The oldest grave in Northern Germany

The oldest grave in Northern Germany

Excavation of the Mesolithic tomb. © ALSH

Archaeologists have discovered the oldest grave in northern Germany in the Duvenseer Moor in Schleswig-Holstein. They are 10,500-year-old relics of a cremation burial carried out by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. So far, only one similarly old grave is known in Northern Europe, a dead man from Jutland who was also buried by burning. The finds also reveal what the Mesolithic people lived on at the time.

When the last Ice Age ended around 11,600 years ago, the glaciers retreated from Central Europe and it got warmer. Gradually, the vegetation reclaimed the areas – first the treeless tundra dominated, then coming from the south birch and pine forests spread again. At this time, new groups of hunters and gatherers also immigrated to Mesolithic northern Germany. Traces of their presence can also be found at various sites in Schleswig-Holstein.

Storage sites of Stone Age hunters and gatherers

One of the most important archaeological finds from the North European Mesolithic is in the Duvensee Moor in the district of the Duchy of Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein. In the Mesolithic there was a large, shallow lake with several small islands near the shore in this area, which increasingly silted up after the end of the Ice Age and became a moorland lowland. Almost 100 years ago, archaeologists discovered the first camp sites of Stone Age hunters and gatherers there. Flint blades and bone spikes, but also the remains of fireplaces and mats made of birch bark bear witness to the stay of the Stone Age people.

Countless hazelnuts and nut shells are also noticeable at these Stone Age camp sites. Together with archaeobotanical analyses, they prove that around 11,000 years ago conditions were particularly favorable for hazel bushes around the Mesolithic lake – and that people made use of this resource. At one site, the archaeologists found evidence that people not only collected hazelnuts, but also roasted them over the fire. Findings of charcoal and burned, unburned and roasted hazelnuts bear witness to this.

A 10,500 year old cremation

Now there is a new, particularly spectacular find in the Duvensee Moor: At a site near Lüchow, archaeologists working with Harald Lübke from the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology (ZBSA) have discovered relics from a cremation burial from 10,500 years ago. The Mesolithic hunters first burned the corpses of the dead and then buried the remains in a grave on the edge of the Duvensee Moor. According to the archaeologists, this is the oldest grave in Northern Germany and one of the oldest graves in Northern Europe at all. The graves of Stone Age hunters and gatherers known to date from southern Scandinavia and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are only around 8,000 years old according to the Schleswig-Holstein Archaeological State Office and thus date from the late Mesolithic.

Only in the Danish Jutland was a burial discovered that is as old as the current find in the Duvensee Moor – and the Danish grave is also a cremation. Archaeologists believe these parallels support the notion that Mesolithic people did not bury their dead whole, but instead cremated them first. Accordingly, cremation could have been the predominant burial ritual of post-Ice Age hunters and fishermen in northern Europe. In order to find out more about this burial practice, the grave find is now to be recovered as a block and further examined in the workshops of the Museum of Archeology in Schleswig under controlled laboratory conditions.

At the site, archaeologists have also found further evidence of the way of life of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in this region. In addition to the well-known hazelnuts, they also came across numerous animal bones during the current excavations for the first time, which indicate increased hunting by deer, roe deer and wild boar. Evidence of fishing has also been found.

Source: Archaeological State Office Schleswig-Holstein

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