L'occupation du bassin de Neuwied (Rhénanie centrale, Allemagne) par les Magdaléniens et les groupes à Federmesser (aziliens)
Journal:
Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française
Number:
4
Volume:
103
Year:
2006
Pages:
753-780
Keywords:
ISBN:
ISSN:
URL:
Abstract:
Since the pioneering work of Hermann Schaaffhausen in 1883 on the Martinsberg at Andernach and due to the protection of the area by the eruptive masses of the late Allerød Laacher See volcano, the German Central Rhineland has been known to be a promising region for the preservation and discovery of Late Glacial sites. Today, more than 120 years after Schaaffhausen's initial excavation, two large Magdalenian sites - Andernach and Gönnersdorf - as well as six Federmesser sites are known from the Central Rhineland. The latter are Andernach (upper find horizon), Boppard, Niederbieber (the most extensive of these sites), Kettig and Urbar, all of which pre-date the Laacher See eruption, and Bad Breisig, post-dating this event. Furthermore, repeated discoveries of isolated hearths show human activities in the Allerød landscape away from the larger encampments. The archaeological record provides detailed insight into both the environment and life of the Central Rhineland Magdalenian and Federmesser groups and their material culture. The changes in environment and available subsistence resources between the Magdalenian and Federmesser groups were accompanied by radical shifts in material technology, the internal spatial organisation of settlements and the manifestation of artistic expression. By contrast with these well-defined groups, the "cultures" intermediate between the Magdalenian hunter-gatherers of the open loess steppe and the Federmesser groups of the interstadial woodlands are scarcely known. The only evidence for this interval comes from the southwestern part of the Gönnersdorf site and from the burials at Bonn-Oberkassel and Neuwied-Irlich.
