Monumental knowledge - construction and use, spatial positioning and functions of Middle Neolithic roundels in Northern bavaria and Central Germany

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolfram Schier
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2012 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 208680723

The project is devoted to the investigation of two Middle Neolithic circular enclosures Hopferstadt (WÜ, Bavaria) and Quedlinburg I (HZ, Saxony-Anhalt) by prospections and excavations. The objective ist o reconstruct their history of construction and use and to get new evidence as to the functions oft he enclosures (module 1 & 2). In module 3 their setting in the landscape, possible orientations of the causewayed gates towards landmarks and / or astronomical azimuths (sunset/sunrise at solstices / equinoxes, rise / set of bright stars) is analysed by a Geographical Information System and the results are compared to other German circular enclosures of the same epoch. Module 3 (PhD thesis C. Michel) will be accomplished until the end of 2016.In the summer campaign 2015 the SW gate of Quedlinburg I was investigated, which had been hardly visible in the magnetic prospection of 2003. A massive discrepancy betweeen the neolithic and modern surface relief has been discovered. The assume gate could be located, but showed to be partially covered by colluvial layers amounting to as much as 1.4 m thickness. These colluvial layers contained many pits and other features oft he pre-Roman and Roman Iron Age. Since the southern part could only be documented in small surface soundings, the Landesam für Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt offered an excavation campaign ahead of our own summer campaign 2016 to remove the Iron Age layers in the area oft he SW gate. Unfortunately, due to budget restrictions, this offer could not be realised. So that we had to redirect funds internally to perform the necessary longer excavation this summer.The excavavionts at the other enclosure site at Hopferstadt have been finished in spring 2016, the processing of finds has proceeded sufficiently well. The amount of finds, however, turned out to surpass our expectations. The systematic search for joining fragments among the pottery from different contexts proved to be very successful and gave new insights into the taphonomic processes. Meanwhile, instead of random deposition of settlement waste, a rather deliberate pattern of ritual deposition practices is suggested before the abandonment of the site.Comparable refitting attempts and taphonomic analyses of the finds still remain to be made for the last two excavation campaigns at Quedlinburg. But also there joining sherds have been dicovered which link features at up to 50 m distance. To be able to perform these necessary and promising analytical work and to prepare the final publication will, however, not be feasible until March 2017. Therefore we apply for a sixth and final year of funding, ending 31.03.2018.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants