DOI Kapitel:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI Kapitel:Heumüller, Marion; Briel, Mirjam; Klimscha, Florian; Kotula, Andreas; Leuschner, Hanns Hubert; Schoon, Reinhold; Zerl, Tanja: Wetlands settlements and a wooden trackway: Swifterbant sites in the Dümmer basin
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0026
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 25 -43)
25
Wetlands settlements and a wooden trackway:
Swifterbant sites in the Dummer basin
Marion Heumiiller, Mirjam Briel, Florian Klimscha, Andreas Kotula,
Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Reinhold Schoon and Tanja Zerl
Abstract For a long time the Hude I site to the south of Lake Dummer, Diepholz district, was the only known Swifterbant
culture site in Lower Saxony. In the meantime, we can add two further sites in the region. An early Neolithic find horizon was
discovered in the course of a research excavation at the site Hunte 3 (Damme FSt no. 113). While the flint artefacts indicate
Mesolithic traditions, a few decorated ceramic fragments and 14C-data between 4,300 and 4,000 calBC point to the sphere
of the Swifterbant culture. The spectrum of animal bones covers both domestic and wild animals; other organic materials like
botanical remains were not preserved. Much better preservation conditions were to be found in Campemoor to the east, where
from 1992 to 2011 roughly 94 m of the wooden trackway Pr 31 were excavated. Dendrochronological data and ceramic finds
suggest it belongs to the early Swifterbant culture. The three sites together suggest that the Dummer basin and the adjoining
Campemoor to the west had a certain attraction to the people of the Swifterbant culture over a period of several hundred
years, and that the region, up to now, has presented an underestimated dispersal area of the Swifterbant culture.
Keywords Swifterbant, wooden trackway, wetland site, wetland dwelling, Lake Dummer, Early Neolithic
Zusammenfassung Lange Zeit konnte in Niedersachsen nur der sudlich des Dummers gelegene Fundplatz Hude I, Ldkr.
Diepholz, als Fundstelle der Swifterbant-Kultur benannt werden. Mittlerweile kbnnen ihm zwei weitere Fundplatze in der Re-
gion an die Seite gestellt werden. Am Fundplatz Hunte 3 (Damme FStNr 113) wurde 2016 und 2017 Im Rahmen einer For-
schungsgrabung ein fruhneolithischer Fundhorizont entdeckt. Wahrend die Flintartefakte noch mesolithische Traditionen
erkennen lassen, weisen wenige verzierte Keramikfragmente und 14C-Daten in den Horizont der mittleren Swifterbant-Kultur
(ca. 4300-4000 calBC). Das Spektrum der Tierknochen umfasst sowohl Haus- als auch Wildtiere. Botanische Reste Oder
andere organische Funde batten sich kaum erhalten. Deutlich bessere Erhaltungsbedingungen liegen Im bstlich gelegenen
Campemoor vor wo in den Jahren 1992 bis 2011 der Moorweg Pr 31 aufca. 94 m Lange aufgedeckt wurde. Dendrodaten und
Keramikfunde weisen ihn in die altere Swifterbant-Kultur. Die drei Fundstellen zeigen, dass das Dummerbecken und das west-
lich anschlieBende Campemoor fur die Menschen der Swifterbant-Kultur uber einen Zeitraum von mehreren hundert Jahren
eine gewisse Anziehungskraft hatte und die Region mbglicherweise einen bislang unterschatzen Verbreitungsschwerpunkt
der Swifterbant-Kultur darstellt.
Introduction - Dummer, Campemoor
and the bordering Lowlands
On the southern extremities of the North German
Plain between the foothills of the central uplands and
the Damme hills, a broad sweep of lowlands consis-
ting of valley sands stretches out. Here, between the
modern towns of Barnstorf and Bramsche, one of
the largest peatbogs in Germany was formed. At the
time of its largest expanse it covered an area of some
180 km2 with a maximum length of roughly 45 km.
The bog comprises of a number of merging branches of
which Campemoor in the southwest and Dummer fen,
with Lake Dummer in the centre, constitute almost
two thirds of the total area (Schneekloth / Schnei-
der 1972, 68-77). Today Lake Dummer, extending
over an area of 15 km2, is the second largest lake in
Lower Saxony. Lake Dummer, probably formed as
a thermokarst lake, had a surface area of more than
80 km2 in postglacial times, perhaps periodically of
even more than 150 km2. Sedimentation processes
that began as early as the Boreal led to an ever-decrea-
sing size of the lake (Dahms 1972,181). However, until
the introduction of man-made embankments in the
1950s, the dimensions of the lake varied considerably
depending on the time of year, as water quickly spread
25
Wetlands settlements and a wooden trackway:
Swifterbant sites in the Dummer basin
Marion Heumiiller, Mirjam Briel, Florian Klimscha, Andreas Kotula,
Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Reinhold Schoon and Tanja Zerl
Abstract For a long time the Hude I site to the south of Lake Dummer, Diepholz district, was the only known Swifterbant
culture site in Lower Saxony. In the meantime, we can add two further sites in the region. An early Neolithic find horizon was
discovered in the course of a research excavation at the site Hunte 3 (Damme FSt no. 113). While the flint artefacts indicate
Mesolithic traditions, a few decorated ceramic fragments and 14C-data between 4,300 and 4,000 calBC point to the sphere
of the Swifterbant culture. The spectrum of animal bones covers both domestic and wild animals; other organic materials like
botanical remains were not preserved. Much better preservation conditions were to be found in Campemoor to the east, where
from 1992 to 2011 roughly 94 m of the wooden trackway Pr 31 were excavated. Dendrochronological data and ceramic finds
suggest it belongs to the early Swifterbant culture. The three sites together suggest that the Dummer basin and the adjoining
Campemoor to the west had a certain attraction to the people of the Swifterbant culture over a period of several hundred
years, and that the region, up to now, has presented an underestimated dispersal area of the Swifterbant culture.
Keywords Swifterbant, wooden trackway, wetland site, wetland dwelling, Lake Dummer, Early Neolithic
Zusammenfassung Lange Zeit konnte in Niedersachsen nur der sudlich des Dummers gelegene Fundplatz Hude I, Ldkr.
Diepholz, als Fundstelle der Swifterbant-Kultur benannt werden. Mittlerweile kbnnen ihm zwei weitere Fundplatze in der Re-
gion an die Seite gestellt werden. Am Fundplatz Hunte 3 (Damme FStNr 113) wurde 2016 und 2017 Im Rahmen einer For-
schungsgrabung ein fruhneolithischer Fundhorizont entdeckt. Wahrend die Flintartefakte noch mesolithische Traditionen
erkennen lassen, weisen wenige verzierte Keramikfragmente und 14C-Daten in den Horizont der mittleren Swifterbant-Kultur
(ca. 4300-4000 calBC). Das Spektrum der Tierknochen umfasst sowohl Haus- als auch Wildtiere. Botanische Reste Oder
andere organische Funde batten sich kaum erhalten. Deutlich bessere Erhaltungsbedingungen liegen Im bstlich gelegenen
Campemoor vor wo in den Jahren 1992 bis 2011 der Moorweg Pr 31 aufca. 94 m Lange aufgedeckt wurde. Dendrodaten und
Keramikfunde weisen ihn in die altere Swifterbant-Kultur. Die drei Fundstellen zeigen, dass das Dummerbecken und das west-
lich anschlieBende Campemoor fur die Menschen der Swifterbant-Kultur uber einen Zeitraum von mehreren hundert Jahren
eine gewisse Anziehungskraft hatte und die Region mbglicherweise einen bislang unterschatzen Verbreitungsschwerpunkt
der Swifterbant-Kultur darstellt.
Introduction - Dummer, Campemoor
and the bordering Lowlands
On the southern extremities of the North German
Plain between the foothills of the central uplands and
the Damme hills, a broad sweep of lowlands consis-
ting of valley sands stretches out. Here, between the
modern towns of Barnstorf and Bramsche, one of
the largest peatbogs in Germany was formed. At the
time of its largest expanse it covered an area of some
180 km2 with a maximum length of roughly 45 km.
The bog comprises of a number of merging branches of
which Campemoor in the southwest and Dummer fen,
with Lake Dummer in the centre, constitute almost
two thirds of the total area (Schneekloth / Schnei-
der 1972, 68-77). Today Lake Dummer, extending
over an area of 15 km2, is the second largest lake in
Lower Saxony. Lake Dummer, probably formed as
a thermokarst lake, had a surface area of more than
80 km2 in postglacial times, perhaps periodically of
even more than 150 km2. Sedimentation processes
that began as early as the Boreal led to an ever-decrea-
sing size of the lake (Dahms 1972,181). However, until
the introduction of man-made embankments in the
1950s, the dimensions of the lake varied considerably
depending on the time of year, as water quickly spread