DOI chapter:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI chapter:Knoche, Benedikt: Some remarks on the expansion of the Younger Neolithic causewayed enclosure phenomenon towards northern Germany
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0425
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Some remarks on the expansion of the Younger Neolithic causewayed enclosure phenomenon towards northern Germany
(2) Selective exclaves in the north German plain:
Targeted migrations from the Neolithic bor-
der landscapes into single regions of the north
German plain form hotspots of a Neolithic con-
cept of life, which function as crystallisation
cores for habitually and economically delimited
(isophenomenological) Younger Neolithic settle-
ment pockets (Fig. 7,2),
(3) Linear, dynamic spread to the north along the val- (4)
ley of the Weser or a parallel land-bound vector,
at least into the areas of Bremen and Hamburg,
crossing the Elbe river to Schleswig-Holstein
towards the western Baltic Sea area. A compa-
rable vector can be assumed for the Elbe from the
southeast (cf. Muller 2001 on the chronological
and spatial dynamics of the middle Elbe-Saale
area). At the same time, a gradual expansion from
the traditional Neolithic settlement areas across
a broad front towards the north can be expected,
possibly also in the sense of the exclave model
(no. 2). This would result in two different veloci-
ties of spread with a fast impetus along the We-
ser corridor and a slower land-take further east
(Fig- 7,3),
Complementary dynamics: First a linear expan-
sion along the Weser valley to the northern Elbe
region and Jutland almost like a kind of ‘pincer
movement’. Here the causewayed enclosure
phenomenon was intensively established with
a subsequent southern extension towards the
north German plain and the Hannover / Braun-
schweiger Land region (Fig. 7,4).
Fig. 7 Models of the enclosure phenomenon’s spread across northern Lower Saxony to the area north of the river Elbe, c. 3,900-3,700 caIBC.
Some remarks on the expansion of the Younger Neolithic causewayed enclosure phenomenon towards northern Germany
(2) Selective exclaves in the north German plain:
Targeted migrations from the Neolithic bor-
der landscapes into single regions of the north
German plain form hotspots of a Neolithic con-
cept of life, which function as crystallisation
cores for habitually and economically delimited
(isophenomenological) Younger Neolithic settle-
ment pockets (Fig. 7,2),
(3) Linear, dynamic spread to the north along the val- (4)
ley of the Weser or a parallel land-bound vector,
at least into the areas of Bremen and Hamburg,
crossing the Elbe river to Schleswig-Holstein
towards the western Baltic Sea area. A compa-
rable vector can be assumed for the Elbe from the
southeast (cf. Muller 2001 on the chronological
and spatial dynamics of the middle Elbe-Saale
area). At the same time, a gradual expansion from
the traditional Neolithic settlement areas across
a broad front towards the north can be expected,
possibly also in the sense of the exclave model
(no. 2). This would result in two different veloci-
ties of spread with a fast impetus along the We-
ser corridor and a slower land-take further east
(Fig- 7,3),
Complementary dynamics: First a linear expan-
sion along the Weser valley to the northern Elbe
region and Jutland almost like a kind of ‘pincer
movement’. Here the causewayed enclosure
phenomenon was intensively established with
a subsequent southern extension towards the
north German plain and the Hannover / Braun-
schweiger Land region (Fig. 7,4).
Fig. 7 Models of the enclosure phenomenon’s spread across northern Lower Saxony to the area north of the river Elbe, c. 3,900-3,700 caIBC.