Linear Pottery village of Großzschepa
| Place: | Großzschepa (Lossatal, Leipzig) |
|---|---|
| Type: | Settlement |
| Dating: | Band ceramics | ca. 5300 - 5000 BC. |
Description
Immediately south of the Lossa river, which is only 4 m wide, between Großzschepa and Lossa, a district of Thallwitz, there is a settlement of the Early Neolithic Linear Pottery culture. The west-flowing, meandering river forms a narrow valley to the north of the site, which is slightly incised into the terrain. The site in the river plain extends over a width of 220 m to the south of the road to Lossa and over a length of approx. 400 m from the Tauchnitz mill to the edge of the forest. The partially overlapping house floor plans suggest that the area was inhabited over several generations. They show the typical construction methods of the older Linear Pottery, the first farming culture in Central Europe, which existed between 5500-5000 BC. Chr. was widespread in Saxony.
Ronald Heynowski/Annemarie ReckDiscovery
The site was discovered in 1985 following the discovery of several shards of pottery of the Linear Pottery type. Initial aerial photographs in 2003 finally confirmed that the site was a Neolithic settlement with house remains preserved in the ground. Seen from a bird's eye view, the density of the structures at the site becomes clear. At first glance, it is mainly pit features that are visible, which appear as rounded vegetation features. These are predominantly medium-sized forms with diameters of 1.2-2 m. They form apparently irregular groups. There are also larger pit complexes with diameters of around 3-4.5 m distributed throughout the settlement area.
Ronald Heynowski/Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Heynowski, Foto ©LfA 2022.
House locations
Particularly striking, however, are the small growth features of around 1 m in diameter, which occur in close rows. These are post pits. Their regular arrangement is typical of the structure of a Linear Pottery house. Based on the floor plans, up to 31 house sites can be localized on the orthophoto. The ground plans of the houses show clear overlaps, which indicates that the settlement existed over a longer period of time and that the houses were partially separated. The houses of the show the northwest-southeast orientation typical of their era and are generally around 30-42 m long, with a width of between 6.5 and 8.8 m.
Ronald Heynowski/Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Heynowski, Plan/Orthofoto ©LfA/GeoSN 2024.
Structure of the houses
The load-bearing roof structure inside the building consists of closely spaced rows of three posts. In the central part of the nave, the rows may be partially shifted, while in the northern and southern parts an orderly structure prevails. At the north-western end, the buildings are often surrounded on three sides by a narrow palisade ditch, which forms the end on this side. In some cases, the house walls are recognizable as a narrow ditch. Most of their long sides were made of wattle and daub, which was plastered with clay. As clay was removed during construction and repair work, wide trenches or pits often formed parallel to the long walls, accompanying the middle section of the houses, while the southern section, where the entrance was presumably located, remained open. A narrow ditch on the northern edge of the settlement towards the banks of the Lossa could have been part of an Early Neolithic bank fortification.
Ronald Heynowski/Annemarie ReckImage Source R. Heynowski, Foto ©LfA 2022.
Literature
Ronald Heynowski, Eine Siedlung der ersten Bauern. In: Regina Smolnik/Ronny Zienert (Hrsg.), Höhenflüge. Luftbilder und Archäologie in Sachsen (Dresden 2024) 38–39.
Note on monument protection
Archaeological monuments are protected by the Saxon Monument Protection Act. A permit under monument law is required for ground interventions or construction measures.
Permalink
https://archaeo-sn.de/en/ort/linear-pottery-village-of-groszschepa/
Citation
Ronald Heynowski/Annemarie Reck, Linear Pottery village of Großzschepa. In: Landesamt für Archäologie Sachsen, Website archaeo | SN (09.08.2024). https://archaeo-sn.de/en/ort/linear-pottery-village-of-groszschepa/ (Stand: 14.08.2026)
