DOI chapter:
Changing Worlds – The Spread of the Neolithic Way of Life in the North
DOI chapter:Behrens, Anja; Mennenga, Moritz; Wolters, Steffen; Karle, Martina: Neolithic landscape under the bog – new investigations in the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor, dist. Cuxhaven, Germany
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66745#0460
Anja Behrens, Moritz Mennenga, Steffen Wolters and Martina Karie
459
1225
Five Lakes
Lake
Flogeln 48
2 km
megalithic graves on the geest
megalithic partly covered with bog
graves completely overgrown
destroyed
newly discovered graves
neolithic settlement
mesolithic site
Kleiner 1 .
Ahlen
Lake
Flogeln
nature reserve
bog
marsh
geest
Lake
Dahlem
G>'°X
Fig. 2 Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor, dist. Cuxhaven. The study area with known Mesolithic sites as well as Neolithic settlements and burials
(graphics: M. Mennenga, NlhK; map basis: State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Lower Saxony [LBEG], Hannover; soil landscapes
scale 1:50.000; mapping of megalithic tombs based on data from the Lower Saxony Monument Database ADABweb and Fritsch et al.
2010; of Mesolithic sites based on ADABweb).
investigations were also carried out on the ‘emerged’
megalithic graves in the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor
(near sites Wanna 1000 and 1225), as well as near
the northern sandy area of Wanna. The 14C-dates from
the peat base at the graves suggest a very late onset of
peat growth in the 1st millennium calBC (Nosler et al.
2011; Kramer et al. 2012). As the two monuments
have been erected on higher ground, the results show
that bog growth and expansion continued over millen-
nia with high dynamics and that the graves were finally
covered in the Iron Age. By that time, the graves lying
lowest were probably totally covered for long. From
an archaeological and landscape-historical point of
view, they should, therefore, show better conservation
conditions. As examples of excellent preservation of
features and finds in the northwestern German bog
lands, the remains of Stone Age buildings and track-
ways, documented in the surroundings of Dummer,
distr. Diepholz, have to be mentioned (Fansa / Schnei-
der 1996). Considering the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor
it seems that the research potential is quite similar
to that of the famous Irish bogs, where numerous
megalithic tombs, field boundary systems, and hearths
from the Stone Age to the Iron Age were preserved
(O’Connell et al. 2020).
Today five megalithic graves are located on
‘GroRer Ahlen’ and ‘Kleiner Ahlen’ (Sprockhoff 1975,
nos. 636-642; see Fig. 2). Due to intensive drainage
measures for cultivation purposes, starting in the early
20th century, the peat thickness decreased, revealing
more graves situated within the bog during the 1930s
(site Wanna 1225; Sprockhoff 1975, no. 643) and
1970 s (e.g. site Wanna 1000). In 2016 the capstones
of two more tombs were found (sites Wanna 1588 and
1591; Huser 2019,25), while yet another one was de-
tected in 2019 (see below), a total of twelve monuments
are known so far, all of them passage graves. The mega-
lithic tombs of Ahlen-Falkenberg are almost completely
unexplored. The few opened graves, ‘Kronskark’ (Wan-
na 1215) as well as ‘Karlskirche’ (Wanna 1222), are
located on higher ground ‘islands’. No records of those
investigations have survived, and thus, the graves were
excavated under circumstances unknown to research.
The first and, so far, only systematic investigation was
carried out in 1963 due to sand extraction at the
grave of the ‘Hoher Kopf’ (Wanna 1002) by the Lower
459
1225
Five Lakes
Lake
Flogeln 48
2 km
megalithic graves on the geest
megalithic partly covered with bog
graves completely overgrown
destroyed
newly discovered graves
neolithic settlement
mesolithic site
Kleiner 1 .
Ahlen
Lake
Flogeln
nature reserve
bog
marsh
geest
Lake
Dahlem
G>'°X
Fig. 2 Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor, dist. Cuxhaven. The study area with known Mesolithic sites as well as Neolithic settlements and burials
(graphics: M. Mennenga, NlhK; map basis: State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Lower Saxony [LBEG], Hannover; soil landscapes
scale 1:50.000; mapping of megalithic tombs based on data from the Lower Saxony Monument Database ADABweb and Fritsch et al.
2010; of Mesolithic sites based on ADABweb).
investigations were also carried out on the ‘emerged’
megalithic graves in the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor
(near sites Wanna 1000 and 1225), as well as near
the northern sandy area of Wanna. The 14C-dates from
the peat base at the graves suggest a very late onset of
peat growth in the 1st millennium calBC (Nosler et al.
2011; Kramer et al. 2012). As the two monuments
have been erected on higher ground, the results show
that bog growth and expansion continued over millen-
nia with high dynamics and that the graves were finally
covered in the Iron Age. By that time, the graves lying
lowest were probably totally covered for long. From
an archaeological and landscape-historical point of
view, they should, therefore, show better conservation
conditions. As examples of excellent preservation of
features and finds in the northwestern German bog
lands, the remains of Stone Age buildings and track-
ways, documented in the surroundings of Dummer,
distr. Diepholz, have to be mentioned (Fansa / Schnei-
der 1996). Considering the Ahlen-Falkenberger Moor
it seems that the research potential is quite similar
to that of the famous Irish bogs, where numerous
megalithic tombs, field boundary systems, and hearths
from the Stone Age to the Iron Age were preserved
(O’Connell et al. 2020).
Today five megalithic graves are located on
‘GroRer Ahlen’ and ‘Kleiner Ahlen’ (Sprockhoff 1975,
nos. 636-642; see Fig. 2). Due to intensive drainage
measures for cultivation purposes, starting in the early
20th century, the peat thickness decreased, revealing
more graves situated within the bog during the 1930s
(site Wanna 1225; Sprockhoff 1975, no. 643) and
1970 s (e.g. site Wanna 1000). In 2016 the capstones
of two more tombs were found (sites Wanna 1588 and
1591; Huser 2019,25), while yet another one was de-
tected in 2019 (see below), a total of twelve monuments
are known so far, all of them passage graves. The mega-
lithic tombs of Ahlen-Falkenberg are almost completely
unexplored. The few opened graves, ‘Kronskark’ (Wan-
na 1215) as well as ‘Karlskirche’ (Wanna 1222), are
located on higher ground ‘islands’. No records of those
investigations have survived, and thus, the graves were
excavated under circumstances unknown to research.
The first and, so far, only systematic investigation was
carried out in 1963 due to sand extraction at the
grave of the ‘Hoher Kopf’ (Wanna 1002) by the Lower