Added December 15, 1999. Updated August 3, 2001, 07:33 hours.
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The Michelsberg Culture
Version 2.30
By
Maximilian O. Baldia
(Copy Right © 1999, 2000, 2001. All rights
reserved)
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 Michelsberg type-site is located by Untergrombach, Kr. Bruchsaal, Baden-Württemberg. It was discovered by Schumacher in 1884, who recognized parallels between Michelsberg and the Mesolithic pottery making Kjøkkenmødinger (Ertebølle) culture as early as 1908 and 1911.
(Map of Michelsberg culture location (Schwabedissen 1979b). Flintbek added)
Michelsberg sites are located primarily along the Rhein River, but can also be found in Belgium and the Paris Basin. They are said to occur in a few sites in Bohemia and in Central Germany. In the South, numerous local cultures have been carved out of the former Michelsberg complex.
Chronology
Michelsberg Starts around 4400 cal BC and ends around 3600/3500 cal BC. Lüning (1968) divided the Michelsberg culture into five successive phases whose chronology is shown in the Chronological Table.
Evolution
Michelsberg evolves out of Bischeim, a late phase of the Rössen culture. This view suggests an origin along near the Rhein River in Germany. An older view, expressed by the American archaeologist Scollar and others, suggested a western origin.[1] New evidence from the Paris Basin may indeed be interpreted as a development of Michelsberg in response to the Chasséen of France.
The Michelsberg culture’s demise is difficult to trace. It gradually evolved into different pottery styles in different regions starting around 3700/3600 cal BC. Near the Bodensee it is replaced by Horgen. In the NW German state of Hessen and adjoining regions it evolves into the Wartberg culture. At its northern Fringes, it is replaced by the TRB. In the east (Central Germany and Bohemia), it seems to overlap with the (slightly later?) Baalberge Group of the TRB, starting around 4000 cal BC. Both end around 3600/3500 cal BC. In the German state of Hessen, Late Michelsberg radiocarbon dates on charcoal and bone are dated 3660-3640 cal BC (Wotzka 2000), confirming the a temporal overlap of the two pottery styles.
Economy
Flint Mining:
Around 4300 cal BC the Michelsberg culture introduces deep mining of flint and flint production takes on an "industrial" characteristic (Louwe Kooijmans 1998:412). However, De Grooth (same volume, i.e. Edmonds & Richards 1998:351-369) negates the interpretation of the Rijkholt-Sint Geertruid flint mines as a commercial enterprise (De Grooth 1998:352), suggesting that the mines had unrestricted access by several nearby communities in a 30 km radius, mining was intermittent and not undertaken for purely economic reasons. (De Grooth 1998:352).
Ceramics
In contrast to Rössen, the pottery is largely undecorated. The most spectacular development is the slender “tulip beaker.
Sone Tools
Polished flint axes (new macrolithic tools made from blades and flakes) were used in long-distance exchange, which reaching to the lake dwellings of South Germany (Louwe Kooijmans 1998:412).
Houses
House remains are rather rare and, therefore, the structures are not well understood. Twenty-three very large house-like structures have been found in the palisade and ditch enclosure near Mairy on the Maas/Meuse River, France (Marolle 1998).
Burials
Burials are also not well known. However, single and multiple burials of flexed skeletons in pits do occur. They seem to indicate something other than the ceremonial disposal of the honored dead.
Enclosures
Hill top and valley spur central sites of 10-100 ha, surrounded by palisades and /or wide, flat based, interrupted ditches suggest a greater emphasis on the corporate identity (Louwe Kooijmans 1998:413).
References and Credits
Baldia, M. O.
1995 A
Spatial Analysis of Megalithic Tombs. Vol. 1-2. Ph. D. Dissertation. Southern Methodist University.
Beran, J.
1998 Die
Michelsberger Fundgruppen in Mitteldeutschland. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:73-84.
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.
Dubouloz, J.
1998 Réflexions
sur le Michelsberg ancien en Bassin Parisien. n Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.)
1998:9-20.
Jeunesse, C.
1998 Pour
une origine occidentale de la culture de Michelsberg? In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:29-46.
Lichardus, J.
1998 Die
Michelsberg Kultur strukturell
gesehen. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:261-276.
Lüning, J.
1998 Betrachtungen
über die Michelsberg Kultur. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:277-290.
Marolle, C.
1998 Le
site de Michelsberg des « Hautes Chanvrières » avec bâtiments et
enceinte à Mairy, Ardennes – France. In Jörg Biel
et al. (Eds.) 1998:21-28.
Matuschik, Irenäus
1992 Senkofen-„Pfatterbreite“,
eine Fundstelle der Michelsberger Kultur im östlichen Alpenvorland. Bayrische
Vorgeschichtsblätter, 57:1-32. Beck’sche Verlagshandlung, München.
Reiter, S.
1998 Die
Keramik von Bruchsal Aue. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.)
1998:121-126.
Scollar, Irwin
1959 Regional
Groups in the Michelsberg Culture: A Study in the Middle Neolithic of Central
Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric
Society, XXV:52-134.
1961 The
Late Neolithic in Belgium, Western Germany and Alsace. L'Europe à la fin de
l'âge de la pierre. Acte du Symposium consacré aux problemes du Néolithique
européen. Prágue-Liblice-Brno 5-12 octobre
1959, L'Académie tchécoslovaque des Sciences, Praha, 1961:519-548.
Schlichterle, H.
1998 Was
sucht Michelsberg in den Ufersiedlungen des Bodensees? In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:169-176.
Steppan, K.
1998 Archäologisch
Untersuchungen der Säugetiere aus den Graben der Michelsberger ‚Erdwerke’ in
Bruchsal, Landkreis Karlsruhe.: Die Bedeutung der Haus- und Wildsäugetiere im Rahmen der jungneolithischen
Ernährungswirtschaft in Südwestdeutschland. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:143-158.
Wotzka, Hans-Peter
2000 Forschungen
zur Siedlungs-, Wirtschafts- und Umweltgeschichte im Niddatal zur Zeit der
späten Michelsberger Kultur. Berichte der Kommission für Archäologische
Landesforschung in Hessen, Heft 5, 1998/1999. Kommission für Archäologische
Landesforschung in Hessen 2000/5:27-39.
Zeeb, A.
1998 Die
Goldberg-gruppe und das frühe Michelsberg. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:213-220.
Zápotocký, M.
1998 Zum
forschungsstand über die relative Chronologie des frühen Äneolithikums in
Böhmen. In Jörg Biel et al. (Eds.) 1998:303-302.
Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.