Stadel

DFG project: Settlement, economic, and social archaeology of the early Neolithic period in the Itz Valley (Upper Franconia)

Collaborative project: Dr. Heiner Schwarzberg (State Archaeological Collection Munich; principal applicant) and Prof. Dr. Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (Institute for Prehistoric and Early History Archaeology and Provincial Roman Archaeology, LMU Munich; co-applicant)

Project collaborator: Anneli O’Neill, M.A.

Cooperation partners: Dr. Stefanie Berg-Hobohm (Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments); PD Dr. Jörg Fassbinder (Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments); Prof. Dr. Rupert Gebhard (State Archaeological Collection Munich); Dr. Rupert Hochleitner (State Mineralogical Collection Munich);

Prof. Dr. Britta Ramminger (Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg); Dr. Bernhard Weninger (Institute for Prehistory and Early History at the University of Cologne)

Participating scientists: Dipl.‐Biol. Barbara Zach (Archaeobotany Laboratory Zach); Ass. Prof. Dr. Ole Stilborg (SKEA Stilborg Ceramic Analysis); Prof. Carl Heron (University of Bradford, Archaeological Sciences); Dr. Ronny Friedrich (Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH); Dr. Hannes Napierala (Bingen)

Funding organization: DFG

Project Description

During construction work on the ICE extension and new line between Nuremberg and Berlin, an early Neolithic settlement was uncovered near Stadel in the district of Lichtenfels between April and September 2010. With an excavated area of 2.6 hectares, it is currently the largest contiguous Linear Pottery settlement excavated in northern Bavaria.
The excavated section of the settlement comprises the floor plans of 4,935 houses. Four burials and a palisade ditch were also uncovered. The former size of the settlement can be estimated at around 11 hectares.
The settlement is embedded in a rich Linear Pottery culture landscape, which, however, has not yet been sufficiently investigated. The large-scale excavation of Stadel offers the first opportunity to systematically examine the region along the Itz River. The good preservation conditions make it possible to fundamentally expand the knowledge gained through archaeological methods by means of scientific analyses. One focus of the project is to outline the absolute chronological development of the settlement using a comprehensive series of highly precise 14C data. The animal bones provide information about the subsistence economy of the first farmers, with the aim of conducting a diachronic analysis of the use of domestic and wild animals. In addition, an exceptionally large quantity of preserved plant macro-remains in charred form has been recovered, the overall evaluation of which places particular focus on agriculture and the use of wild plants in the project. Archaeometric investigations of residues on ceramics shed light on another aspect of the Linear Pottery culture's way of life. The results will ultimately be brought together in the context of the local settlement landscape in order to highlight socio-archaeological aspects within the settlement network in the Itz Valley.