DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter: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 Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0030
Marion Heumuller, Mirjam Briel, Florian Klimscha, Andreas Kotula, Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Reinhold Schoon and Tanja Zerl
29
Fig. 3 Overview of the excavated
sections and the drillings at Hunte 3.
Sections with clusters of finds or a
deep black find horizon interspersed
with bone, ceramic and flint artefacts
are marked yellow. Drillings with evi-
dence of a cultural layer are also
marked yellow. The marker east of
the Hunte river pinpoints the site of
surface finds from the 1970s. Togeth-
er the completely yellow blocks de-
note the minimum extent of the set-
tlement (graphics: A. Schwalke-Utku/
NLD).
21 m2 of layers rich in finds were discovered, which
were excavated partly by following the archaeological
layers and partly as artificial strata in quarter square
metre blocks. The further extent of the cultural layer
was recorded by drillings using a Piirckhauer borer
(Fig- 3).
A comparison of the present situation with the
documentation made in 1940 shows that at least
30 cm of the covering sediment have been lost to
mineralisation and compaction (cf. Heumuller et al.
2017, 18-21 figs. 5; 8). The actual find horizon, on
average 5 to 15 cm thick and consisting of strongly
decomposed fen peat, was very homogenous, dark to
black in colour from the charcoal and organic ma-
terials and found in sections 2, 6 and 8 and on the
perimeter of section 1 at a depth of between 25 and
30 cm. The find layer is extensive but not continuous.
The eastern profile of section 2 (Fig. 4) represents
the stratigraphic situation: directly beneath the top
soil comes the find horizon, which is sometimes in-
terspersed by a light grey band of gyttja. This division
suggests that some parts of the already settled find
horizon were later disturbed by a lake transgression.
Many ceramic, flint and bone finds were recorded,
but no building structures or organic materials were
discovered. At the moment it is unclear whether these
have decayed or didn’t exist. Beneath the find layer
there is a 30 cm thick layer of dark grey algal gyttja,
in section 1 on the other hand there is a carr horizon.
Several embedded dark, peaty bands derive from re-
peated silting up of the area, suggesting that when it
was forming it lay on a flat peripheral zone of the lake.
While searching for the piles described by Rein-
erth, a part of the chalky gyttja in sections 1 and 2
was excavated to a depth of around 1 m. Parts of tree
roots found there showed that wood preservation was
definitely possible within the chalky gyttja layer, but no
remains of piles or worked pieces of wood were found.
In all profiles the layer boundaries were conspicu-
ously undulated. This must have been the result of
drainage or dry phases and the accompanying con-
traction processes. This is also indicated by the dry
cracks reaching to a depth of up to 1 m, which are
typical effects of shrinkage and settling processes after
de-watering (cf. Chmielsky 2006, 64). The fen peat, in
which there were find layers with embedded charcoal
as well as the algal gyttja found below the find layer
were both dated to the Atlantic period by initial pollen
analyses (conducted by Gerfried Caspers, Hannover,
report from 02.02.2018). The sedimentation sequence
points to a periodically wet milieu on the edge of a
silting-up lake.
The feature of the find horizon as an almost black
layer permeated with finds is a typical phenomenon
29
Fig. 3 Overview of the excavated
sections and the drillings at Hunte 3.
Sections with clusters of finds or a
deep black find horizon interspersed
with bone, ceramic and flint artefacts
are marked yellow. Drillings with evi-
dence of a cultural layer are also
marked yellow. The marker east of
the Hunte river pinpoints the site of
surface finds from the 1970s. Togeth-
er the completely yellow blocks de-
note the minimum extent of the set-
tlement (graphics: A. Schwalke-Utku/
NLD).
21 m2 of layers rich in finds were discovered, which
were excavated partly by following the archaeological
layers and partly as artificial strata in quarter square
metre blocks. The further extent of the cultural layer
was recorded by drillings using a Piirckhauer borer
(Fig- 3).
A comparison of the present situation with the
documentation made in 1940 shows that at least
30 cm of the covering sediment have been lost to
mineralisation and compaction (cf. Heumuller et al.
2017, 18-21 figs. 5; 8). The actual find horizon, on
average 5 to 15 cm thick and consisting of strongly
decomposed fen peat, was very homogenous, dark to
black in colour from the charcoal and organic ma-
terials and found in sections 2, 6 and 8 and on the
perimeter of section 1 at a depth of between 25 and
30 cm. The find layer is extensive but not continuous.
The eastern profile of section 2 (Fig. 4) represents
the stratigraphic situation: directly beneath the top
soil comes the find horizon, which is sometimes in-
terspersed by a light grey band of gyttja. This division
suggests that some parts of the already settled find
horizon were later disturbed by a lake transgression.
Many ceramic, flint and bone finds were recorded,
but no building structures or organic materials were
discovered. At the moment it is unclear whether these
have decayed or didn’t exist. Beneath the find layer
there is a 30 cm thick layer of dark grey algal gyttja,
in section 1 on the other hand there is a carr horizon.
Several embedded dark, peaty bands derive from re-
peated silting up of the area, suggesting that when it
was forming it lay on a flat peripheral zone of the lake.
While searching for the piles described by Rein-
erth, a part of the chalky gyttja in sections 1 and 2
was excavated to a depth of around 1 m. Parts of tree
roots found there showed that wood preservation was
definitely possible within the chalky gyttja layer, but no
remains of piles or worked pieces of wood were found.
In all profiles the layer boundaries were conspicu-
ously undulated. This must have been the result of
drainage or dry phases and the accompanying con-
traction processes. This is also indicated by the dry
cracks reaching to a depth of up to 1 m, which are
typical effects of shrinkage and settling processes after
de-watering (cf. Chmielsky 2006, 64). The fen peat, in
which there were find layers with embedded charcoal
as well as the algal gyttja found below the find layer
were both dated to the Atlantic period by initial pollen
analyses (conducted by Gerfried Caspers, Hannover,
report from 02.02.2018). The sedimentation sequence
points to a periodically wet milieu on the edge of a
silting-up lake.
The feature of the find horizon as an almost black
layer permeated with finds is a typical phenomenon