Neolithic Research Workshop: Ancient Finds, New Perspectives
Ceramic sherds on tables and windowsills, find plans on screens, and collaborative work instead of meetings: For four weeks in September, the NIhK hall became the “Neolithic Research Workshop.” Six students from the universities of Leipzig, Kiel, Hamburg, and Rostock, as well as the Free University of Berlin, came to Wilhelmshaven to catalog artifacts for their theses and digitize site plans.
The focus was on finds from megalithic tombs in the Stade area and the Harburg Hills. Some of the material has been stored in the archives since the 1970s. As part of the “Between the Rivers” project, it is now being re-cataloged, chronologically dated, and compared with finds from neighboring regions. The research workshop is made possible by support from the Werner Brune Foundation, the Gerd Möller Foundation, and NWDUG e. V.
Under the guidance of Dr. Moritz Mennenga and Dr. Anja Behrens, the students learned about systems for documenting finds and methods for digitization. Working together also provided an opportunity to exchange experiences and support one another in processing the material.
Behind the investigations lies a broader research question: What was the relationship between the Elbe-Weser Triangle and its neighboring regions during the Funnel Beaker Culture period? The final theses complement the comprehensive inventory of megalithic tombs and their artifacts in the study area, the results of which are to be published jointly as part of the project. In this way, the newly processed artifacts contribute to a more precise understanding of the region’s development and help better contextualize supraregional connections.
