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#0042
Marion Heumuller, Mirjam Briel, Florian Klimscha, Andreas Kotula, Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Reinhold Schoon and Tanja Zerl
41
phase c. 5,000 BC onwards (Raemakers / De Roever
2010, 136). In this culture, evidence of the first do-
mestic animals appears from 4,500 BC (Raemaekers
2015, 322-323), and from around 4,200 BC the culti-
vation of cereals appears to have become widespread
(Cappers / Raemaekers 2008). Overall, the subsis-
tence was based on hunting, gathering and cultiva-
tion (Raemaekers 2015, 325). Other findings from
Hunte 3 have parallels with the Swifterbant culture,
particularly the animal bones which mostly represent
domesticated animals but also include a wide range
of wild animals.
Trackway Pr 31 in Campemoor was investigated
between 1991 and 2011, and this oldest wooden track-
way in the world can now be included into the Swift-
erbant sites in the Dummer region. The dendrodates
and a ceramic find allow to associate it with the early
Swifterbant culture. At the same time, Pr 31 is the only
known path structure from the Swifterbant culture.
With its advanced construction, it demonstrates a
technique of wooden construction adapted to damp
soils, hitherto unknown from subsequent phases of
the Neolithic.
For a long time, Hude I south of Lake Dummer
was the only known site in Lower Saxony assigned to
the Swifterbant culture. Two further sites can now be
placed alongside it - trackway Pr 31 and the wetland
station Hunte 3. The concentration of sites indicates a
focal area of Swifterbant activities around Lake Diim-
mer with a chronological range from the older to the
middle phase of the Swifterbant culture, a period of
several centuries. The habitats around the Dummer
and Campemoor correspond very well to wetlands in
the Netherlands, where the main distribution of the
Swifterbant culture was located. The Swifterbant site
of Schokland P14 (Ten Anscher 2015,337) highlights
easy accessibility via the river Vechte, and the same
applies to the sites north and south of Lake Diimmer,
with the river Hunte providing good connections both
to the north and south.
The lack of further Swifterbant sites on the dry
areas of the Netherlands and Lower Saxony has been
discussed in several papers, particularly by Raemaek-
ers. He blames the fragility of the pottery, which has
little chance of preservation on dry sites, and the lack
of specific features of the flint for this absence of trace-
ability (Raemaekers 2013, 116). Further research is
needed to answer the question of whether the region
around the Dummer including Campemoor was not
only an occasionally used outpost, but possibly be-
longed to a central distribution area of the Swifterbant
culture. Suitable sites for this purpose can possibly
be found at the base of Campemoor and the wetland
of the Dummer lowlands, which seem to offer some
potential as a cultural archive with its numerous settle-
ment or activity areas proven by old and more recent
discoveries.
Acknowledgements
We have to thank Jamie McIntosh for the translation.
REFERENCES
Achterberg et al. 2015:1. Achterberg / A. Bauerochse / T.
Giesecke / A. Metzler / H. H. Leuschner, Contempora-
neousness of Trackway Construction and Environmental
Change: a Dendrochronological Study in Northwest-
German Mires. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica VI,
1/2015. http://www.iansa.eu/volume_6_issue_l.html.
Ten Anscher 2015: T. J. Ten Anscher, Under the radar:
Swifterbant and the origins of the Funnel Beaker cul-
ture. In: J. Kabaciriski/S. Hartz/D. C. M. Raemaekers/T.
Terberger (eds.), The Dqbki Site in Pomerania and the
Neolithisation of the North European Lowlands (c.
5000-3000 cal. BC). Archaologie und Geschichte im
Ostseeraum 8 (Rahden/Westf. 2015) 335-357.
Bauerochse et al. 2012: A. Bauerochse / H. H. Leuschner /
A. Metzler, Das Campemoor im Neolithikum. Jahrbuch
fur das Oldenburger Miinsterland 61, 2012, 135-154.
Bauerochse / Metzler 2001: A. Bauerochse / A. Metzler,
Landschaftswandel und Moorwegebau im Neolithikum
in der stidwestlichen Dummer-Region. Telma 31, 2001,
103-133.
Bauerochse / Leuschner, this volume: A. Bauerochse /
H. H. Leuschner, Neolihic Colonisation of the south-
western Duemmer basin (NW Germany) - Evidence
from palaeo-botanical data.
Bossneck 1978: J. Bossneck, Die Vogelknochen aus der
Moorsiedlung Hude I am Dummer, Kreis Grafschaft
Diepholz. Neue Ausgrabungen und Forschungen in
Niedersachsen 12, 1978, 155-169.
Brandt 1967: K. H. Brandt, Studien tiber steinerne Axte
und Beile der jungeren Stein- und Stein-Kupferzeit im
in Nordwestdeutschland. Mtinstersche Beitrage zur
Vorgeschichtsforschung 2 (Hildesheim 1967).
Brandt 2002: K. H. Brandt, Nichtjagerische Elemente im
nordwestdeutschen Flachland vor der Trichterbecher-
kultur. Die Kunde N.F. 53, 2002, 87-108.
Cappers / Raemaekers 2008: R. T. J. Cappers / D. C. M.
Raemaekers, Cereal Cultivation at Swifterbant? Neo-
lithik Wetland Farming on the North European Plain.
Current Anthropology 49, 2008, 385-402.
41
phase c. 5,000 BC onwards (Raemakers / De Roever
2010, 136). In this culture, evidence of the first do-
mestic animals appears from 4,500 BC (Raemaekers
2015, 322-323), and from around 4,200 BC the culti-
vation of cereals appears to have become widespread
(Cappers / Raemaekers 2008). Overall, the subsis-
tence was based on hunting, gathering and cultiva-
tion (Raemaekers 2015, 325). Other findings from
Hunte 3 have parallels with the Swifterbant culture,
particularly the animal bones which mostly represent
domesticated animals but also include a wide range
of wild animals.
Trackway Pr 31 in Campemoor was investigated
between 1991 and 2011, and this oldest wooden track-
way in the world can now be included into the Swift-
erbant sites in the Dummer region. The dendrodates
and a ceramic find allow to associate it with the early
Swifterbant culture. At the same time, Pr 31 is the only
known path structure from the Swifterbant culture.
With its advanced construction, it demonstrates a
technique of wooden construction adapted to damp
soils, hitherto unknown from subsequent phases of
the Neolithic.
For a long time, Hude I south of Lake Dummer
was the only known site in Lower Saxony assigned to
the Swifterbant culture. Two further sites can now be
placed alongside it - trackway Pr 31 and the wetland
station Hunte 3. The concentration of sites indicates a
focal area of Swifterbant activities around Lake Diim-
mer with a chronological range from the older to the
middle phase of the Swifterbant culture, a period of
several centuries. The habitats around the Dummer
and Campemoor correspond very well to wetlands in
the Netherlands, where the main distribution of the
Swifterbant culture was located. The Swifterbant site
of Schokland P14 (Ten Anscher 2015,337) highlights
easy accessibility via the river Vechte, and the same
applies to the sites north and south of Lake Diimmer,
with the river Hunte providing good connections both
to the north and south.
The lack of further Swifterbant sites on the dry
areas of the Netherlands and Lower Saxony has been
discussed in several papers, particularly by Raemaek-
ers. He blames the fragility of the pottery, which has
little chance of preservation on dry sites, and the lack
of specific features of the flint for this absence of trace-
ability (Raemaekers 2013, 116). Further research is
needed to answer the question of whether the region
around the Dummer including Campemoor was not
only an occasionally used outpost, but possibly be-
longed to a central distribution area of the Swifterbant
culture. Suitable sites for this purpose can possibly
be found at the base of Campemoor and the wetland
of the Dummer lowlands, which seem to offer some
potential as a cultural archive with its numerous settle-
ment or activity areas proven by old and more recent
discoveries.
Acknowledgements
We have to thank Jamie McIntosh for the translation.
REFERENCES
Achterberg et al. 2015:1. Achterberg / A. Bauerochse / T.
Giesecke / A. Metzler / H. H. Leuschner, Contempora-
neousness of Trackway Construction and Environmental
Change: a Dendrochronological Study in Northwest-
German Mires. Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica VI,
1/2015. http://www.iansa.eu/volume_6_issue_l.html.
Ten Anscher 2015: T. J. Ten Anscher, Under the radar:
Swifterbant and the origins of the Funnel Beaker cul-
ture. In: J. Kabaciriski/S. Hartz/D. C. M. Raemaekers/T.
Terberger (eds.), The Dqbki Site in Pomerania and the
Neolithisation of the North European Lowlands (c.
5000-3000 cal. BC). Archaologie und Geschichte im
Ostseeraum 8 (Rahden/Westf. 2015) 335-357.
Bauerochse et al. 2012: A. Bauerochse / H. H. Leuschner /
A. Metzler, Das Campemoor im Neolithikum. Jahrbuch
fur das Oldenburger Miinsterland 61, 2012, 135-154.
Bauerochse / Metzler 2001: A. Bauerochse / A. Metzler,
Landschaftswandel und Moorwegebau im Neolithikum
in der stidwestlichen Dummer-Region. Telma 31, 2001,
103-133.
Bauerochse / Leuschner, this volume: A. Bauerochse /
H. H. Leuschner, Neolihic Colonisation of the south-
western Duemmer basin (NW Germany) - Evidence
from palaeo-botanical data.
Bossneck 1978: J. Bossneck, Die Vogelknochen aus der
Moorsiedlung Hude I am Dummer, Kreis Grafschaft
Diepholz. Neue Ausgrabungen und Forschungen in
Niedersachsen 12, 1978, 155-169.
Brandt 1967: K. H. Brandt, Studien tiber steinerne Axte
und Beile der jungeren Stein- und Stein-Kupferzeit im
in Nordwestdeutschland. Mtinstersche Beitrage zur
Vorgeschichtsforschung 2 (Hildesheim 1967).
Brandt 2002: K. H. Brandt, Nichtjagerische Elemente im
nordwestdeutschen Flachland vor der Trichterbecher-
kultur. Die Kunde N.F. 53, 2002, 87-108.
Cappers / Raemaekers 2008: R. T. J. Cappers / D. C. M.
Raemaekers, Cereal Cultivation at Swifterbant? Neo-
lithik Wetland Farming on the North European Plain.
Current Anthropology 49, 2008, 385-402.