Wolfgang Taute’s Excavation at the Open-Air Site Feuersteinacker and the Early Mesolithic in the Western Part of Central Germany

ABSTRACT

Surveys near the village of Stumpertenrod revealed one of the largest Mesolithic assemblages in Germany. As a consequence of agricultural activities, the archaeological layers were partly eroded and the lithic artifact consisted mainly of surface finds. Between 1964 and 1966 Wolfgang Taute – a key-figure for the study of the Mesolithic in Europe – opened a trial-trench. Due to a lack of organic material, the campaign did not lead to the expected outcome and the site slowly fell into oblivion. The following article presents the results of typo-technological analyses of the lithic assemblage discovered in the course of the excavation. It provides new insights into the subsistence strategies of people during the early Holocene and re-integrates this significant site in current frameworks and debates. Furthermore, an interregional comparison of archaeological features and topographic parameters involving modern theoretical and methodological approaches, leads to a better understanding of the Early Mesolithic in the western part of Central Germany.

KEYWORDS:

• Mesolithic
• Central Germany
• lithic technology
• microliths
• lithic sourcing
• research history

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Felix Riede (University of Aarhus) for his support and the opportunity to work together in the framework of a postdoctoral fellowship. Furthermore, I wish to thank Dr. Katharina Weick-Joch, Linda Heintze, and Linn Merten (Upper Hessian Museum Gießen) for the possibility to analyse the lithic finds from Stumpertenrod and Joachim Knossalla for taking photographs of groundstone tools. Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Irina Görner (Hessian State Museum in Kassel) for giving me access to the museum’s collection of the Hessian State Museum in Kassel, her scientific advice, and for providing me with additional samples. I would also like to thank Rógvi Johansen and Louise Hilmar (both Moesgaard Museum) for taking photographs and creating drawings of lithic artifacts. Finally, I am grateful for the hospitality of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies of the University of Aarhus and the interest in my research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [T. H.], upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The project was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) under Grant No. P2SKP1_184038. This particular study was funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) under Grant No. 6107-00059B as well as the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant No. 817564).

Notes on contributors

Thomas Hess

Thomas Hess has studied Prehistoric Archaeology, Earth Sciences, and Social Anthropology at the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge. In 2016 he completed his PhD at the University of Tübingen on the lithic artifacts from a rock shelter site on the Swabian Jura. Currently he is conducting research on Mesolithic and Late Paleolithic cultures in Central Germany and adjacent regions.

Thomas Hess conceptualized the study, conducted the lithic analyses, created the figures, and wrote the paper.