Reinhard Lampe

A Bronze Age battlefield? Weapons and trauma in the Tollense Valley, north-eastern Germany

Chance discoveries of weapons, horse bones and human skeletal remains along the banks of the River Tollense led to a campaign of research which has identified them as the debris from a Bronze Age battle. The resources of war included horses, arrowheads and wooden clubs, and the dead had suffered blows indicating face-to-face combat. This surprisingly modern and decidedly vicious struggle took place over the swampy braided streams of the river in an area of settled, possibly coveted, territory. Washed along by the current, the bodies and weapons came to rest on a single alluvial surface.

The Baltic Sea—A Model Ocean to Study Interrelations of Geosphere, Ecosphere, and Anthroposphere in the Coastal Zone

Abstract Differential glacio-isostatic movement and climatically controlled eustatic change has caused transgression and regression in the Baltic Sea during its Holocene development. In the southern Baltic, glacio-isostatic subsidence superimposed with eustatic rise has provoked a continuously retreating coastline since the beginning of the Littorina transgression, 8000 BP. On the contrary, at the same time, uplift of the Fennoscandian Shield has caused permanent regression along the Scandinavian coast. An especially developed numerical space/time model displays the transgression and regression processes. Along the southern sinking coast, the entire ecosystem, including the conditions for human settlements, is influenced by the sea transgression. The complex processes require interdisciplinary research teams consisting of geoscientists (geologists, geomorphologists, geodesists), biologists (paleobotanists, paleozoologists), climate researchers, and archaeologists to study the complex processes affected by retreating coastlines and their socioeconomic implications. Such a team has investigated, since September 2002 along the southern Baltic Sea coast, the cause and effect relation between driving forces (climatic and geological processes) and the response of the natural and social environment in the coastal areas of a transgressive sea. Since 1999, underwater archaeological studies have discovered Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements along drowned coastlines of the Mecklenburgian Bight. Dated artifacts helped to describe the relative sea level change in the western Baltic Sea. On the basis of these data, methods of backstripping have been developed to describe, at a high resolution, the process of coastal development along a sinking coast of a tideless sea. Greenhouse gas emission scenarios provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and their effects on sea level change have been coupled with predictions of isostatic vertical crustal movement, resulting in scenarios of future coastline development. Those scenarios help to elaborate protection strategies in the frame of long-term planning in coastal zone management.

The restricted buffer capacity of a south Baltic estuary — The oder estuary

Abstract In the river Oder high-waters of the river with high nutrient loads and low biological activity mainly occur during winter. Thus, a remarkable portion of the annual load passes the estuary untransformed. During summer high level of biological activity is observed in the whole estuary, but while more than 10 mol/l dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) is found in the Groses Haff, where the theoretical water-residence time is only 1 month, in the western part of the estuary, where the water-residence time is approximately 3 months, all DIN is transformed into organic matter. The transformed nutrients settle partly as biological products, but they are released again in these shallow waters due to biological and physical degradation, and transported into the Baltic Sea. This behaviour may explain why in the sediments of the Oderhaff with a sedimentation rate of 1 mm/year only 1% of the annual nutrient load of the Oder river can be found.

Holocene Evolution of the Southern Baltic Sea Coast and Interplay of Sea-Level Variation, Isostasy, Accommodation and Sediment Supply

Coastal barriers and spits develop when the accumulation space available in the coastal sea for sediment deposition decreases and partly fills up. The accommodation space increases when sea level rises and decreases when sediment accumulates. In addition to the coastal relief prior to the sea-level rise, which determines the potential accommodation, the evolution depends on the volume and rate of sediment supply. The example from the north-eastern German Baltic coast shows how the course of Holocene sea-level rise (Littorina transgression) varied due to glacio-isostatic uplift of different coastal sections and thus the growth of accommodation space. Further, the role of the sediments which built up the shoreface and the coastal landforms is discussed. We also examine the influence of the main inclination of pre-transgressional relief on the development, aggradation and progradation of beach ridges, spits and barriers. The determination of the volume of the present barriers allows rough estimations regarding the volume of sediment supplied from eroding cliffs. In a final synopsis, the interplay of all factors is discussed, explaining the distribution, volume and stability of the barriers along the German Baltic coast.

Bronze Age tin rings from the Tollense valley in northeastern Germany

Das Tollensetal in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ist in den letzten Jahren durch die Entdeckung zahlreicher Menschenreste, die z.T. Verletzungen zeigen, und zweier Holzkeulen aus der älteren Nordischen Bronzezeit in den Blickpunkt der Forschung gerückt. Die ungewöhnlichen, ca. 3300–3200 Jahre alten Funde konnten auf einer Länge von ca. 1,5 km entlang des Flusses an verschiedenen Stellen nachgewiesen werden. Mit Unterstützung der DFG haben seit dem Sommer 2010 neben Ausgrabungen auch intensive Tauchprospektionen stattgefunden. Dabei ist es gelungen, eine neue Fundkonzentration (Weltzin 32) in einer Tiefe von bis zu ca. 3 m unter Geländeoberfläche im Fluss zu entdecken. Die bislang aus dem Profil geborgenen zahlreichen Menschenreste liegen nicht mehr in korrektem anatomischen Verband und sind in Flusssande eingebettet. Unter schwierigen Bedingungen ist es gelungen, zwischen den Menschenresten auch weitere Funde in der Fundschicht zu lokalisieren. Der Beitrag stellt die ausgezeichnet erhaltene Lokalität mit ihren wichtigsten Funden vor, unter denen zwei kleine Zinnringe ganz besonders hervorzuheben sind. Die Neufunde werfen wiederum die Frage nach dem Entstehungskontext der Fundschicht im Flusstal auf. Die Autoren favorisieren als Ursache für die ausgedehnte Ablagerung der Überreste von mindestens ca. 110 Individuen, die wiederholt mit Pferdeknochen und Waffen / Pfeilspitzen vergesellschaftet sind, Gewaltkonflikte und möglicherweise auch Opferhandlungen. Ces dernières années, la vallée de Tollense en Mecklembourg-Poméranie occidentale a attiré l’attention des chercheurs par la découverte de nombreux restes humains, certains présentant des lésions, et de massues en bois datant du Bronze ancien nordique. Ces trouvailles exceptionnelles, vieilles environ de 3300–3200 ans, furent identifiées à différents endroits le long de la rivière sur près de 1,5 km. Grâce au soutien de la DFG (centre allemand pour la recherche), d’intensives prospections en plongée se sont déroulées depuis l’été 2010 parallèlement aux fouilles. On a découvert ainsi une nouvelle concentration d’objets (Weltzin 32) reposant jusqu’à 3 m de profondeur sous le niveau de la rive. Les nombreux restes humains extraits jusqu’ici du profil étaient enfouis dans les sables fluviaux et n’étaient plus en connexion anatomique. Malgré les conditions difficiles, il a été possible de repérer dans la couche archéologique d’autres objets parmi les restes humains. L’article présente cet endroit merveilleusement bien conservé avec ses objets les plus importants, dont deux petits anneaux en étain sont à relever particulièrement. Les nouvelles découvertes posent à nouveau la question des circonstances de la genèse de la couche archéologique dans cette vallée. Les auteurs voient dans le dépôt étendu des restes d’au moins 110 individus, associés à plusieurs reprises à des ossements de chevaux et à des armes/pointes de flèches, les signes de conflits armés et éventuellement de sacrifices. The discovery of numerous human skeletal remains, with traces of violence in several cases, together with two wooden clubs, dating to period III of the Nordic Bronze has made the Tollense valley in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the focus of research in the past few years. The unusual finds, c. 3300–3200 years old, were discovered at different locations along a c. 1.5 km long stretch of the river. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), extensive diving surveys have been conducted in addition to excavations since 2010. During these surveys a new find locality (Weltzin 32) was discovered at a depth of up to 3 m under water level. Lots of human skeletal remains, found scattered and not in anatomical position, could be retrieved from fluviatile sands across a section of the river bank. Despite difficult conditions it was possible to locate further finds among the skeletal material. This article introduces the find locality Weltzin 32 together with its most important finds, among them two small tin spiral rings. These new finds again raise the question of the origin and development of the find layer in the river valley. The authors favour the theory of violent conflicts, possibly also connected to sacrificial rites, as the cause for the accumulation of skeletal remains of at least 110 individuals, which repeatedly occur together with horse bones and weapons (arrowheads).

Geologie und Geographie

Geologie und Geographie der Ostseeregion sind durch grose Gegensatze des Naturraumes gekennzeichnet.

Evolution of a large Baltic beach ridge plain (Neudarss, NE Germany): A continuous record of sea-level and wind-field variation since the Homeric Minimum: Evolution of a large Baltic beach ridge plain

The Neudarss cuspate foreland is one of the largest beach ridge plains in Europe. It comprises about 140 beach ridges which can be divided into eight ridge sets from morphological criteria, trends in course and advance as well as erosional discontinuities. The reconstruction of the foreland’s evolution is based on the dating of 33 samples from 14 sites by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and three additional datings on the basis of historical maps and aerial images. The derived progradation model shows variations in the progradation rate which are consistent with past climate and sea-level changes. Cool (warm) periods correlate with decreased (increased) progradation rates. Both area and volume growth of the ridge sets vary in the same direction. We conclude that the progradation rate is predominantly controlled by the sediment supply which in turn depends on sea-level variations and wind-driven wave action. The development of the plain’s relief during the last 1000 years is compared with detailed climate parameter reconstructions. The Medieval Warm Period and several phases of the Little Ice Age can clearly be traced in the morphology, thus allowing conclusions concerning predominant wind direction and aeolian activity also on smaller time scales.

Multiproxy-Untersuchungen zur Paläoökologie und -hydrologie eines spätglazial- bis frühholozänen Flachsees im nordostdeutschen Küstengebiet (Glowe-Paläosee/Insel Rügen)

The paper presents results of multiproxy-investigations of a 3 m long sediment section from the Glowe Palaeolake, covering the period Pre-Bølling to the middle of the Preboreal. The Lateglacial and early Holocene landscape development comprising climate fluctuations, lake evolution, lake-level variations and vegetation history is reconstructed using pollen, diatom, macrofossil, molluscs as well as sedimentological and geochemical data based on 14C-dating. The palaeolake appeared due to the decay of the permafrost during the Bølling and developed in the Allerød into a 3–4 m deep, species-poor and macrophyte-rich stillwater. The submerse vegetation and fauna decreased during the Younger Dryas, but returned fast and with higher density in the Preboreal. Phases of cooler climate can be parallelized with the Gerzensee oscillation, the Younger Dryas and the Rammelbeek oscillation, which each are palynologically bipartite. In contrast, indications for the Older Dryas were only scarce. The cooler phases were characterized by intensified allochthonous clastic input into the lake. During the Younger Dryas the input was dominated by solifluction processes, while during the Allerød and the Preboreal predominantly fluvial processes occurred. The most significant changes in the palaeoecology of the lake were caused by the rapid warming at the onset of the Preboreal. During the phases of warmer climate the vegetation development was influenced by the vicinity to the Baltic Ice Lake, which caused – compared to more southerly regions – a delayed spread of Pinus. Also, the long term climate changes determined the alterations in the chemical sediment composition, the diatom flora and the macrophyte vegetation. Short term variations, which caused the closely spaced sediment layering mainly in the older part of the sediment section cannot be explained so far. The course of the outcropping stratigraphic units was used to construct a lake-level curve. It shows a rapid rise in the early Allerød and a subsequent slower rise until the highstand in the Younger Dryas. In the early Preboreal, a fast lake-level fall occurred, the palaeolake silted up and dried out in the middle of the Preboreal.