The Late Neolithic enclosures of the lower saxonian forelands of the Harz Mountains: Enclosures, cultural landscapes and economic strategies in the Michelsberg-Baalberge contact zone.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Francois Bertemes
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 509468328

For the past 25 years, archaeological research has focused on the Late Neolithic enclosures in Lower Saxony's Nordharzvorland (Braunschweiger Land). Within the framework of the EWBSL project funded by the DFG between 2006 and 2009, it was possible to work out the basic features of a Neolithic cultural landscape of the 1st half of the 4th century BC characterised by enclosures. Ten years later, large scale excavations at two previous recognized earthworks on the western edge of this enclosure-landscape have provided extensive insights into earthworks from the middle of the 4th millennium BC. For the first time, extensive find material consisting of pottery, bone and lithics is available from a site in the region, providing an excellent basis for a multidisciplinary evaluation. Furthermore, two newly discovered enclosures to the west of the previously known regional earthwork landscape provide the opportunity to investigate the structure and function of earthworks in the Loess Uplands outside the hill country. During the last few years, earthwork research has made enormous progress through the interdisciplinary evaluation of sites such as Salzmünde or Kapellenberg. Technically advanced prospection possibilities with the help of multicopter-based aerial photographs, GPS-supported, quickly deployable hand-held geomagnetic devices and the digital orthophotos that have recently become freely accessible in Lower Saxony have led to an enormously expanded visibility of a large number of trench structures. GIS-supported mapping of the ditch structures identified with the new possibilities, together with a variety of geological and geomorphological parameters, provides numerous new insights. With the new results from the Braunschweig region, it is now possible to analyse and evaluate the earthwork landscape in an interdisciplinary manner and to present it to national and international experts as well as the general public.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants