A Quantitative Study of the Linear Pottery Culture Cemetery “Aiterhofen-Ödmühle”

Yanik Hahnekamp

doi:10.1515/opar-2020-0161

Abstract

Abstract This article emphasises on the results of the master´s thesis “Burials in Bytes. A Quantitative Study of Linear Pottery Cemeteries in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Southern Germany” and further elaborates on interpretations of identified patterns at Early Neolithic cemeteries. The focus will lie on the Lower Bavarian site “Aiterhofen-Ödmühle.” Although the cemetery was subject to different analyses and interdisciplinary research in the past, there are still unsolved issues regarding chronology, structure, meaning of the local mortuary rites and rules, and its significance in the superregional context. The study utilised data acquisition via the Montelius image database and quantitative methods performed through the softwares WinSerion and Google Mapper. These data consisted of various typologies and classifications, while several variations of correspondence analysis, seriation, Analysis N Next Neighbours, and the creation of distribution maps have been involved in the process of evaluation. The results of the evaluations of Aiterhofen-Ödmühle favour a chronological south–north progression. Inhumations and cremations differ in grave good equipment, potentially representing contrasts in gender distribution. Spatial groupings are distinguishable through their properties – open to various ways of interpretation and comparable to clusters of other cemeteries. Differences regarding age and sex were also highlighted. Overall, Aiterhofen-Ödmühle stands out among Early Neolithic cemeteries through region-specific grave goods and death gesture, local peculiarities, variation of burial types, and its site structure. Similarities to other sites include characteristic Linear Pottery traits, although less obvious connections can also be recognised through the quantitative evaluations. Instead of rigid funerary rules, dynamic and flexible rites are suggested.

Highlights

The Linear Pottery Culture, which developed around 5650 BC and ended – depending on the region – around 5000 or 4900 BC (Lenneis & Stadler, 1995; Stadler & Kotova, 2019), represents the Early Neolithic of Central Europe
The north-western limits of the Early Neolithic, in Belgium, around Cologne, and the Netherlands, represent a regional transition to the Mesolithic and go further north than the distribution of most Linear Pottery cemeteries, the discovery of grave fields in these areas can be expected for the future
Structural similarities are shared with the site Schwetzingen in Baden-Württemberg, with both the latter and Aiterhofen-Ödmühle having a cluster of burials with the most extensive ensembles near a group of less-equipped graves, without clear spatial distinctions

Summary

Introduction

The Linear Pottery Culture, which developed around 5650 BC and ended – depending on the region – around 5000 or 4900 BC (Lenneis & Stadler, 1995; Stadler & Kotova, 2019), represents the Early Neolithic of Central Europe. As evidenced through genetic investigations, these early farmers originated from the Starčevo-Criș-complex and further from the Anatolian Neolithic, with small intermixtures with local hunter-gatherers (Bramanti et al, 2009; Lipson et al, 2017; Mathieson et al, 2018; Nikitin et al, 2019; Shennan, 2018). A relative cultural homogeneity, visible in its subsistence, architecture, settlement forms, location and landscape choices, and mortuary practices, contrasts distinct regional and chronological. Special Issue: THE EARLY NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE, edited by F.

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Conclusion