At the borders of the Neolithic world. Excavations in a fortified settlement of the Linear Pottery Culture at Eilsleben
Between 1974 and 1989, extensive archaeological excavations took place near Eilsleben (Börde district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) in a 7,500-year-old settlement of the first farmers in Central Europe. Fortifications, graves and rests of houses came to light. With a total area of 12 hectares, the settlement is one of the largest of its time and is located on the northern periphery of the distribution area of the Linear Pottery Culture. Excavations are now taking place again at the site, which, through the use of the latest methods, will provide deeper insights into the settlement layout and the contacts of the earliest farmers in the region with the contemporary hunters and gatherer societies.
Archaeological research by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt is currently taking place near Eilsleben as a teaching excavation with students from the Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Freie Universität Berlin (FU) and also with international participation in preparation of a comprehensive research project by the LDA. As the leading cooperation partners and head of the on-site investigations, PD Dr. Laura Dietrich, MLU/HEAS research network (Human Evolution & Archaeological Sciences/Vienna) and Prof. Dr. Henny Piezonka, FU Berlin, could be won.
The site at Eilsleben was intensively excavated between 1974 and 1989 by the then director of the State Museum of Prehistory, Dr. Dieter Kaufmann. At that time, parts of a large settlement of the first farmers in Central Europe were discovered, belonging to the so-called Linear Pottery Culture (5500 to 4800 BC). Fortifications, graves and rests of houses as well as pits came to light that were associated with complex rituals, including the sacrifice of animals and, following the then interpretation, humans. With a total area of 12 hectares, the settlement is one of the largest of its time and is located on the northern periphery of the Neolithic settlement area in the fertile Magdeburg Börde.
A complete processing and evaluation of the old finds according to the most modern scientific standards is still pending. They are therefore the topic of a comprehensive project at the LDA, which already raises new questions regarding the finds. For this reason, new investigations have been taking place at the site since this year, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the way of life and economy of the first farmers as well as their contacts and relations with the contemporary hunter-gatherer communities.
Background: first farmers, last hunter-gatherers
It has long been controversial in research as to whether agriculture and livestock breeding came to Central Europe at the beginning of the Neolithic around 7,500 years ago as part of an immigration of farmers or through a transfer of ideas. In recent years, archaeogenetic studies have supported the former model: They show a massive immigration of people from Anatolia and the Aegean. These farmers settled on the fertile loess soils and pushed the local hunter-gatherer societies of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) into peripheral zones that were less suitable for agriculture. However, certain transfers, for example in the area of stone or antler implements, indicate close relationships between the immigrants and the local population, which are not yet fully understood. The settlement of Eilsleben plays a special role here, as it is located at the northernmost edge of the agricultural world, in a region that must have been predestined for exchange with surrounding hunter-gatherer communities.
The Eilsleben Linear Pottery Culture settlement
The site near Eilsleben was identified through surface finds in the 1920s and then, triggered by remediation work, excavated starting from the 1970s. Two settlement phases could be distinguished. A north-south oriented house with characteristic clay extraction pits along the walls and the remains of a defensive trench 2.5 to 3 meters wide and 0.5 to 0.7 meters deep belongs to the oldest Linear Pottery Culture. As early as 2006, a geophysical survey confirmed the existence of numerous other, similarly oriented houses that had not yet been excavated. During the younger Linear Pottery Culture, an initially round fortification with a rampart and ditch and a wooden fence was built. A spring was located centrally in this complex. In a later phase, the fortification was expanded into a trapezoidal structure, again with a rampart, ditch and palisade. In the southern part, a possible second ditch and two gates can be seen on aerial photographs and the geophysical plan. Checking the results on the settlement structure is one of the aims of the current investigations. In addition, the old excavations had revealed several findings that the excavators interpreted as evidence of complex sacrificial rites that also included human sacrifice. Further research willalso be carried out here, to check the viability of these interpretations.
Current investigations and future research
The new excavations were preceded by extensive geomagnetic investigations, which complement the already known settlement plan. On this basis, an area of 200 square meters is currently being examined in detail. For the first time, modern methods such as sediment analyses, micromorphology and phytholith analyzes are being used in order to understand site formation, layout and activity areas in more detail. The extensive find material, consisting of pottery vessel fragments, stone implements (e.g., blades, arrowheads, axes) and bone and antler artifacts, is examined for their former functions using the methods of object archeology, including residue and use-wear analyses. The focus is particularly on categories of finds that can provide information about exchanges with hunter-gatherer groups.
The excavations are already showing that the Neolithic settlement remains are surprisingly well preserved. The excavators found post holes of houses as well as the remains of wattle and daub house walls. The concentrations of finds are further uncovered and sampled in order to draw conclusions about the use of space. 20 German and international students are involved in the excavations, who are completing part of their methodological training in surveying, excavation and documentation techniques. The excavations will continue until September 20, 2024 and are expected progress in the coming years as part of a larger project.
More information on object archaeology: https://www.ikare.uni-halle.de/webseite_fachbereich_archaeologie/praehistorische_archaeologie/einrichtungen/objectlab
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