Doris Mischka

The Neolithic burial sequence at Flintbek LA 3, north Germany, and its cart tracks: a precise chronology

Radiocarbon dating of 32 stratigraphic samples aided by Bayesian analysis has allowed the author to produce a high precision chronology for the construction and development of a continental Neolithic long barrow for the first time. She shows when and how quickly people living on the shore of the Baltic adopted pit graves, megalithic chambers and long barrows. Better than that, she provides a date for the famous cart tracks beneath the final barrow to 3420–3385 cal BC. Although other parts of the package — ploughing and pottery — are late arrivals, her analysis of the global evidence shows that Flintbek remains among the earliest sightings of the wheel in northern Europe.

Territorial modelling and archaeological data: how complete must the picture be?

The study area in the Upper Rhine Valley, its geographical features, the archaeological record and the degree of archaeological exploration are described and a model is introduced that enables the use of incomplete and heterogeneous archaeological data. This model is based on the combination of three maps, respectively showing the environmental potential of the landscape, the degree of archaeological exploration and site density. It serves several purposes. Firstly, to determine whether the absence of sites observed in certain regions is due to a poor environmental potential for settlement and cultivation or the lack of archaeological exploration. Secondly, to detect boundaries that cannot be explained by poor environmental potential or the lack of archaeological exploration and give the archaeologist good arguments for a cultural interpretation of these boundaries. Thirdly, to produce qualified estimates of possible further sites, especially in areas with little archaeological exploration. Two case studies illustrate the detection of prehistoric boundaries and their possible interpretation.