DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Anscher, Theo J. ten; Knippenberg, Sebastiaan: Unexpected dimensions of a Swifterbant settlement at Medel-De Roeskamp (the Netherlands)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0160
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 159-176)
159
Unexpected dimensions of a Swifterbant settle-
ment at Medel-De Roeskamp (the Netherlands)
Theo J. ten Anscher and Sebastiaan Knippenberg
Abstract Large scale excavations at Medel-De Roeskamp near the city of Tiel in the Dutch river area have almost complete-
ly uncovered a Swifterbant settlement site dating around 4,300-4,000 caIBC. This site stands apart for its large size, its ex-
tended broad-spectrum subsistence economy primarily based on domesticates, and the presence of about 25 house plans,
pleading against residential mobility. The character of the find assemblage is indicative of a permanent settlement too. The
emphasis on pig herding and cereal cultivation, with a grain spectrum consisting of four different species, processed and
probably grown locally, is very similar to that found in some contemporaneous Bischheim and Michelsberg sites to the south-
east and south. Medel stone artefact imports and the Medel ceramics also point to contacts with the Danubian tradition,
Bischheim in particular. The Medel house plans bear general resemblances with the small house plans found in epi-Rbssen
contexts, and possess close parallels in the house plans from Bischheim sites in the German Rhineland. Medel-De Roeskamp
is a clear example of a settlement fully adapted to a sedentary Neolithic way of life in the western parts of the North Euro-
pean Plain, where fishing, hunting and gathering continued to play a role in daily life well into the Bronze Age. In Medel-De
Roeskamp, in the Dutch river area, the neolithisation process had reached a mature stage, characterised by site permanency,
already in the period 4,300-4,000 caIBC.
Keywords Neolithisation, Swifterbant culture, houses, permanent settlement, pig herding, cereal cultivation
Zusammenfassung In Medel-De Roeskamp 1st eine Siedlung der Swifterbant-Kultur (c. 4300-4000 caIBC) nahezu vollstan-
dig ausgegraben worden. Diese Siedlung istaufgrund ihrerAusdehnung, der Wirtschaftsweise, die neben Fisch fang, Jagd und
Sammeln vor allem auf Viehhaltung - besonders Schweinezucht - und Gartenbau basiert, sowie der mehr als 25 nachgewie-
senen Hausgrundrisse einzigartig. Neben der Dimension der Siedlung sprechen auch die Fun de fur eine sesshafte Lebensweise.
Einige Steingerate und die Keramik weisen auf Kontakte mit den Nachfolgern der Linearbandkeramik hin. Die Hausgrundrisse
von Medel ahneln epi-Rbssener Beispielen und besonders einigen Bischheimer Hausern aus dem Rheinland. Der Fundplatz
Medel ist ein wichtiges Beispiel fur eine Siedlung mit einer sesshaften Lebensweise im westlichen Bereich der nordwesteu-
ropaischen Tiefebene, wo Fisch fang, Jagd und Sammeln bis in die Bronzezeit eine bedeutende Rolle fur die Subsistenz spiel ten.
In Medel-De Roeskamp im hollandischen Rhein-Maas-Gebiet zeigt sich so in derZeit von 4300-4000 caIBCschon eine fort-
geschrittene Phase der Neolithisierung mit permanent bewohnten Siedlungen.
Introduction: a broad outline of the
Swifterbant culture
Swifterbant is an indigenous early Neolithic culture
occurring between the Scheldt area in Flanders and at
least the Weser area in Lower Saxony. Its territory may
have reached as far as the river Elbe near Hamburg.
Its Mesolithic roots are attested in the reliance on
hunting, gathering and fishing, in its lithic industry and
in the manner of burying the dead: extended on their
back. The neolithisation of the Swifterbant culture is
pictured as a slow (incomplete) ‘step by step’ process
that took a long time, evolving from contacts with
the descendants of the Linear Band Pottery culture
(Linearbandkeramik, or LBK) in adjacent southern
and eastern areas (Raemaekers 1999). It started with
the introduction of ceramics (c. 5000 caIBC), followed
by the adaption of domestic animals/husbandry (c.
4,700-4,450 caIBC) and later by the adaption of ce-
real cultivation (c. 4,300-4,000 caIBC), leading to
an extended broad spectrum economy, in which the
domestic element only gradually gained more im-
portance, but before c. 4,000 caIBC never seemed
to become predominant (Raemaekers 1999; 2019).
Around 4,000 caIBC or somewhat later cattle bones
increasingly outnumber pig/wild boar bones, point-
159
Unexpected dimensions of a Swifterbant settle-
ment at Medel-De Roeskamp (the Netherlands)
Theo J. ten Anscher and Sebastiaan Knippenberg
Abstract Large scale excavations at Medel-De Roeskamp near the city of Tiel in the Dutch river area have almost complete-
ly uncovered a Swifterbant settlement site dating around 4,300-4,000 caIBC. This site stands apart for its large size, its ex-
tended broad-spectrum subsistence economy primarily based on domesticates, and the presence of about 25 house plans,
pleading against residential mobility. The character of the find assemblage is indicative of a permanent settlement too. The
emphasis on pig herding and cereal cultivation, with a grain spectrum consisting of four different species, processed and
probably grown locally, is very similar to that found in some contemporaneous Bischheim and Michelsberg sites to the south-
east and south. Medel stone artefact imports and the Medel ceramics also point to contacts with the Danubian tradition,
Bischheim in particular. The Medel house plans bear general resemblances with the small house plans found in epi-Rbssen
contexts, and possess close parallels in the house plans from Bischheim sites in the German Rhineland. Medel-De Roeskamp
is a clear example of a settlement fully adapted to a sedentary Neolithic way of life in the western parts of the North Euro-
pean Plain, where fishing, hunting and gathering continued to play a role in daily life well into the Bronze Age. In Medel-De
Roeskamp, in the Dutch river area, the neolithisation process had reached a mature stage, characterised by site permanency,
already in the period 4,300-4,000 caIBC.
Keywords Neolithisation, Swifterbant culture, houses, permanent settlement, pig herding, cereal cultivation
Zusammenfassung In Medel-De Roeskamp 1st eine Siedlung der Swifterbant-Kultur (c. 4300-4000 caIBC) nahezu vollstan-
dig ausgegraben worden. Diese Siedlung istaufgrund ihrerAusdehnung, der Wirtschaftsweise, die neben Fisch fang, Jagd und
Sammeln vor allem auf Viehhaltung - besonders Schweinezucht - und Gartenbau basiert, sowie der mehr als 25 nachgewie-
senen Hausgrundrisse einzigartig. Neben der Dimension der Siedlung sprechen auch die Fun de fur eine sesshafte Lebensweise.
Einige Steingerate und die Keramik weisen auf Kontakte mit den Nachfolgern der Linearbandkeramik hin. Die Hausgrundrisse
von Medel ahneln epi-Rbssener Beispielen und besonders einigen Bischheimer Hausern aus dem Rheinland. Der Fundplatz
Medel ist ein wichtiges Beispiel fur eine Siedlung mit einer sesshaften Lebensweise im westlichen Bereich der nordwesteu-
ropaischen Tiefebene, wo Fisch fang, Jagd und Sammeln bis in die Bronzezeit eine bedeutende Rolle fur die Subsistenz spiel ten.
In Medel-De Roeskamp im hollandischen Rhein-Maas-Gebiet zeigt sich so in derZeit von 4300-4000 caIBCschon eine fort-
geschrittene Phase der Neolithisierung mit permanent bewohnten Siedlungen.
Introduction: a broad outline of the
Swifterbant culture
Swifterbant is an indigenous early Neolithic culture
occurring between the Scheldt area in Flanders and at
least the Weser area in Lower Saxony. Its territory may
have reached as far as the river Elbe near Hamburg.
Its Mesolithic roots are attested in the reliance on
hunting, gathering and fishing, in its lithic industry and
in the manner of burying the dead: extended on their
back. The neolithisation of the Swifterbant culture is
pictured as a slow (incomplete) ‘step by step’ process
that took a long time, evolving from contacts with
the descendants of the Linear Band Pottery culture
(Linearbandkeramik, or LBK) in adjacent southern
and eastern areas (Raemaekers 1999). It started with
the introduction of ceramics (c. 5000 caIBC), followed
by the adaption of domestic animals/husbandry (c.
4,700-4,450 caIBC) and later by the adaption of ce-
real cultivation (c. 4,300-4,000 caIBC), leading to
an extended broad spectrum economy, in which the
domestic element only gradually gained more im-
portance, but before c. 4,000 caIBC never seemed
to become predominant (Raemaekers 1999; 2019).
Around 4,000 caIBC or somewhat later cattle bones
increasingly outnumber pig/wild boar bones, point-