Corded Ware Culture

The Late Neolithic Bell Beaker and Corded Ware complexes are commonly viewed as clearly bounded phenomena of burial rituals and material culture. Conversely, common traits and overlapping characteristics have also been pointed out, and have been interpreted as interrelations between two distinct groups of people. In this paper, this phenomenon is studied in two German regions – the Rhine Basin and the Thuringia Basin. Here, it can be shown that burial customs and vessel decorations display considerable overlaps, especially in spatially and temporally close contexts. Furthermore, such phenomena are most visible close to river confluences (e.g. the Rhein-Neckar and the Saale-Unstrut) – tpotential nodal points of interaction networks. This indicates that social identities were much more open to negotiation than generally believed, including phenomena of hybrid or multiple identities.

Europe’s prehistory oversaw dynamic and complex interactions of diverse societies, hitherto unexplored at detailed regional scales. Studying 271 human genomes dated ~4900 to 1600 BCE from the European heartland, Bohemia, we reveal unprecedented genetic changes and social processes. Major migrations preceded the arrival of “steppe” ancestry, and at ~2800 BCE, three genetically and culturally differentiated groups coexisted. Corded Ware appeared by 2900 BCE, were initially genetically diverse, did not derive all steppe ancestry from known Yamnaya, and assimilated females of diverse backgrounds. Both Corded Ware and Bell Beaker groups underwent dynamic changes, involving sharp reductions and complete replacements of Y-chromosomal diversity at ~2600 and ~2400 BCE, respectively, the latter accompanied by increased Neolithic-like ancestry. The Bronze Age saw new social organization emerge amid a ≥40% population turnover.

""Abstract
This one-year master's thesis investigates the late part of the Middle Neolithic on the
island of Gotland. This thesis has been written without the influence of a singular
theoretical pespective, and has therefore seen input from the processual, and postprocessual
theories. By using several perspectives, an attempt is made to view the
material remains used in the most objective manner possible. The specific aim of this
thesis is to investigate whether the Mid-Neolithic inhabitants of Gotland were a part of the
Corded Ware culture (or as it is called in Sweden, the Battleaxe culture or the Boataxe
culture). Most recent literature has concluded that Gotland was never a part of the Battlexe
culture, though this thesis has discovered many parallels with the mainland culture,
including the production of similar objects and ritual practices. There are indications that
the Gotlandic culture also integrated traits from several other coastal regions of the Baltic
Sea, something most Battle Axe settlements did not. After investigating all the data that
have been linked with the Battleaxe culture, this thesis concludes that the people on the
island of Gotland were not fully assimilated to the Battleaxe culture, but were approaching
the culture in both a material and ritual aspects. This leaves the conclusion that the
Gotlandic culture towards the end of the Middle Neolithic was somewhat of a hybrid."

Keywords: Gotland, Pitted ware culture, Battle axe culture, Boat axe culture, Corded ware
culture, hybrid culture, Neolithic, Middle Neolithic, neolithic relations, regionality, ethnicity."

Auf einer unvollständigen, aber sicherlich als repräsentativ zu erachtenden Grundlage von rund 180 publizierten Gräbern wird die mitteldeutsche Glockenbecherkultur zu gliedern versucht.
Die Materialbasis umfasst rund 320 Gefässe, 100 Silexgeräte, 27 Armschutzplatten, 6 Kupferdolche und einige weitere Artefakte aus Felsgestein, Knochen, Geweih und Bernstein.
Die Schwierigkeiten einer Gliederung liegen in der vorherrschenden Sitte einer einzigen Gefässbeigabe und der oft nur beschränkten statistischen Aussagekraft der damit vergesellschafteten nichtkeramischen Beigaben. Hinzu kommt, dass die bescheidene Grösse der eh schon seltenen Gräberfelder kaum je zur Bildung von Horizontalstratigraphien oder zu Grabüberschneidungen geführt hat.
Die mit 200 Exemplaren wichtigste Beigabengattung der Becher steht im Zentrum der Untersuchungen. Es stehen sich 45% verzierte und 55% unverzierten Bechern gegenüber. Gemäss der herrschenden Beigabensitte schliessen sich diese Ausprägungen in den Grabinventaren gegenseitig aus. Abgesehen von der Präsenz/Absenz der Verzierung vermögen sich die beiden Bechergruppen auch anhand ihrer Gefässproportionen von einander zu unterscheiden: bei den verzierten Bechern befindet sich der grösste Durchmessser überwiegend auf Mündungshöhe(65%), selten auf Bauchhöhe (12%), bei den unverzierten Bechern liegt er hingegen vornehmlich im Bauchbereich (60%) und seltener auf Mündungshöhe (23%).
Die Proportionsveränderungen der Schnurbecher im Laufe der der Glockenbecherkultur vorangehenden Saale-Schnurkeramik, wie auch jene der Tassen in der nachfolgenden Aunjetitz-Kultur bescheinigen diesen Proportionsunterschieden  eine chronologische Ursache. Der grösste Gefässdurchmesser verlagert sich offensichtlich im Lauf der Glockenbecherzeit von der Mündung hinunter auf Bauchhöhe.
Bei den verzierten Glockenbechern zeichnet sich tendenziell eine Korrelation zwischen Gefässproportion, Verzierungsorganisation, Verzierungsmuster und Ziertechnik ab. Parallel zur allmählichen Verschiebung des grössten Gefässdurchmessers, reduziert sich die Verzierung von mehreren Bildstreifen über drei und zwei auf einen einzigen  und geht schliesslich ganz verloren. Der Kammstempel wird von Ritz- und Schnittlinien abgelöst, Metopenmuster treten an die Stelle von Laufmustern.
Die Becherproportionen erweisen sich als relevanteres chronologisches Merkmal als das Vorhandensein bzw.das Fehlen von Verzierung.
Unter den eh schon wenigen für die Kombinationsstatistik heranziehbaren mehrteiligen Grabinventaren finden sich zwar nur wenige, die diese Hypothese bestätigen, aber auch keine, die sie zu widerlegen vermögen.
Bedeutend hierfür erweisen sich vor allem Pfeilspitzen mit rechteckig oder trapezförmig ausgeschnittener Basis und gekappten Widerhaken sowie die Beigabe von Fleischstücken (Erhaltung als unmodifizierte Tierknochen). Erstere sind nur mit weitmündigen Bechern kombiniert, letztere praktisch nur mit engmündigen.
Das Mittelelbe-Saalegebiet verfügt gesamthaft gesehen über eine junge Fazies der europäischen Glockenbecherkultur. Die mitteldeutsche Ausprägung trägt sowohl Züge der westlichen wie der östlichen Gruppe. Die in den angrenzenden Becherprovinzen Niederrhein, Mittelrhein und Böhmen auftretende älteste Glockenbechergruppe der maritimen Becher und die unmittelbar daraus entstandenen Bechertypen fehlen weitgehend oder sind sehr selten. Die Becher mit einem, zwei oder drei Bildstreifen (86% aller verzierten Becher), finden in der niederrheinischen Typologie Entsprechung in den Bechern mit Zonenkontraktion und sind mit den jüngsten mittelrheinischen Bechergruppen (6a, 6b und ev. noch 5c und 5b, nach Gebers 1984) direkt vergleichbar. Metopenmuster, das Auftreten unverzierter Keramikgattungen sowie die Typologie der Armschutzplatten und Kupferdolche entsprechen Charakteristiken der jüngeren Glockenbecherphasen Böhmens.
Verteilungskarten zeigen deutlich mehr weitmündige Becher im Südharz-Unstrut-Gebiet als im Saalebecken, wo engmündige Becher vorherrschen. Zusammen mit der Übereinstimmung in der Verzierungsentwicklung der rheinischen Glockenbecher sowie dem Vorkommen von Linienbechern und eines maritimen Bechers im Einzugsgebiet der Unstrut deutet dies auf eine südwestliche Herkunft der Glockenbecherkultur hin. Im Saalebecken entwickelt sie sich dann zusehends hin zum unverzierten Keramikstil der östlichen Glockenbecherkultur und leitet schliesslich über zur frühbronzezeitlichen Aunjetitzkultur.

Denkmäler der Schnurkeramik (ca. 2800–2500 vor Chr.) in Vliněves gehören wie in der Menge, so in der Qualität zu den bedeutendsten Komplexen dieser Kultur in Böhmen. Noch dazu beschränken sich diese nicht nur auf die üblichen Gräberquellen, aber bestehen gleichzeitig auch aus zahlreicheren Siedlungsbelegen, im böhmischen Milieu durchaus nicht üblichen. Diese stammen von der Grabung des Archäologischen Instituts in Prag, die 1999 bis 2008 in der dortigen Sandgrube realisiert wurde, und welche auf einer Fläche von 70 ha durchgeführt wurde. Zwei Gräber wurden auf der Fundstelle schon an der Wende des frühen und des älteren Äneolithikums deponiert (Michelsberg-/Trichterbecherkultur; 39.–38. Jh. vor Chr.). Weitere Äneolithische Gräber von der Fundstelle gehören der Schnurkeramik (75 Gräber mit 76 Bestattungen). 26 Bestattungen gehörten den Männern (34 % von der gesamten Anzahl der 76 Bestatteten), 36 den Frauen (48 %) und 14 Bestattungen blieben nicht bestimmt (18 %). In Vliněves sind Gräber von allen drei Fundgruppen vertreten, wobei Funde der dritte (typologisch jüngste) Fundgruppe zahlenmäßig dominiert. Spuren der schnurkeramischen Siedlung oder von Siedlungen kamen in Vliněves im Prinzip auf zwei Weisen zum Ausdruck. In erster Reihe handelte es sich um Komplexe, in welchen das zuständige Material kulturell ganz dominierte, in zweiter Reihe um zahlreiche Intrusionen in anders datierten Objekten.

This book offers a comprehensive study of the Younger Neolithic period ([YN],
c. 2850 – 2250 BC) of Schleswig-Holstein (SH). Apart from presenting all currently
known artefacts and contexts of that period in detail, a particular focus was
placed on the examination of YN battle axes. They appear to be the most common
artefact that is preserved from the YN, and they are very well suited for investigating
social phenomena. These artefacts furthermore changed diachronically.
While battle axes of the early stage are shaped more or less equally elaborately,
late specimens exhibit significant morphological variation and difference, as some
specimens were shaped very elaborately whereas others were quite simple. The
same difference has been observed for the subsequently used flint daggers. It is
suggested that this difference reflects the emergence of a more stratified society.
Many battle axes appear to have been deposited as broken pieces. As the ratio
of cutting edges to butt ends is unequal (2:1) both in SH and in a wider region
and as many pieces have “decorations” (Applikationen, pars pro toto shaft holes),
battle axes are regarded as intentionally deposited. Accordingly, a large proportion
of single finds are regarded as intentional depositions. Another focus was set
on examining the transition to the YN. It is argued that many aspects that are said
to characterize the YN are rooted in the preceding Middle Neolithic. A novelty is
that social role becomes marked in funerary contexts. Thus, the transformation
to the YN marks a certain point where already initiated societal changes become
visible for first time. The examination of certain attributes revealed furthermore
that there are differences between western and eastern SH which are not determined
by chronological changes only. Rather, general differences appear between
western and eastern regions, an in a wider geographical as well as temporal frame,
which might be linked to different social orientations – either collectively or individually acting groups.

The Corded Ware is one of the major archaeological traditions of Late Neolithic Europe. Its burial customs are characterized by single graves but multiple burials also occur. We present a detailed study of antemortem and perimortem trauma in a group of Corded Ware skeletons from four multiple graves and give the most probable interpretation of the site, based upon all available bioarchaeological evidence. The pattern of observed injuries in male, female, and subadult skeletons, including cranial trauma, arrow wounds, and fractures of the forearm and hands points towards a violent event that resulted in the death of all individuals, most probably a raid. In contrast to comparable Neolithic raid sites, there was no complete extermination of the local population and no use of mass graves. The burials have been arranged with care and detailed knowledge about biological kinship ties [Haak, W., Brandt, G., de Jong, H.N., Meyer, C., Ganslmeier, R., Heyd, V., Hawkesworth, C., Pike, A.W.G., Meller, H., Alt, K.W., 2008. Ancient DNA, strontium isotopes, and osteological analyses shed light on social and kinship organization of the Later Stone Age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, 18226–18231]. The combination of clear causes of death and the proven biological relationships among some of the individuals, including a nuclear family, provides new and important insights into Corded Ware mortuary customs and the reasons why and how multiple graves have been utilised.

We are currently accumulating knowledge about Yamnaya and Corded Ware in an unprecedented speed. Big infrastructure measures and their accompanying large-scale rescue excavations are no longer restricted to Central, Northwestern and Northern Europe but all countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe are catching up. This enlarges our data corpus dramatically. Besides the example of Yamnaya radiocarbon dates given in the introduction, new bio-anthropological data, bio-marker lipid analyses, proteomic and multi-isotopic signatures are being assembled, not to forget ancient DNA samples nowadays screened in their upper hundreds every year. We discuss the implications of this data explosion for interpretation.

Das Schnurkeramische Phänomen und das Glockenbecherphänomen sind weit verbreitete Erscheinungen des dritten Jahrtausends v. Chr.. Zum großen Teil schließen sie sich räumlich aus. Für Mitteleuropa lassen sich jedoch einzelne Regionen nachweisen, in denen die Träger beider Phänomene in unmittelbarer Nähe zueinander ansässig waren. Dazu gehören beispielsweise die Ober-/ Mittelrheinregion sowie die Region Thüringen/ Burgenlandkreis. Diese Regionen sind im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation analysiert worden mit dem Ziel, die Dialektik und den gegenseitigen Bezug zwischen dem Schnurkeramischen Phänomen und dem Glockenbecherphänomen zu erfassen. Bezüge und Wechselwirkungen lassen sich unter anderem hinsichtlich der Grabbeigaben und im Bereich der Zeichensysteme, zu denen insbesondere die Verzierungsmotive gehören, feststellen. Hierbei wird deutlich, dass gemeinsame Elemente insbesondere dann auftreten, wenn eine räumliche und zeitliche Nähe dieser Phänomene gegeben ist. Einzelne Bestattungen, die sich dann nicht der einen oder der anderen materiellen Kultur zuordnen lassen, überwinden diese Dichotomie von Schnurkeramik und Glockenbecher und sind als hybride Identitäten zu werten. Daneben werden in dem vorliegenden Band Schnurkeramik- und Glockenbecherinventare mit naturwissenschaftlichen Methoden hinsichtlich ihrer chorologischen und chronologischen Entwicklung untersucht. Als Ergebnis stehen neue und weiterentwickelte Typochronologien und – darauf basierend – sich verändernde Fundplatzlagen und Stilgruppen innerhalb der Ober-/ Mittelrheinregion und der Region Thüringen/ Burgenlandkreis.

Cultural change or continuity? – Central Germany in the 23rd century BC
This paper looks at cultural relationships in Central Germany from the 24th–22nd century BC, with particular focus on the region of Saxony-Anhalt. At this period, four cultures were represented in the region: in the north, the Single Grave Culture; in the south, the Corded Ware Culture and the Bell Beaker Culture; and in the middle, the Schönfeld Culture, which acted as a barrier, blocking or inhibiting the spread of the other three cultures northwards or southwards. In order to trace the effect of cultural dynamics, chronologies for the individual cultures were developed, built on earlier attempts but, with the exception of the Schönfeld Culture, not completely congruent with them. Tested against radiocarbon dates, these were then used to construct maps showing distribution over time. Only when this typo-chronological approach is taken, based on scientific data, does it then become possible to deploy all the available archaeological material for maps of this type. Taken together with the archaeological finds, the maps demonstrate that the Corded Ware Culture (2825–2200/2125 BC), having reached its zenith in the 25th century BC and 24th century BC, began to decline and to lose its identity in the 23rd century BC. Conversely, the Bell Beaker Culture (2575–2200/2125 BC) experienced a steady expansion from the colonial settlements established in the 26th century BC, an expansion which gained in intensity in the 24th century BC and reached its maximum extent in the 23rd century BC. Since the Corded Ware Culture communities did not migrate, they must have been assimilated by the Bell Beaker Culture. The same process repeated itself after 2200 BC with the appearance of the Early Bronze Age Únětice Culture, which quickly established itself and whose spread northwards led to the increasing marginalisation of the Late Neolithic communities. Expansion and assimilation are said to be characteristic of segmentary societies. This process can only be effected by warfare. That these Late Neolithic cultures were warrior societies is shown by the weapons buried as grave goods with the deceased. At the same time, the burial ritual, which clearly separates males and females and indicates different ideologies for the two sexes, suggests the existence of social groups based on gender, with the males organised as warrior groups. The latter were obviously led by powerful warriors, for whom we might borrow the epithet “Great Men” from the terminology of Melanesian ethnology. In the 20th century BC these warrior-leaders succeeded in attaching bands of warriors to themselves by bonds of allegiance, thus forming power bases upon which to establish chiefdoms.

The Corded Ware Culture (c. 2900–2300 BC) is found in a large area, from Russia to the Netherlands and from Scandinavia to Switzerland. Supra-regional elements include beakers decorated with cord and/or spatula imprints, battle-axes, and a funerary customs involving crouched inhumations under barrows with gender-specific placement of the body gender-specific funerary gifts.

Analysis of ceramics from well-preserved settlements from the Dutch coastal zone have provided very valuable new information on the Corded Ware chronology, social organisation, ideology, subsistence, and use of material culture. A critical review of the commonly applied chronological models shows that many of the underlying premises cannot be supported due to problems with (broad calibration and sample reliability of) 14C dates. This study shows that in the Neolithic Dutch coastal zone, the thin-walled ceramics reflect supra-regional (Corded Ware ) affiliations, whereas the medium-thick-walled and thick-walled ceramics reflect persistent regional (Vlaardingen) traditions. The beakers decorated with cord and spatula impressions were used primarily for cooking; indications for the often proposed use of alcohol (and associated rise of individualisation and elites) were not found.

It is argued in this study that the Corded Ware Culture represents an economic alliance, a dynamic totality as well as a network linking regional groups – each with a distinct economic base, material culture and ideology. These communities all participated in a vast supra-regional network that was a platform for inter-community exchanges of goods, skills, ideas and possibly people. Affiliation to this supra-regional network was a vital aspect for all regional groups involved, and membership to it was expressed by using a set of common traits. Decorated thin-walled beakers act as symbols of these supra-regional networks and thus embody both functional and ideological roles.

This study aims to understand and explain prehistoric funerary practices from the perspective of Finnish Stone Age hunter-gatherer and early pastoralist earth graves located in mainland Finland. These structures date primarily from the Late Mesolithic to the end of the Middle Neolithic (ca. 6800–2300 cal BC) and represent a unique challenge to archaeological research. This is because unburnt bone material — including human remains — along with other perishable materials are generally not preserved in the acidic soils of Finland. Accordingly, the only feature that marks a Stone Age earth grave is the presence of ochre or stained soil, sometimes together with grave goods typical for that period.

This thesis presents a compilation of material remains and archival information from Stone Age earth grave sites and research material as a whole. This approach aims to demonstrate that, whilst Finnish Stone Age earth graves primarily lack human remains and other perishable materials, we can still gain important new insights into Stone Age funerary practices. Consequently, the objective of this thesis lies in systematically studying the earth grave materials, attempting to understand the rituals behind them, and using these data to interpret mortuary practices and cosmology.

Based on the results described and discussed in this thesis, the Stone Age mortuary tradition in the Finnish territory represents a complex set of practices that includes not only the archaeologically visible earth grave tradition, but also other means of ritually disposing of the dead body. Accordingly, when we refer to Stone Age mortuary practices in the Finnish territory, we are not speaking of ‘inhumations in simple pit graves’, but of the material remains of complicated rituals that give meaning to and place death within the cosmology of those people. Indeed, the systematic archaeological research conducted in this thesis revealed that both adults and subadults were given earth graves, a tradition also known from better-preserved Stone Age cemeteries in nearby regions of Finland. Similarly, Stone Age people used — and did not use — certain artefacts or raw materials in their funerary practice, in clearly ritualised ways and, for example, to emphasise the identity of the community.

When comparing the data in this thesis to other ritual practices known from that specific period and region, Finnish Stone Age earth graves seem to encode an animistic–shamanistic cosmology. Indeed, similar to, for example, prehistoric rock art sites, the Stone Age hunter-gatherer cemeteries are also situated next to topographic features possibly connected to supernatural powers, whilst the graves themselves were furnished with objects that might have been considered living. Simultaneously, an intentional connection to past generations was also sought by positioning new burials amongst older ones or by reusing old cemeteries. To conclude, even if the Finnish Stone Age earth graves primarily lack human remains and other perishable materials, the graves are not as poorly preserved as one might assume. On the contrary, when the earth grave material was investigated as a whole and subjected both to new analyses and theoretical understanding, we gain important new insights into Stone Age mortuary practices and cosmology.

Stone axes, which are a characteristic attribute of the circle of the Corded Ware cultures, are also important as a diagnostic form. They gained such importance due to the studies by Peter Vilhelm Glob (1945) and Karl Wilhelm Struve (1955) on single graves in Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein. In both cases, the taxonomies and relative dating was based on co-occurrence of artefacts in grave assemblages. The clearly observable similarity among battle-axes in Central Europe was usually studied in relation to the taxonomies proposed by these two archeologists. For many years, their typologies were the basis of classification of all related axe forms, which is documented by many local studies.
However, even the first monographs showed that – despite many common characteristics for the entire Corded Ware circle – its image is determined by the specificity of local groups. The character of these taxonomic units was demonstrated and determined by entirely ‘local’ sets of sources, including stone artefacts. In addition to displaying formal analogies (particularly, in the case of the oldest and most widespread types of artefacts), it was necessary to more complex problems, on a local scale – such as the origin, networks and channels of the information flow; as well as local ideas, trends and rhythms of cultural changes.
The typological discussion was based on the taxonomy proposed by Piotr Włodarczak (2006), with the necessary modifications due to the specificity of the analysed material, but in close connection with its chronology – but, respecting the diagnostic characteristics of finds form the Małopolska Upland, considered as the unquestionable ‘reference’ area as well as the overall characteristics with a supraregional character. With reference to Włodarczak’s proposed taxonomy, in the analysed set from the region of Lublin, we can observe all ‘typological units’ distinguished there.

Europe’s prehistory oversaw dynamic and complex interactions of diverse societies, hitherto unexplored at detailed regional scales. Studying 271 human genomes dated ~4900 to 1600 BCE from the European heartland, Bohemia, we reveal unprecedented genetic changes and social processes. Major migrations preceded the arrival of “steppe” ancestry, and at ~2800 BCE, three genetically and culturally differentiated groups coexisted. Corded Ware appeared by 2900 BCE, were initially genetically diverse, did not derive all steppe ancestry from known Yamnaya, and assimilated females of diverse backgrounds. Both Corded Ware and Bell Beaker groups underwent dynamic changes, involving sharp reductions and complete replacements of Y-chromosomal diversity at ~2600 and ~2400 BCE, respectively, the latter accompanied by increased Neolithic-like ancestry. The Bronze Age saw new social organization emerge amid a ≥40% population turnover.

JEUNESSE C. (2020) La réutilisation des monuments funéraires anciens dans l’Europe du IIIe millénaire : le cas du Campaniforme, in C. Meyer, P. Held, C. Knipper, N. Nicklisch (dir.), Der Zahn der Zeit. Mensch und Kultur im Spiegel interdisziplinärer Forschung. Festschrift für Kurt W. Alt, Halle an der Saale, Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 61-68.

The practice of reusing ancient monumental tombs is often presented as a southern and western specificity within the Bell Beaker Culture, as opposed to individual burials, which are considered typical of Central Europe. A careful examination of the available data shows that reuse exists throughout the Bell Beaker culture. It is simply more visible in the south and west because of the high density of megalithic burials that characterises these regions. In central and northern Europe, it is commonly practised in both the Bell Beaker culture and the Corded Ware culture, both sharing this practice with the Early Bronze Age steppe cultures of the North-Pontic area, especially the Yamnaja culture. The hypothesis, sometimes defended by specialists of the Bell Beaker of the southern zone, of a continuity of use of collective burials between the pre-Bell Beaker substratum and the Bell Beaker culture is criticised here. The available data lead the author to favour scenarios built around the notions of rupture and intrusion.

A Large Únetice Culture building and an associated deposit from Dermsdorf, Sömmerda district – a preliminary report

The eastern Thuringian Basin has a high density of Early Bronze Age settlement remains. An unusual Únětice Culturesettlement was discovered in 2o11 at Dermsdorf, a mere 3.6 km from the large barrow at Leubingen. The site yielded a solitary, large, three-aisled building measuring 44 m in length and 11 m in width. The closest Early Bronze Age features were found some 15o m away. Apart from its size of 488 m2, which is highly unusual in an Únětice Culture context, an associated
deposit of copper and bronze items placed in a vessel is also worth mentioning. A total of 98 axes and axe blanks as well as two halberd blanks had been deposited in a small pit directly in front of the north-eastern gable end of the building. The deposition in an easily identified location, which was probably emphasised by the presumed entrance nearby, and the composition of the implements, which were deposited in their function as weapons, suggest that this was a votive offering.
Apart from the absence of hafts, the blanks at least were not ready for use, which suggests that this was probably an intentional case of pars pro toto selection representing the bearers of the weapons, a jointly operating military unit.
The Dermsdorf feature is given further importance by its location near the Leubingen barrow with its diameter of more than 48 m and other potential large barrows within a micro-landscape, which was very densely settled in the Early Bronze Age. This micro-region was characterised by some very high-quality soils, a mild climate, proximity to salt and copper deposits and an extremely favourable location on various trans-European north-east to south-west and north to south communication routes.
The features from Dermsdorf and Leubingen, together with other unusual discoveries from the area, as well as its generally quite dense settlement pattern, warrant the identification of a political and administrative, and probably also ritual, centre of power for an hierarchically structured society which included at least local groups if not even coalitions of local groups. The society was led by certain singular individuals like the person who was buried in the Leubingen barrow. The territory that was controlled from here probably encompassed at least the eastern Thuringian Basin.

The Corded Ware culture (c. 2900-2450 BCE; CWC) was a prehistoric phenomenon encountered throughout Europe, characterized by standardized material culture and burial practices. Recent studies incorporating new scientific methods such as ancient DNA and stable isotopes suggest that this phenomenon was the result of mass migrations from the Pontic Caspian steppe, thus confirming traditional hypotheses regarding the origin and fast spread of this archaeological culture. Moreover, the grand narrative of this period includes a notion of a strict binary gender symbolism and even of a ‘male-dominant’, patriarchal society. Such an interpretation of CW gender is however largely rooted in andro- and ethnocentric, Western assumptions, in which biological sex is equated with gender, and weapons (i.e. the CW ‘battle-axe’) are associated with masculinity. This thesis aims to investigate to which extent the CWC indeed had a notion of binary gender, and to better understand how CW gender was expressed through material culture and its selective deposition in different contexts. A practical methodology with a comparative and multi-contextual approach is developed in order to study CW gender. Two case studies have been selected: the Danish administrative region of Southern Jutland, known for its very typical Single Grave practices, and the state of Bavaria in Germany, which is expected to be a focal point in the mobility of people and the exchange of raw materials. The emphasis is placed on the co-occurrences between different object categories and their ‘embodiment’, and different depositional contexts: the funerary context as well as depositions (i.e. buried objects without a body) and single finds. Strikingly, CW gender appears to have been constructed through an interplay of supra-regional and local burial styles and artefacts. The binary dichotomy seen in the funerary context is more likely the result of normative ideas regarding a supra-regional CW identity and – more idiosyncratic – local identities, although gender clearly played a role in these norms. The prehistoric reality of CW gender may thus have been more locally variable than the grand narrative would suggest.

The 3rd millennium BC in South Scandinavia
was characterised by a sizable cultural heterogeneity
covering differences in the use of
material culture, burial practices and subsistence
economic strategies. In the first half of
the 3rd millennium BC, four archaeologically-
defined cultural groups coexisted for at least
a couple of hundred years: the late Funnel
Beaker culture (TRB), the forager-oriented
Pitted Ware culture and the Single Grave and
Battle Axe cultures, the last two belonging to
the overall Corded Ware complex. As the Funnel
Beaker culture ceased, East Denmark entered
an insignificant and culturally blurred
period usually ascribed to the so-called ‘East
Danish Single Grave culture’. However, this
paper argues for a renewed and balanced understanding
of the cultural conditions in East
Denmark and questions the presence of the
Single Grave culture in the area. Instead, it is
argued that new material elements were obtained
and fitted into existing Funnel Beaker
traditions forming a heterogeneous cultural
expression.

This is a paper written for and published by the SABA International Student Conference in Bamberg 2016. It deals with the earliest emergence of wheels in Neolithic Central Europe and the Early Bronze Age in the northern Pontic areas between 3500 and 2200 BC and shows some of the results of my MA thesis about the same topic.

The article gives an overview of the 7 500 features uncovered until the year 2010 on the Niederterrasse in the valley of the Danube.
During the younger part of the Corded Ware Culture and the time of Bell Beakers not only graves have been dug. Highly interesting are the few proofs of lateneolithic settlement activity in the excavated 90 000 square meters.
The main occupation of the area is during the Urnfield Culture. with 60 graves dating to the 14th to 12th centuries BC. Little later (HaB) the site was used as a settlement with 200 houses and 20 wells. Some of the wooden wells could be dated via dendrochronology.
Yet another 1 000 years later a Street and a adjacent roman dwelling with two more wells and some kilns were constructed on the site.
The vast area excavated gives new insights into the structure of features for all of the three afore-mentioned epochs.

A Bell Beaker storage pit and Late Neolithic graves near Bad Lauchstädt, Saalekreis
county – some thoughts on the »Leistenbecher« and the end of the Neolithic beaker
development in Central Germany
Excavations of an Unětice settlement near Bad Lauchstadt, Saalekreis county, also
revealed earlier Late Neolithic evidence. Three burials of the Corded Ware Culture are
presented here, one of which contained a rich tool assemblage. An additional Bell Beaker
burial is also described in the present paper. The only evidence for a Neolithic settlement
consists of a single large, bell-shaped pit which has been attributed to the Bell Beaker
Culture. Because settlement finds of this culture have been exceptionally rare so far, this
assemblage offers a first tangible insight into the extended spectrum of pottery types of
the Bell Beaker Culture. This allows assigning a particular beaker form with rim ring
decoration (‘Randleiste’), which has previously been associated with the Corded Ware
Culture, to the Bell Beaker cultural framework. Chronologically, this pottery type falls
within the 24th/23rd century BC. On a supra-regional level its association with the
western Bell Beaker Culture is obvious.
Identifying the .Randleisten. beaker as a type group would allow reviewing a conspicuous
group of ‘giant beaker-type’. vessels with neck ring decoration (‘Halsleiste’)
and related vessels known from Zwenkau, Leipzig county, and place them within the Bell
Beaker tradition. Strong, regional trends at the transition from the Late Neolithic to the
Early Bronze Age can be traced, similarly to developments in other parts of Europe, but
not known from Central Germany up until now. The ‘Zwenkau facies’ seems to be a
regional pottery development of the Final Neolithic in the area of the White Elster River
and around Magdeburg. This development appeared along the northern and particularly
eastern periphery of the Unětice Culture, essentially contemporary dating to the 23rd/
22nd century BC, and was assimilated by it thereafter.

From the point of view of funerary practices, two large, broad provinces of the Beaker culture used to be distinguished : in the south (the western Mediterranean and Iberian Peninsula) and in the west (the Atlantic region) areas of the Beaker culture, the dead would be preferentially buried in reused pre-Beaker megaliths, while the domain of the individual grave falls in the eastern region. A closer examination shows that this division does not reflect the prehistoric reality. Far from being specific to the Atlantic-Mediterranean region, the reutilisation of earlier monumental tombs (megalithic chambers or tumulus) is commonly practiced throughout the Beaker area. This practice is simply more visible in the zone with the most monumental graves which corresponds to the southern and western areas of the second megalithism. A careful review of the available literature also shows that the southern and western zone produced, alongside reused megaliths, numerous flat individual graves, which in certain cases had been covered by a tumulus. This mixture of practices is attested in all the regions of the Beaker culture where monumental tombs existed. In the south and west, the predominance of reuse is only manifested by the great visibility of monumental graves. The traditional opposition between a large province where reuse was practised and a province where individual graves were used, therefore has to be abandoned. Before the beginning of the Beaker period, reuse had already been widely practiced in the Corded ware and Yamnaja cultures, posing the question of an eventual eastern origin for this usage. In the Corded ware and Beaker culture, reused structures are not systematically monumental tombs, in a number of cases flat graves were reused. The reused funerary contexts were either old tombs, pre-Beaker or pre-Corded ware, or the first users of the tombs had the same material culture as the second users. In the first case, the chronological scope between the two users is very variable. The reuse can involve monuments abandoned for many centuries as well as 'living' structures. The idea frequently advanced that Beaker period reuse hides the reality, particularly for the Iberian Peninsula, of a continuity both demographic and ideologically from the culture substrate, is equally open to discussion. Actually, the available data strongly support a hypothesis which, in contrast, places a greater emphasis on notions of intrusion or rupture. The corresponding scenario is illustrated by the cases of partial destruction and the emptying of older monuments. The fact that monuments are frequently abandoned for centuries before they are reused also supports this argument. Finally, it is important to underline that Beaker communities in general only placed a single burial in pre-Beaker funerary chambers. There is thus not a continuity with the previous practice of collective burial, but rather the placing of an individual burial within a collective tomb. The treatment of the dead therefore obeys the same rule across the whole of the Beaker field. In the south and in the west, this practice is clearly a rupture with indigenous use. Generally, this is merely a reproduction of the funerary system used in the Corded ware culture. Résumé : Du point de vue des pratiques funéraires, les spécialistes du Campaniforme distinguent en général deux grandes provinces : au sud et à l'ouest de l'aire campaniforme, les morts seraient enterrés préférentiellement dans des sépultures mégalithiques pré-campaniformes réutilisées alors que la partie orientale serait le domaine de la tombe individuelle. Un examen approfondi montre que ce clivage ne reflète en rien la réalité préhistorique. Loin d'être spécifique à l'aire atlantico-méditerranéenne, la réutilisation de tombes monumentales anciennes est couramment pratiquée dans toute l'aire campaniforme. Elle est simplement plus visible dans la zone la mieux pourvue en sépultures monumentales, qui correspond à la partie méridionale et occidentale de l'aire de répartition du second mégalithisme. Avant de l'être par le Campaniforme, la réutilisation était déjà massivement pratiquée par le Cordé et la culture de Yamnaja, ce qui soulève la question d'une éventuelle origine orientale de cet usage. L'idée souvent avancée que la réutilisation campaniforme cache en réalité, notamment pour la Péninsule ibérique, une continuité à la fois démographique et idéologique avec les cultures du substrat, est également hautement discutable. Les données disponibles plaident en effet massivement en faveur d'une hypothèse qui, à l'inverse, fait la part belle aux notions d'intrusion et de rupture.