DOI chapter:
Grenzgänger, traders and the last hunter-gatherers of the North European Plain
DOI chapter:Thielen, Laura: The Late Mesolithic in Hamburg-Boberg: inter-cultural interactions and impacts
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0196
Stone Age Borderland Experience (MAN 60, 2022, 195 -209)
195
The late Mesolithic in Hamburg-Boberg:
inter-cultural interactions and impacts
Laura Thielen
Abstract The sites Boberg 15,15 East, and 20 were settled by people from the Ertebolle culture during the final Mesolithic
and by people from the Funnel Beaker culture during the early Neolithic. Vessel finds illustrate contacts to Neolithic as well
as final Mesolithic groups during the final Mesolithic and thus an intra- und inter-cultural network. According to archaeo-
metrical analysis it is confirmed that culturally ‘foreign’ pottery was imported as well as produced at the Boberg sites, indicat-
ing a mutual interaction as well as a transfer of knowledge. Different impulses and influences on the local production are
recognisable. Rbssen and Stroke-ornamented ware pottery were produced at the sites, but did not influence the local vessel
tradition significantly. In contrast, the establishment of vessels with overall fingernail impressions on the surface and flat bot-
tom at Boberg can be connected to interactions between Boberg settlers and people from the Swifterbant as well as Gatersle-
ben groups; it illustrates impulses and the adaptation of specific elements from different cultures, resulting in the formation
of the so-called Friesack-Boberg group located in the inland of northern Germany. The fusion of inter-cultural elements,
supported by the dating results of the Friesack-Boberg pottery to the transition between final Mesolithic and Neolithic, might
also imply the beginning of the neolithisation in northern Germany.
Keywords Hamburg-Boberg, Ertebolle culture, early pottery, cultural interactions
Zusammenfassung Die von der endmesolithischen Erteb0lle- und fruhneolithischen Trichterbecherkultur besiedelten Fund-
platze Hamburg-Boberg 15, 15 Ost und 20 zeigen durch Gefabe, die als Kontaktanzeiger zu endmesolithischen und neolithi-
schen Gruppen zu werten sind, ein intra- und interkulturelles Netzwerk im Endmesolithikum an. Durch archaometrische Ana-
lysen konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass die kontaktanzeigenden Gefabe nicht nur importiert, sondern teils auch in der
Boberger Niederung hergestellt worden sind. Dies deutet gleichsam ein gemeinsames Interagieren unterden Beteiligten und
eine Vermittlung des kultureigenen Keramikhandwerks an, wenn sich auch unterschiedliche Einflussebenen erkennen lassen.
Demnach wirkten sich Kontakte zwischen der aufden Boberger Platzen siedelnden Gruppe der Erteb0iie-Kultur und Gemein-
schaften der neolithischen Rbssener Kultur und Stichbandkeramik nicht mabgeblich auf das lokale Tbpferhandwerk aus. Im
Gegensatz dazu haben nachgewiesene Kontakte zu Gruppen der Swifterbant- und Gaterslebener Kultur mabgebl/ch an der
Entstehung von flachbodigen Gefaben mit flachigem Fingernageldekor mitgewirkt, die der im norddeutschen Binnenland
siedelnden Friesack-Boberger Gruppe zugeschrieben werden kbnnen. Letztlich kbnnen die Fusion interkultureller Einflusse
sowie die Datierung derFriesack-Boberg Keramikin den Ubergangshorizont zwischen dem Endmesolithikum und Neolithikum
den Beginn der Neolithisierung in Norddeutschland anzeigen.
Introduction
The sites Boberg 15, 15 East and 20 have been well
known since their excavations in the 1950s and
1960s and have caused a discussion regarding the
pottery found there that was interpreted as imported
(see below); they are seen as key sites for the origin
of the Funnel Beaker culture in northern Germany
(Schwabedissen 1994, 378). During and after the ex-
cavations no comprehensive documentation and anal-
ysis of the archaeological remains were conducted1,
and thus the project ‘The Neolithisation process of
northernmost Germany: with particular reference to
the final Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of Hamburg-
Boberg’, funded by the German Research Foundation
1 With the exception of the Boberg 15 East flint artefacts: see
Lubke 2000, 326-340.
195
The late Mesolithic in Hamburg-Boberg:
inter-cultural interactions and impacts
Laura Thielen
Abstract The sites Boberg 15,15 East, and 20 were settled by people from the Ertebolle culture during the final Mesolithic
and by people from the Funnel Beaker culture during the early Neolithic. Vessel finds illustrate contacts to Neolithic as well
as final Mesolithic groups during the final Mesolithic and thus an intra- und inter-cultural network. According to archaeo-
metrical analysis it is confirmed that culturally ‘foreign’ pottery was imported as well as produced at the Boberg sites, indicat-
ing a mutual interaction as well as a transfer of knowledge. Different impulses and influences on the local production are
recognisable. Rbssen and Stroke-ornamented ware pottery were produced at the sites, but did not influence the local vessel
tradition significantly. In contrast, the establishment of vessels with overall fingernail impressions on the surface and flat bot-
tom at Boberg can be connected to interactions between Boberg settlers and people from the Swifterbant as well as Gatersle-
ben groups; it illustrates impulses and the adaptation of specific elements from different cultures, resulting in the formation
of the so-called Friesack-Boberg group located in the inland of northern Germany. The fusion of inter-cultural elements,
supported by the dating results of the Friesack-Boberg pottery to the transition between final Mesolithic and Neolithic, might
also imply the beginning of the neolithisation in northern Germany.
Keywords Hamburg-Boberg, Ertebolle culture, early pottery, cultural interactions
Zusammenfassung Die von der endmesolithischen Erteb0lle- und fruhneolithischen Trichterbecherkultur besiedelten Fund-
platze Hamburg-Boberg 15, 15 Ost und 20 zeigen durch Gefabe, die als Kontaktanzeiger zu endmesolithischen und neolithi-
schen Gruppen zu werten sind, ein intra- und interkulturelles Netzwerk im Endmesolithikum an. Durch archaometrische Ana-
lysen konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass die kontaktanzeigenden Gefabe nicht nur importiert, sondern teils auch in der
Boberger Niederung hergestellt worden sind. Dies deutet gleichsam ein gemeinsames Interagieren unterden Beteiligten und
eine Vermittlung des kultureigenen Keramikhandwerks an, wenn sich auch unterschiedliche Einflussebenen erkennen lassen.
Demnach wirkten sich Kontakte zwischen der aufden Boberger Platzen siedelnden Gruppe der Erteb0iie-Kultur und Gemein-
schaften der neolithischen Rbssener Kultur und Stichbandkeramik nicht mabgeblich auf das lokale Tbpferhandwerk aus. Im
Gegensatz dazu haben nachgewiesene Kontakte zu Gruppen der Swifterbant- und Gaterslebener Kultur mabgebl/ch an der
Entstehung von flachbodigen Gefaben mit flachigem Fingernageldekor mitgewirkt, die der im norddeutschen Binnenland
siedelnden Friesack-Boberger Gruppe zugeschrieben werden kbnnen. Letztlich kbnnen die Fusion interkultureller Einflusse
sowie die Datierung derFriesack-Boberg Keramikin den Ubergangshorizont zwischen dem Endmesolithikum und Neolithikum
den Beginn der Neolithisierung in Norddeutschland anzeigen.
Introduction
The sites Boberg 15, 15 East and 20 have been well
known since their excavations in the 1950s and
1960s and have caused a discussion regarding the
pottery found there that was interpreted as imported
(see below); they are seen as key sites for the origin
of the Funnel Beaker culture in northern Germany
(Schwabedissen 1994, 378). During and after the ex-
cavations no comprehensive documentation and anal-
ysis of the archaeological remains were conducted1,
and thus the project ‘The Neolithisation process of
northernmost Germany: with particular reference to
the final Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of Hamburg-
Boberg’, funded by the German Research Foundation
1 With the exception of the Boberg 15 East flint artefacts: see
Lubke 2000, 326-340.