The Hornstaad Group

Version 0.02

Maximilian O. Baldia

Under Construction!

Introduction

The purpose of this text is to provide a general overview of the culture and is intended as a resource for students and teachers of European Archaeology.

Location

The type-site Hornstaad is located on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) in Bavaria, S. Germany. Hornstaad-Hörnle I was excavated from 1983 – 1993.

Dating (Chronological Table)

Village construction at Hornstaad-Hörnle I began at 3915 BC.

Evolution

Hornstaad pottery is more elaborate than the succeeding Pfyn pottery.

Pottery

Copper

The excavations yielded a copper disk similar to the Stollhof gold disk from Vienna, Austria, copper disks at Hlinsko (TRB II), Moravia, and perhaps similar Disks from the TRB in Denmark.

Houses

Relatively small rectangular houses were built more or less in rows. House construction at the at Hornstaad-Hörnle IA started at 3915 BC. Evidence of posts, outlining houses, does not exist. Based on the recetangular outlines left on the shoreline vegetation-fee shoreline, houses measured ca 9-7m : ca. 3.5 m. The small houses contrast with the longhouses of the LBK, Rössen and (earlier?) Lengyel. The small size is thought to reflect a household belonging to a nuclear family. It is estimated that the town had ca. 40 houses that burned down while the original users were still living in them. Based on the houses size, the debris found around them, and the fact, that they burned not too long after the village was constructed, it is thought that 200 – 240 people lived in the unfortified village (Dieckmann et al. 2001:32).

Economy

Hunting, fishing and wild fruit collection predominate at the expense of domesticated animals. However, domesticated grain was a significant part of the economy. Unlike the LBK, where Emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and Einkorn (Triticum moncoccum) predomininate, Hornstaad - Hörnle I has 68% durum wheat (Triticum durum/turgidum-Typ). However, other sites, in Switzerland, S. and E. Bavaria (Cortaillio, Pfyn, and Pfyn-Altheim) show a similar ratio by 4000 - 3900 cal BC. Further more, durum wheat was the single most important staple. The short-lived town is estimated to have had 275kg of domesticated grain per single family house. There were around 40 houses. The different species of grain were found to have been separately stored.

References and Credits

Biel, Jörg, Helmut Schlichtherle, Michael Strobel and Andrea Zee (Eds.)

1998 Die Michelsberger Kultur und ihre Randgebiete: Probleme der Entstehung, Chronologie und des Siedlungswesens. Materialhefte zur Archäologie in Baden-Württemberg, 43, Theiss, Stuttgart.

Dieckmann, Bodo, Maier, Ursula and Vogt, Richard

2001 Hornstaad – Zur inneren Dynamik einer jungneolithischen Dorfanlage am westlichen Bodensee. Neue Ergebnisse der Archäologie, Botanik und Bodenkunde. (Hornstaad – the inner dynamics of a later Neolithic lake-dwelling in the west of lake Constance. New results from archaeology, botany and pedology.) In Andreas Lippert et al. 2001:29-51.

Billamboz, André

1998 Die jungneolithischen Dendrodaten der Pfahlbausiedlungen Südwestdeutschlands als Zeitrahmen für die Einflüsse der Michelsberger Kultur in ihrem südlichen Randgebiet. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:159-168.

Lippert, Andreas, Michael Schultz, Stephen Shennan und Maria Teschler-Nicola (Eds.)

2001 Mensch und Umwelt während des Neolithikums und der Frühbronzezeit in Mitteleuropa. Ergebnisse interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit zwischen Archäologie, Klimatologie, Biologie und Medizin. Internationaler Workshop vom 9.-12. November 1995 im Archäologiezentrum Wien. (People and their Environment during the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age in Central Europe. Results of interdisciplinary cooperation between archaeology, climatology, biology and medicine. International workshop at Vienna Archaeological Centre, November 9-12, 1995.) Internationale Archäologie - Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Symposium, Tagung, Kongress 2, Verlag Marie Leidorf 2001. Rahden/Westf., Germany

Schlichterle, H.

1998 Was sucht Michelsberg in den Ufersiedlungen des Bodensees? In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:169-176.

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