Neutron Activation Analyses of ‘Falke‐Group’ Stoneware*

Fragments of late medieval highly decorated Falke‐group stoneware have been found in excavations all over central and northern Europe. The distribution of the finds points to an origin in Saxony, but the exact centre of production is still unknown. Therefore, a set of samples has been analysed with Neutron Activation and the data compared with Saxon reference groups. The results point to production in a single workshop. The data can be clearly distinguished from all reference groups in our databank. However, the most similar group is that of Zittau, Saxony. Also, one sherd, which is typologically very similar to the Falke group, and which was made in Zittau, suggests that production was based there.     

GEOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SEDIMENTS IN AND AROUND AN EARLY NEOLITHIC WELL NEAR BRODAU,GERMANY*

The discovery of wells of the linear pottery culture since 1990 has led to new insights on the ability and needs of humans at this time. The still small number of about 20 wells in Europe, compared to the much greater number of known settlements of this period, led to the assumption that they were built for special purposes, other than the water supply for the whole village. Investigations on the origin of archaeosediments of a more than 7000‐year‐old and 4.2 m deep well from the linear pottery culture in north‐west Saxony, Germany were carried out by geochemical analysis to improve our knowledge of the building, the usage and the decay of this wooden construction. Special emphasis was put on the material around two 10‐week‐old piglets that were intentionally deposited in the construction pit. Three major units—the sediment in the well, the infilling of the construction pit and the surrounding gravels—influenced by lateral transport of fine clay could be identified and described.     

HOLOCENE ACCUMULATION OF COLLUVIAL AND ALLUVIAL SEDIMENTS IN THE WEIßE ELSTER RIVER VALLEY IN SAXONY,GERMANY*

Geoarchaeological investigations at two archaeological excavation sites lead to new results with respect to the Holocene landscape development of an archaeologically important loess landscape of Central Europe. Colluvial and alluvial sediments were sampled during archaeological excavations on the valley edge of the Weiße Elster and dated by means of ¹⁴C, TL and dendrochronology, and on the basis of archaeological finds. Thus, for the first time, the development of a valley edge of a river in the Leipzig area, which has been continuously settled for 7300 years, can be reconstructed. The first soil erosion on the valley edge is established towards the end of the Atlantic period. During the High Middle Ages, a colluvial sediment developed. Its deposition time can be limited to between ad 1000 and 1100. The flood loam near Großstorkwitz, which can be stratified by means of the soil and colluvial deposits, originated in the late Sub‐Boreal and early Sub‐Atlantic, as well as after ad 1100. During the first millennium ad, a soil developed in the older flood loam, which indicates a phase of reduced flood loam sedimentation.