Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites in the Stuttgart travertines (Bad Cannstatt and Münster) and their significance for the earliest settlement history of Central Europe

• Applicant: Dr. Yvonne Tafelmaier
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 555458702

While there is evidence of early hominins in Western and Southern Europe dating back more than a million years, there is a large gap in the settlement history of Central Europe. Currently, the oldest evidence of human presence is the paleontological find of the lower jaw of Mauer near Heidelberg with an age of around 600,000 years BP. Associated settlement remains, which could provide information about hominin behaviour, are not known. The oldest archaeological sites in southwest Germany are at least 200,000 years younger and are found in Middle Pleistocene travertine formations in Stuttgart's Neckar Valley near Bad Cannstatt and Münster. Remains of hunter-gatherer occupations have been preserved in these formations, which were discovered in the course of travertine quarrying in the Haas and Lauster quarries between 1980 and 1994 and excavated by the State Office for Cultural Heritage Baden-Württemberg. While initial data on the behavior of Middle Pleistocene hunter-gatherers has already been presented for one of these sites - the so-called Bunker - the two neighboring find scatters in the now closed Haas and Lauster quarries have not yet been investigated. Due to the inadequate state of analysis and publication, these important archaeological remains are hardly mentioned in many German-language, but above all international studies on the settlement history of Central Europe. The aim of the project is to examine these sites in order to draw a holistic picture of the landuse of those early hominins. To this end, technological and functional analyses of stone tools and faunal remains as well as studies on site taphonomy will be carried out. Important insights into the incomplete settlement history of Central Europe can be expected, which has so far only been illuminated by very few pieces of the puzzle.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants