their tributaries numerous Upper Pleistocene animal remains of the mammoth steppe fauna were located. Furthermore, at Warendorf-Neuwarendorf a right Neanderthal parietal bone was uncovered from a sediment also named as the Knochenkiese. The Knochenkiese lithic assemblages from Bo rop, Herne, Wadersloh, and Warendorf-Neuwarendorf are assigned to the early Keilmessergruppen (Micoquian). In 2008 at Hamm-Uentrop a further Middle Palaeolithic lithic implement was located within the Knochenkiese. However, this distinctive broad blade fragment may instead be the remnant of a site with Late Middle Palaeolithic blades destroyed by erosion of the river Lippe. Bearing in mind all the known geo-and biostratigraphical as well as archaeological information concerning these deposits there are good arguments for placing the Knochenkiese within OIS 4. Furthermore, this result supports the 'long chronology' for the Late Middle Palaeolithic Keilmessergruppen as proposed by O. Jöris in 2004.

The Mesolithic in Thuringia dates approximately from 9000 to 5000 BC. After an initial period of re-forestation in the Late Glacial, great areas of Thuringia appear to have been deforested again in the Late Dryas. The sustained forestation starts in the Preboreal. The reduction of the extensive treeless tundra by the spreading forests resulted in a change of the fauna and humans had to adapt to the new conditions. This new site of Göttern is of special importance as it is the first excavated hunting station in Thuringia (figure 1). Up until now, we have had to depend on numerous inventories of surface finds, special single finds and a few burials, for the exploration of the Mesolithic.