# A later fifth-millennium cal BC tumulus at Hofheim-Kapellenberg, Germany

Detlef Gronenborn, Heinrich Thiemeyer, Anja Cramer, Nicolas Antunes, Dieter Neubauer, Pierre Pétrequin

► To cite this version:

Detlef Gronenborn, Heinrich Thiemeyer, Anja Cramer, Nicolas Antunes, Dieter Neubauer, et al. A later fifth-millennium cal BC tumulus at Hofheim-Kapellenberg, Germany. Antiquity, 2020, 94 (375), pp.e14. 10.15184/aqy.2020.79. hal-03578470

HAL Id: hal-03578470

https://hal.science/hal-03578470v1

Submitted on 19 Jul 2024

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access
archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci-
entific research documents, whether they are pub-
lished or not. The documents may come from
teaching and research institutions in France or
abroad, or from public or private research centers.

L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est
destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents
scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non,
émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de
recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires
publics ou privés.

<figure><img src="image_1.png" /></figure>

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
<figure><img src="image_2.png" /></figure>

## Project Gallery

# A later fifth-millennium cal BC tumulus at Hofheim-Kapellenberg, Germany

Detlef Gronenborn<fnref n="1" />,*, Heinrich Thiemeyer<fnref n="2" />, Anja Cramer<fnref n="1" />, Nicolas Antunes<fnref n="1" /> ID, Dieter Neubauer<fnref n="3" /> & Pierre Pétrequin<fnref n="4" />

In the nineteenth century, two Neolithic axe-heads were reported from the Michelsberg enclosure system at Kapellenberg. The recent identification of an unusually large tumulus, from which the axe-heads were almost certainly once recovered, reveals that socio-political hierarchisation, linked to the emergence of high-ranking elites in Brittany and the Paris Basin during the fifth millennium cal BC, may have extended into Central Europe.

Keywords: Germany, Brittany, Michelsberg, Neolithic, jade axe-head, burial

## Introduction

The site of Kapellenberg (Figure 1), situated on a promontory extending from the Taunus low mountain range in western central Germany, and overlooking the northern Upper Rhine Valley (Figure 2), has been known since the end of the nineteenth century both for its well-preserved ramparts and two large Neolithic stone axe-heads (von Cohausen 1893).

In recent years, the site has become the focus of a joint research project of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZM), the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz, the state conservation agency of the German Federal State of Hessia, and the Magistrate of the City of Hofheim (www.rgzm.de/kapellenberg). Research at the site revealed that the promontory has been occupied intermittently from the late Middle Neolithic (4500–4300 cal BC) onwards (Zimmer 2012). Middle Neolithic Michelsberg occupation and the rampart-and-ditch system was established around 4100 cal BC, and continued sporadically until after 3600 cal BC, when the site was fully abandoned. Kapellenberg is the best-preserved Michelsberg enclosure system, and also one of the largest, with an intramural area of 23ha.

## The tumulus

In the course of the current research project, a hitherto undetected surface feature was discovered by on-site inspection and lidar scans. This took the form of an extensive anthropogenic mound with a diameter of 90m and a maximum height of 6m (Figures 1 & 3–4). A test excavation in the centre

<footnote n="1">¹ Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² Institut für Physische Geographie, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität, Germany</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen (hessenARCHÄOLOGIE), Wiesbaden, Germany</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴ MSHE C.N. Ledoux, CNRS et Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France</footnote>

<footnote>* Author for correspondence: gronenborn@rgzm.de</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Figure 1. Kapellenberg: inset shows tumulus with nineteenth-century trench and two adjacent Late Neolithic mounds (figure credit: A. Cramer).</figcaption></figure>

of the feature showed that it consisted of boulders and soil extracted from the subterranean geology. The mound was apparently erected on a natural rise in the local bedrock (Hofheim gravel). Coring profiles showed that the preserved height of accumulated material is about 1m (Figure 3).
<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>Figure 2. Map showing hypothetical exchange routes and salt sources in the region (figure credit: N. Antunes, D. Gronenborn & M. Ober).</figcaption></figure>
Detlef Grönenborn et al.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Figure 3. 3D-section through tumulus based on lidar scan, excavations, and coring (three-fold vertical exaggeration) (figure credit: A. Cramer, M. Ober, H. Thiemeyer & P. Pétrequin).</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>A later fifth-millennium cal BC tumulus at Hofheim-Kapellenberg, Germany</figcaption></figure>

Figure 4. Distribution map showing surface and excavated finds in the vicinity of the tumulus. The finds, dating mostly between 3750 and 3650 cal BC, and tumulus are stratigraphically almost mutually exclusive (figure credit: A. Cramer & D. Gronenborn).

A visual inspection of the ground's surface prior to the excavation and lidar scan revealed traces of a rectangular trench at the centre of the mound; re-excavation of this area produced three coins dating to 1872 and 1875 (Figure 3). These coins, together with evidence from local archival material and a review of the initial publication of the two axe-heads, suggest that the axe-heads were found during an undocumented nineteenth-century excavation that might well have destroyed the original burial situation. At that time, the mound was not recognised as a separate feature and the rubble had instead been interpreted as associated with the Michelsberg rampart system (von Cohausen 1893).

Osseous material is not preserved at Kapellenberg, nor was any organic material recovered during re-excavation. It was thus not possible to date the mound directly. The occupation phases of the site and its stratigraphy help narrow down its construction date, however. The late Middle Neolithic occupation (4500–4400 cal BC) constitutes the *terminus post quem* for construction, while the *terminus ante quem* is established by the stratigraphy in a trench close to the mound. From this it is evident that the tumulus had largely eroded by the time the most extensive interior occupation had begun around 3750 cal BC (Figure 4). Therefore, it seems justified to propose a late Middle Neolithic or early Michelsberg construction date for the mound (Figure 5).
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Figure 5. Simplified chronological table showing the lifespan of the two axe types and dating of the tumulus (figure credit: D. Gronenborn & P. Pétrequin).</figcaption></figure>

## The stone axe-heads

This time frame is also supported by the typology of the axe-heads (Figure 5): one is made from Alpine jade (Mont Viso massif, Poco Valley) and is of the Altenstadt-Greenlaw type. The second, made from amphibolite of unknown origin, is of the Puy type. The Greenlaw type appears around the middle of the fifth millennium in the jade axe deposits of Brittany, while the Puy type appears c. 4300 cal BC in Italy, and c. 4100 cal BC in the French Jura (Figure 6). This time range corresponds to the expansion of the Michelsberg Culture from the northern part of the Paris Basin to the Rhine Valley (Jeunesse 1998).

Alpine jade axes found in monumental tumulus-type tombs are rare in Western Europe, the epicentre of the phenomenon being the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany and, to a lesser extent, the central Paris Basin (Pétrequin et al. 2012a & b). Kapellenberg is the only known circular burial mound dating to the late Middle Neolithic or early Michelsberg Culture in western Central Europe. Michelsberg high-status burials have been discovered in the Beaurieux Valley in France, but these are elongated earthen barrows, possibly reminiscent of mounds of the Cerny Culture (Colas et al. 2007).

## Long-distance connections and political differentiation

Circular burial mounds constructed with stone boulders are known only from Brittany (Boujot & Cassen 1992). There, the so-called *tumuli carnacéens géants* date to the Castellic
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>Figure 6. Axe blades: 1) jade blade, type Altenstadt-Greenlaw (JADE_2018_0235); 2) amphibolite blade, type Puy (Hofheim 14429) (figure credit: M. Ober).</figcaption></figure>

ancien, ranging from 4680 cal BC to 4240 cal BC (Cassen *et al. 2012a*; Schulz Paulsson 2017: 38).

Long-distance connections between Central and Western European regions are already documented for the preceding Middle Neolithic. These are demonstrated by high-status burial evidence (Cassen *et al. 2012a*; Gronenborn *et al. 2018*), and by jade axe-head distribution patterns (Pétrequin *et al. 2012c*), suggesting that they may represent exchange networks of prestige goods associated with elites. Another important component of these networks may have been the production and exchange of salt over long distances (Weller 2002; Cassen *et al. 2012b*).

The Kapellenberg tumulus indicates that a socio-political hierarchisation process linked to the emergence of high-ranking elites, which was under way in Brittany and the Paris Basin during the earlier to mid fifth millennium (Cassen *et al. 2012a*; Pétrequin *et al. 2017*; Gronenborn *et al. 2018*) had extended into western Central Europe, possibly within a peer-polity interaction framework and maybe also in the course of population shifts from France to Germany (Beau *et al. 2017*).

**References**

BEAU, A., M. RIVOLLAT, H. RÉVEILLASM,
M.H. PEMONGE, F. MENDISCO, Y. THOMAS,
P. LEFRANC & M.F. DEGUILLOUX. 2017.

Multi-scale ancient DNA analyses confirm the
western origin of Michelsberg farmers and
document probable practices of human sacrifice.
PLoS ONE 12: e0179742.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179742

BOUJOT, C. & S. CASSEN. 1992. Le développement des premiers architectures funéraires monumentales en France occidentale. *Revue archéologique de l'Ouest* 5: 195-211.

CASSEN, S., C. BOUJOT, S. DOMINGUEZ-BELLA, M. GUIVARC'H, C. LE PENNEC, P.M. PRIETO MARTINEZ, G. QUERRE, M.E. SANTROT & E. VIGIER. 2012a. Dépôts bretons, tumulus carnacéens et circulations à longue distance, in P. Pétrequin, M. Errera, L. Klassen, J.A. Sheridan & A.-M. Pétrequin (ed.) *Jade*: 918-95. Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté.

CASSEN, S., E. VIGIER, O. WELLER, C. CHAIGNEAU, G. HAMON, P.-A. DE LABRIFFE & M. CHLOÉ. 2012b. Neolithic flat-based pots from the Carnac Mounds in the light of Cycladic 'frying pans'. *Documenta Praehistorica* 39: 309-24. https://doi.org/10.4312/dp.39.23

VON COHAUSEN, A. 1893. Der Abschnittswall und der Ringwall auf dem Rücken der Hofheimer Kapelle. Ein Jadeitbeil. *Nassauische Annalen* 25: 23-24.

COLAS, C., L. MANOLAKAKIS, C. THEVENET, M. BAILLIEU, S. BONNMARDIN, J. DUBOULOZ, J.-P. FARRUGIA, Y. MAIGROT, Y. NAZE & Y. ROBERT. 2007. Le monument funéraire Michelsberg ancien de Beaurieux la Plaine (Aisne, France), in M. Besse (ed.) *Sociétés Néolithiques*: 329-34. Lausanne: Cahier d'archéologie romande.

GRONENBORN, D., H.-C. STRIEN, R. VAN DICK & P. TURCHIN. 2018. Social diversity, social identity, and the emergence of surplus in the western Central European Neolithic, in H. Meller, D. Gronenborn & R. Risch (ed.) *Surplus without the state*: 201-20. Halle: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt.

JEUNESSE, C. 1998. Pour une origine occidentale de la culture de Michelsberg? in J. Biel,

H. Schlichterele, M. Strobel & A. Zeeb (ed.) *Die Michelsberger Kultur und ihre Randgebiete* (Materialhefte zur Archäologie in Baden-Württemberg 43): 29-45. Stuttgart: Konrad Theiss.

PÉTREQUIN, P., S. CASSEN, M. ERRERA, L. KLASSEN & J.A. SHERIDAN. 2012a. Des choses sacrées, in P. Pétrequin, M. Errera, L. Klassen, J.A. Sheridan & A.-M. Pétrequin, (ed.) *Jade*: 1354-423. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté.

PÉTREQUIN, P., S. CASSEN, E. GAUTHIER, L. KLASSEN, Y. PAILLER & J.A. SHERIDAN. 2012b. Typologie, chronologie et répartition des grandes haches alpines en Europe occidentale, in P. Pétrequin, M. Errera, L. Klassen, J.A. Sheridan & A.-M. Pétrequin (ed.) *Jade*: 574-727. Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté.

PÉTREQUIN, P., S. CASSEN & L. KLASSEN. 2012c. La circulation des haches carnacéennes en Europe occidentale, in P. Pétrequin, M. Errera, L. Klassen, J.A. Sheridan & A.-M. Pétrequin (ed.) *Jade*: 1015-45. Besançon: Presses Universitaires de Franche-Comté.

PÉTREQUIN, P., S. CASSEN, M. ERRERA, J.A. SHERIDAN, T. TSONEV, S. TURCANU & V. VOINEA. 2017. The Europe of jade: from the Alps to the Black Sea, in L. Manolakakis, N. Schlanger & A. Coudart (ed.) *European archaeology: identities & migrations*: 285-98. Leiden: Sidestone.

SCHULZ PAULSSON, B. 2017. *Time and stone: the emergence and development of megaliths and megalithic societies in Europe*. Oxford: Archaeopress.

WELLER, O. 2002. Aux origines de l'exploitation du sel en Europe, in O. Weller (ed.) *Archéologie du sel*: 163-75. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.

ZIMMER, N. 2012. Der Kapellenberg bei Hofheim a.T. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz.