Terms
Amphora
Bellied storage and transport vessel with a narrow neck and two opposing handles.
Aunjetitz culture
2200-1600 BC - The older section of the Bronze Age is represented by the Aunjetitz culture, which is named after a site in Bohemia. The numerous sites are located in several concentrations between western Slovakia and the Elbe Valley in Lower Saxony, with a focus on central Germany. During this period, copper metallurgy and the newly discovered tin bronze alloy became established. These innovations are associated with a greater differentiation of society, which can be seen in fortified settlements and some very rich burials. In addition to grave finds and settlement sites, a large number of depot finds, mainly of metal objects, have been discovered.
Axe
Woodworking tool with more or less central perforation for hafting with a handle. Its use as a weapon is also documented.
Baalberg culture
3800-3500 BC - A cultural group widespread throughout Central Germany, which belongs to the older Funnel Beaker Culture represented in northern Central Europe. The clearly structured pottery is mostly undecorated. The most conspicuous type of source are burials, which for the first time reveal a striking architecture in the form of mounds visible above ground. In addition to settlements, there are also larger ditches.
Band ceramics
The culture of the oldest farmers in Central Europe is named after the characteristic decoration of their ceramic vessels: ribbon-shaped ornaments that form complex diamond, spiral or garland motifs. In the older Linear Pottery (5500-5000 BC), the ornaments are predominantly incised as lines, while engraved decorative patterns are typical of the more recent Linear Pottery (5000-4500 BC). The long, imposing houses are particularly characteristic of the Linear Pottery culture.
Bell jar culture
2500-2200 BC - A common counterpart to the Corded Ware culture in western Europe. The name refers to the most typical vessel shape, which is often decorated with complex, zonal ornaments. The warrior appears as an archer in the burials. Copper and gold finds are more frequent, as are references to metal extraction and processing.
Billendorf culture
800-550 BC - East of the Elbe and in the area around Lusatia up to the Oder, the late phase of the Lusatian culture, which dates back to the early pre-Roman Iron Age, is known as the Billendorf group. In addition to numerous cremation burials, which are characterized by very regular and complex burial rituals, there are a number of fortified settlements, as in the Late Bronze Age.
Body grave
After death, the body is placed in a burial pit. The grave was often furnished with grave goods.
Bronze Age
2200-750 BC - The processing of metal becomes established. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is used to make numerous objects such as weapons, jewelry and tools. Gold was also used relatively frequently. Numerous castles, extensive burial grounds and many bronze and gold finds bear witness to power and wealth. The new technology gave rise to numerous new professions. The rare metal had to be transported over long distances and trade flourished.
Corded Ware Culture
2750-2200 BC - Term for a culture at the end of the Neolithic period. The culture, presumably native to eastern Europe, spread as far as the Rhine and Switzerland. The name refers to the characteristic decoration with cord impressions on the ceramic vessels. The characteristic weapons were battle axes.
Cremation grave
In many prehistoric cultures, the corpse was cremated and the ashes of the deceased, the cremated remains, were then collected from the remains of the funeral pyre and buried. Urn graves are particularly typical: the cremated bones were placed in an urn. In addition to the cremated body of the deceased, grave goods were often placed in the grave.
Crosscut
Hoe for woodworking with blade at right angles to the handle.
Dechsel
Hoe for woodworking with blade at right angles to the handle.
Depot find
Accumulation of (metal) objects deliberately buried in the ground that are not directly associated with a grave or settlement find. Deposits are known from different eras. They are particularly typical of the Bronze Age. The objects found were probably removed and buried in the course of sacrificial acts.
Double cone
Vessel shape consisting of two truncated cones joined at the widest point.
Figurines
Small, animal- or human-shaped and more or less abstract figurine, usually made of ceramic, which was probably made for religious reasons and presumably also defleshed for this reason. The phenomenon dates back to the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
Find
Archaeological object
Findings
Recognizable archaeological structure in the ground. A feature can be a pit, a posthole or a grave, for example.
Fountain
Structure for the extraction of water. The most common constructions are wooden box wells, well shafts made from hollowed-out tree trunks and wattle and daub wells. In Central Europe, the earliest evidence of wells dates back to the Linear Pottery period. Due to the often very good preservation conditions for organic materials in the moist soil layers of the well shaft, new insights into techniques of wood and bark processing as well as findings on the reconstruction of the environmental and living conditions at that time with the help of the smallest plant, animal and insect remains have emerged.
Gatersleben culture
4500-4200 BC - At the beginning of the Middle Neolithic period, the cultural unity of the Linear Pottery dissolves. Even the large longhouses in the settlements can no longer be proven. The group, which was widespread in central Germany, shows clear contacts with the Lengyel culture, which was widespread between Moravia and Hungary. The mostly undecorated pottery is characterized by cup-shaped vessels.
Grave find
Alongside settlement sites, this is the most important type of source in prehistoric archaeology. In many cases, the carefully and deliberately placed grave goods and the mortal remains of the dead have been preserved. The findings reveal the burial rituals, while grave goods and bone remains can be analyzed archaeologically or anthropologically.
Grave goods
Objects that were placed in the grave. These were often the clothing and personal belongings of the deceased. The numerous ceramic vessels in graves indicate the feeding of the dead and ancestors. On the one hand, grave goods are intended to identify the person of the deceased and their role in the community; on the other hand, they refer to concepts of the afterlife in which body and soul were not thought to exist separately.
Hatchet
Woodworking implement with a compact, flat blade embedded in the stock. Its use as a weapon is also documented.
Jordansmühle culture
4200-3800 BC - North of the low mountain ranges, this cultural group is only found in the Dresden area, mainly in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Some of the vessels are richly decorated. Jugs, amphorae and bowls are typical.
Kumpf
Henkelless vessel with domed base.
Linear pottery
5500-5000 BC - Older section of the Linear Pottery with predominantly incised line decoration.
Lusatian culture
1350-750 BC - The later Bronze Age in eastern Saxony is attributed to the Lusatian culture, which is widespread from the Berlin area and southern Brandenburg to Silesia, Bohemia and Moravia. Typical are cemeteries with cremation graves, often with a large number of different ceramic vessels as grave goods.
Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
9500-5500 BC - After the end of the Ice Age, people continued to live as hunter-gatherers for several millennia in the increasingly forested landscapes. The tools and hunting weapons were mostly fitted with very small stone inserts.
Middle Ages (Early and High Middle Ages, Late Middle Ages)
700-1500 AD - Emergence of Christian Europe and the ruling structures that form the basis of today's states. Castles, monasteries, towns and villages are the most important ruling, economic and settlement units. Social and agricultural innovations as well as the favorable climate lead to the colonization of previously uninhabited areas, especially in the low mountain regions. Saxony becomes part of the East Frankish Empire and later an important territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the Roman-German emperors.
Migration period
350/375-700 AD - The western part of the Roman Empire is conquered by Germanic tribes. Many ethnic groups move through Europe: Germanic tribes reach Italy, Spain and Africa; Huns from the Asian steppes reach Central Europe. Alemanni, Franks, Saxons, Burgundians and Thuringians are among the tribal groups between the Elbe and the Rhine. At the very end of this epoch, Slavic tribes migrated into the largely uninhabited areas of eastern Central Europe and also colonized Saxony.
Modern times
from 1500 AD - Comprehensive innovations and changes such as the Reformation, the discovery of America, the invention of printing and the beginning of the Enlightenment in the Renaissance establish the epochal boundary. The modern era heralds the comprehensive transformation of our planet by humans and the emergence of modern society.
Neolithic (New Stone Age)
5500-2200 BC - A completely new economic system takes hold: People become farmers and engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. Most of the surviving objects are still made of stone. Vessels made of fired clay, or pottery, are new. Wood, an important raw and building material, only survived under favorable conservation conditions, such as the wells that remained in the groundwater area. Permanent settlements were established in which people lived in houses.
Omphalos
Greek for navel. In the case of flat bowls for offerings, the hump-shaped base of the vessel pressed into the inside of the bowl from below.
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
300,000-11,500 years before today - The oldest period of human history in which the tribal development to modern man took place. People lived as hunters and gatherers. There were no permanent houses. The only tools and implements known to us were objects made of flint and bone. In Europe, this is the epoch of the Ice Age.
Plank
Board-like timber split from a log.
Pre-Roman Iron Age
750-Chr. birth - Iron, which was much more common than copper, replaced brittle and valuable bronze for many objects such as weapons and tools. The first written records of the Greeks and Romans report on events in the areas north of the Alps. Names of tribes or ethnic groups appear for the first time: Celts, Gauls, Germanic tribes, Cimbri, Helvetii, Teutons, Vindelics ...
Prehistoric time
The first and at the same time longest period of human history for which there are no or only very sparse written sources. All findings are based on archaeological excavations. In Saxony, the prehistoric period ends with the increasingly frequent written sources at the beginning of the second millennium AD - the High Middle Ages.
Primer
Clasp for fastening garments with a similar design to today's safety pin.
Roman imperial period
Born -350 AD - Parts of Western and Central Europe are occupied by the Romans. The cultures to the north and east of the Roman Empire remain independent, but are characterized by diverse Roman influences. Written sources report numerous clashes with Germanic tribes.
Salzmünder culture
3400-3100 BC - In Saxony, this group is only found in the Leipzig lowland bay, which is assigned to the younger Funnel Beaker Culture and is mainly found in the Middle Elbe-Saale region. Characteristic forms are jugs and so-called clay drums.
Settlement
Remains of more or less permanently used settlement sites. In addition to building structures such as houses, outbuildings, fences, pits, wells and ditches, features related to construction and use processes in the settlement can also be found. The finds, which are generally very fragmented, are not so much the result of deliberate deposition as of chance events.
Single find
Individually found, more or less conspicuous objects, usually without a documented find context. In many cases, it is likely to be a depot find.
Spherical amphora culture
3300-2700 BC - Widespread from eastern Central Europe to the Ukraine, this phenomenon embodies the transition from the Middle to the Late Neolithic in Central Germany. The typical spherical-bellied amphorae usually bear flat ornaments on the neck and shoulder, which can be recognized even on the smallest fragments. Cattle burials are common. The draught animal teams, often buried in pairs, indicate the growing importance of mobility by wheel and cart. It is possible that the cultural expansion from eastern Europe points to social developments in the subsequent Late Neolithic period.
Stitch band ceramics
5000-4500 BC - Younger section of the Linear Pottery with engraved decorative patterns.
Stool/stool burial
Burial of the body lying on its side with arms and legs bent in a sleeping position. The dead are often aligned according to the direction of the sky and thus the stars. The most common type of burial in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.
Traditional costume
Clothing and furnishings that are traditionally and historically associated with a particular region, country or members of individual population groups.
Tumulus
A mound of earth within or under which the burial is located. Mounding is a form of funerary architecture intended to create a memorial monument for future generations. Burial mounds that have been levelled over time can often be recognized in aerial photographs or on excavations by their enclosures in the form of circular ditches.
Tureen
Wide, bowl-like vessel, some with small handles and a conical neck.
