DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Hülsebusch, Christian; Jockenhövel, Albecht: Going north . . . The Middle Neolithic settlement of Nottuln-Uphoven (Westphalia) and the start of the neolithisation in the lowlands
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0125
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Going north... The Middle Neolithic settlement of Nottuln-Uphoven (Westphalia) and the start of the neolithisation in the lowlands
Fig. 1 The northwest German lowlands during the 5th millennium
BC. Main cultural clusters and important sites mentioned in the
article (with linear distances in km). 1 Hude I (Dummer); 2 Ham-
burg-Boberg; 3 Nottuln-Uphoven; 4 Deiringsen-Ruploh; 5 Dort-
mund-Oespel (map based on the Schweizer Nationalatlas; after
Groer 2013b).
ers encountered foragers (hunter-gatherers). However,
the Agricultural Frontier’ or ‘Neolithic Frontier’ has
not only to be understood as a simply geographical
border but also in a broader cultural sense. The north-
western European lowlands (from the northwestern
Netherlands to the western Baltic Sea) during the 5th
millennium calBC are such a region for which studies
of ‘hither and thither’ seem worthwhile.
North of the region characterised by the Lin-
ear Pottery culture (Linearbandkeramik [LBK]:
Kneipp 1998) archaeological relics from the south-
ern central European world (mainly the perforated
“Danubian stone tools”: Brandt 1967; 2002; Narr
1983; Merkel 1999) are often found together with
remains from the Mesolithic period. Neolithic pot-
tery is found in Late Mesolithic contexts as well,
though only in a few places. During that period, the
Ertebolle culture was spread in the north (northern
Germany, Denmark) and the Swifterbant culture in
the northwest (northern and western Netherlands).
Considering their flint industries, both cultures are
rooted in the respective Mesolithic traditions. Both
cultures introduced their specific pottery styles prior
to their respective shift to agriculture (marked by re-
mains of cultivated crops and bones of domesticated
animals). While the expansion of the LBK to central
Europe from the Carpathian Basin was accompa-
nied by a full ‘Neolithic package’, single elements
of the Neolithic productive economy reached the
zone north of the Early (LBK) and Middle Neolithic
(Stroked Pottery, Bischheim, Rossen, Gatersleben
cultures) during a long period from the late 6th to
the 4th century calBC. The sites of these cultures
(i.e. Hiide I, Hamburg-Boberg; Laux 1986; Thielen
2018), which have been termed ‘Late Mesolithic’,
‘Proto-Neolithic’, ‘Sub-Neolithic’ or ‘Para-Neolithic’,
date to the same period as the purely Neolithic and
purely Mesolithic settlements in the northwest Ger-
man lowlands (Fig. 1).
We may perhaps never be able to answer the
complex questions by means of generalising processu-
al models. On the other hand, we need more knowl-
edge based on archaeological and palaeoecological
data from recently excavated sites in this decisive
region. One important site of the neolithisation pro-
cess is the settlement of Nottuln-Uphoven (Coesfeld
distr., Westphalia), one of its earliest outposts north
of the loess belt in the lowlands.
The mountain range of the Baumberge
and the site of Nottuln-Uphoven
As one of few mountain ranges in the lowland zone
of the northwest European mainland, the mountain
range of the Baumberge, situated c. 20 km west of
the modern city of Munster (Westphalia), offers a
striking change in the landscape (hills of a height of
100-190 m above sea level). In the southern part of
this island-like hilly landscape, small fertile loess sedi-
ments were deposited during the last glacial (Weichsel
glacial). These small loess plots are exceptions from the
less fertile sandy soil of the surrounding lowlands (c.
60-70 m a.s.l.). Furthermore, the Baumberge hills are
a formative watershed in the northwestern lowlands
with the springs of many rivers as tributaries of some
important streams (Ems; Ijssel; Vechte; Lippe/Rhine).
The Baumberge region is located c. 50 km north
of the fertile loess-soil-dominated Hellweg zone (be-
tween the modern cities of Dortmund and Soest) with
its Early and Middle Neolithic settlement clusters of
Linear Pottery, Rossen and Bischheim sites. There-
fore it is not surprising that in the 1970-1980s ar-
chaeological research discovered a kind of pioneering
settlement from Middle (Rossen) and Late Neolithic
cultures (Bischheim, Michelsberg, Funnel Beaker;
Figs. 2-4).
Going north... The Middle Neolithic settlement of Nottuln-Uphoven (Westphalia) and the start of the neolithisation in the lowlands
Fig. 1 The northwest German lowlands during the 5th millennium
BC. Main cultural clusters and important sites mentioned in the
article (with linear distances in km). 1 Hude I (Dummer); 2 Ham-
burg-Boberg; 3 Nottuln-Uphoven; 4 Deiringsen-Ruploh; 5 Dort-
mund-Oespel (map based on the Schweizer Nationalatlas; after
Groer 2013b).
ers encountered foragers (hunter-gatherers). However,
the Agricultural Frontier’ or ‘Neolithic Frontier’ has
not only to be understood as a simply geographical
border but also in a broader cultural sense. The north-
western European lowlands (from the northwestern
Netherlands to the western Baltic Sea) during the 5th
millennium calBC are such a region for which studies
of ‘hither and thither’ seem worthwhile.
North of the region characterised by the Lin-
ear Pottery culture (Linearbandkeramik [LBK]:
Kneipp 1998) archaeological relics from the south-
ern central European world (mainly the perforated
“Danubian stone tools”: Brandt 1967; 2002; Narr
1983; Merkel 1999) are often found together with
remains from the Mesolithic period. Neolithic pot-
tery is found in Late Mesolithic contexts as well,
though only in a few places. During that period, the
Ertebolle culture was spread in the north (northern
Germany, Denmark) and the Swifterbant culture in
the northwest (northern and western Netherlands).
Considering their flint industries, both cultures are
rooted in the respective Mesolithic traditions. Both
cultures introduced their specific pottery styles prior
to their respective shift to agriculture (marked by re-
mains of cultivated crops and bones of domesticated
animals). While the expansion of the LBK to central
Europe from the Carpathian Basin was accompa-
nied by a full ‘Neolithic package’, single elements
of the Neolithic productive economy reached the
zone north of the Early (LBK) and Middle Neolithic
(Stroked Pottery, Bischheim, Rossen, Gatersleben
cultures) during a long period from the late 6th to
the 4th century calBC. The sites of these cultures
(i.e. Hiide I, Hamburg-Boberg; Laux 1986; Thielen
2018), which have been termed ‘Late Mesolithic’,
‘Proto-Neolithic’, ‘Sub-Neolithic’ or ‘Para-Neolithic’,
date to the same period as the purely Neolithic and
purely Mesolithic settlements in the northwest Ger-
man lowlands (Fig. 1).
We may perhaps never be able to answer the
complex questions by means of generalising processu-
al models. On the other hand, we need more knowl-
edge based on archaeological and palaeoecological
data from recently excavated sites in this decisive
region. One important site of the neolithisation pro-
cess is the settlement of Nottuln-Uphoven (Coesfeld
distr., Westphalia), one of its earliest outposts north
of the loess belt in the lowlands.
The mountain range of the Baumberge
and the site of Nottuln-Uphoven
As one of few mountain ranges in the lowland zone
of the northwest European mainland, the mountain
range of the Baumberge, situated c. 20 km west of
the modern city of Munster (Westphalia), offers a
striking change in the landscape (hills of a height of
100-190 m above sea level). In the southern part of
this island-like hilly landscape, small fertile loess sedi-
ments were deposited during the last glacial (Weichsel
glacial). These small loess plots are exceptions from the
less fertile sandy soil of the surrounding lowlands (c.
60-70 m a.s.l.). Furthermore, the Baumberge hills are
a formative watershed in the northwestern lowlands
with the springs of many rivers as tributaries of some
important streams (Ems; Ijssel; Vechte; Lippe/Rhine).
The Baumberge region is located c. 50 km north
of the fertile loess-soil-dominated Hellweg zone (be-
tween the modern cities of Dortmund and Soest) with
its Early and Middle Neolithic settlement clusters of
Linear Pottery, Rossen and Bischheim sites. There-
fore it is not surprising that in the 1970-1980s ar-
chaeological research discovered a kind of pioneering
settlement from Middle (Rossen) and Late Neolithic
cultures (Bischheim, Michelsberg, Funnel Beaker;
Figs. 2-4).