The impact of landscape change on the significance of political centres along the lower Elbe River in the 10th century A.D

Abstract

The Höhbeck, an insular elevation in the middle of the vast Elbe River floodplain, was a strategically important place in the Early and High Middle Ages. This is reflected in an unusually high density of strongholds. The Meetschow site was of major importance for several centuries, even when political power changed. Saxons, Franks, Slavs and Germans all kept their main fortification at this place – obviously because of its topographical position, controlling the intersection of a water route and a land route. The significance of Meetschow ended with the end of the 10th c. and was declining until the final abandonment. Lenzen on the other bank of the river took over the functions of Meetschow and developed into the administrative and political centre of the region. Geoarchaeological research revealed evidence for a short phase of heavy natural flooding events sometime between 950 and ca. 980 A.D. Its impact on the topographical situation around the Höhbeck is discussed in the light of the political situation. The paper focuses on the coincidences in the history of strongholds and flood activity in the 8th–10th c. at the Höhbeck. It is stressed that the documented large scale natural events should be possible to detect in a wider area of northern Europe.