The Early Bronze Age circular enclosure Schönebeck in a ritual and settlement landscape at the Mittelelbe: microregional developments in a transregional context.
Final Report Abstract
Within the research project, the Schönebeck roundel and the other finds and features from the Schönebeck-Felgeleben site in the Salzlandkreis district were systematically investigated and evaluated. Moreover, a contextualization of these archaeological remains within a ritual and settlement landscape at the Middle Elbe and an illumination of transregional connections was achieved. The former essentially required a comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the Schönebeck and Pömmelte roundels. The second required, above all, a comparison with Stonehenge and other monuments in Wessex in southern England. The characteristics of a multi-phase occupation of the site were worked out, which began in the early 3rd mill. BC with a square-enclosure of the Corded Ware-Single Grave complex. It then included a settlement phase of the Schönfeld culture around the middle of the millennium, before the successive construction of the roundel took place. Its intentional levelling was followed by a hiatus that extended until a circular ditch necropolis, starting in the late 14th century BC and with a focus on the late Bronze Age, was established. The use of the site for burials continued into the Early Iron Age with an urn burial ground. The roundel was characterized by an initial phase as a woodhenge and a later period as a circular ditch complex. In the Final Neolithic-Early Bronze Age transitional horizon between the Bell Beaker and Únétice cultures, replaced posts and ditches may have existed side by side. Among others, one feature of the site is a depositional horizon in the consolidated outer ditch, in which a human skull, cattle bones, vessel fragments and stone tools were embedded. The presence of such a layer with remarkable finds in the otherwise find-scarce roundel weakens the impression that evidence of ritual practices could only be found in the neighbouring Pömmelte roundel with its characteristic shaft pits and burials. Several factors suggest that the location inside or outside an inhabited settlement area may be responsible for many of the differences between the two monuments. To date unpublished results on the prehistoric remains in the old district of Schönebeck, which are based on aerial archaeological data and information from local records, investigations during the construction of the B 246a bypass road, excavations in the vicinity of the roundels as well as interventions in the Kiessandtagebau near Barby indicate an intensive usage of the Elbe floodplains downstream of the mouth of the Saale in the relevant time horizon. Overall, the impression of a polycultural ritual and settlement landscape emerges, in which squareenclosures and subsequent roundels were integral components. Parallels for such a scenario are most likely to be found on the British Isles – for example in the county of Wiltshire with Stonehenge, Durrington Walls, Woodhenge and numerous other monuments on the River Avon.
