Early Advanced Statehood in Central Germany- Unetice Culture Part 2

 This essay has a direct relevance to my earlier essay The Nebra Sky Disc-Unetice Culture Part 1 which I would encourage my readers to read first as I will not be going over the same old ground!

The Unetice Culture is not commonly known outside the academic world and it almost appears to have been sidelined: is this deliberate? Perhaps the concept of an ancient and advanced civilisation in the heart of Europe, covering Germany, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic is a rather uncomfortable fact for modern academics to grasp, not conforming to their own rather limited intellectual horizons and pandering to political correctness. The 'academic' is the least free of all: he is conditioned to think only within the confines of his own specific 'discipline', a rather anaemic descendant of the true multidisciplinary polymaths of yesteryear. Earning their living from research they fear to tread beyond certain unwritten boundaries, especially today in the era of political correctness and the 'cancel culture'. Expect nothing truly great from such a mindset! However, there are always exceptions to be found!

Any civilisation that can produce an artefact such as the Nebra Disc with its implied astronomical knowledge going back beyond 3,600 years ago must have been at an advanced state of culture and civilisation (the word used in its original sense), illustrating once again that the notion of so-called 'barbaric' Northern European culture is built upon a lie and naked prejudice: one could even call the assumption racist.

The Unetice culture enjoyed a rich network of trading links, including the Wessex Culture of modern day England. Their forging of bronze weapons suggests regular trade with Britain for its Cornish tin, although items made of pure copper were also produced. Trade included the import of amber from the Baltic. Bronze ingots of varying weights and standardised sizes indicate a kind of 'commodity money' and the decimal system appears to have already been in operation as is evident from finds of 1kg batches of individual 100g ingots.

With the emergence of Bronze Age Europe, society became more hierarchical in structure, a feature associated also with the spread of Indo-European languages and the societies which spoke those languages. We know that the Unetice culture in Germany became particularly complex and hierarchically regimented, with the appearance of princely graves and their rich contents. It is speculated that well before the construction of the Nebra Disc the culture resembled a proto-state, in which its leader was supported by a formation of elite troops. This is also reflected in the centralisation and standardisation of manufacturing. More information on this aspect of the Unetice Culture may be found in Princes, Armies, Sanctuaries-The emergence of complex authority in the Central German Unetice culture (2019) by Harold Mellor. His article is extremely interesting and well worth a read.

A particularly advanced form of the Unetice Culture emerged in around 2200 BCE and appears to have been centred in the Harz region, or the Circum Harz, referred to by Dr Mellor. It is from the Circum Harz group that we get the Nebra Disc. In his article Dr Mellor stresses the fertile nature of the area around the Harz (this is what 'Circum' Harz means-'around') which helps to explain how such a rich culture could develop and thrive in an area with such fertile soil for agriculture and so many mineral resources. These are the ideal conditions for a state to develop-a settled community and rich natural resources. With the development of civilisation (from the Latin civis-'citizen' of a state or city) there is a necessity for leadership and hierarchy as well as for armed men to protect both the community, its wealth, resources and the leadership against both external and internal threats.

Of particular note are the two princely burials at Leubingen and Helmsdorf. The Leubingen grave had been excavated in 1877 by Friedrich Klopfleisch, an archaeologist and art professor from Jena University. Leubingen is a village which comes under the town of Sommerda in Thüringen (Thuringia). The tumulus is 23ft in height and the burial chamber is constructed from oaken beams which according to dendrochronologic resting date to 1942 BCE. The burial chamber measures 12.8 by 6.9ft. Contained within the chamber were a gold arm ring, two gold pins, two gold rings and a gold spiral; these were all placed by his right shoulder. At his feet were placed a stone battle axe, two bronze axes, three bronze daggers, three bronze chisels, a rectangular stone of unknown utility and a dagger blade (presumably bronze). A large ceramic pot stood in one corner containing some small bronze items. 

What I find particularly remarkable about the burial hoard is the antiquity of the stone axe, dated to the 5th millennium BCE, making this relic between 2,000-3,000 years old at the time of burial! By this time in prehistory stone axes had long been superseded first by copper and then bronze so the significance of this weapon must have been purely ritualistic. The axe was clearly a sacred heirloom and a link to the ancient past. Is the axe symbolic of the 'prince's' own ancestral line and his legitimacy to rule? It is clear from the finds that the people of this culture were conscious of history, the power of symbols and their existence as links in this great human genetic chain. This in itself is indicative of a high culture.

His full skeleton was present and his age at the time of death would have been between 40-50 years of age and he was a powerfully built man. His cause of death is unknown but he appears not to have died a violent death due to the lack of any evident bone trauma.

One clue as to the geo-historical origins of the axe is to be found in the preceding culture(s). According to Dr Mellor the Unetice Culture in this part of Germany arose from the merging of the Corded Ware and Bell Beaker Cultures, the former practised single body inhumations with prominent burials featuring a stone battle axe which was not only a weapon but a symbol of status and masculinity. I am reminded of the presence of the bronze battle axe in the Bush Barrow burial at the Normanton Down cemetery which overlooks Stonehenge. It belonged to a powerful chieftain of the Wessex Culture of around 2,000 BCE. However, the Leubingen axe has a matchless antiquity which supersedes anything that could be produced in the Bronze Age and thus, in my opinion, of greater significance.

Another highly significant princely burial is that of Helmsdorf in Sachsen-Anhalt. The mound was known as the Grosser Galgenhuegel (Great Gallows Hill) and the burial was discovered between 1906 and 1907 when the hill had to be removed to make way for the construction of an industrial mining railway. Excavations were carried out in 1907 by an unnamed archaeologist who had the good sense to investigate the mound before its complete destruction. The dimensions of the mound were 22.4ft in height and 108-113ft in diameter.

The Helmsdorf burial has been dated to 1840 BCE and its occupant died a violent death, probably from a dagger thrust into his abdomen and extending into his spine. The body had been placed in an oak coffin which may account for the dark weathering of the bones. Found near his chest was an axe made of diorite, a type of igneous rock, a bronze axe, two bronze daggers, six gold jewellery pieces (a large arm ring, two needles, two hanging spirals and a spiral coil) and some copper and bronze beads. Shards of a large ceramic vessel were found in the southeast corner of the burial chamber. The age at the time of death has been broadly estimated between 30 and 50 years of age.

The diorite axe was almost certainly a product of the Unetice culture and its material would have been sourced fairly locally. Unlike the stone axe from the Leubingen grave this axe was not old at the time of burial and was constructed during the prince's lifetime. This again is highly significant; why would a stone axe be constructed long after it had been superseded by bronze? Clearly, this axe, although not ancient had a cultural, ritual and symbolic significance to the people of that time, representing a link, probably a continuous like with the culture which preceded it which is also evidenced by the presence of other and older burials within the vicinity, which indicates that the site had been in continuous use since the late Neolithic. Indeed, the prince's grave itself had overlaid two other graves from the Corded Ware culture, indicating how the Unetice culture was a development of the merging of earlier cultures.

The third princely burial is from Bornhoeck in Sachsen-Anhalt, the largest known early Bronze Age burial mound in central Europe, measuring 49ft in height and between 213-262ft in width, dating back to 1800-1700 BCE. The princely occupant of the mound met his death between the ages of 30-50.  His grave contents consisted of thin gold plates, gold spirals, bronze weapons and bronze tools or pins along with poorly preserved textile or leather fragments. The grave was archaeologically 'discovered' in the 1840s and 1850s when quarrying took place and the mound consequently destroyed, although its existence was first documented in the 17th century. 

  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leubingen_tumulus_1.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Leubingen_tumulus_1.jpg

Michael Köhler, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

 

The Goseck Circle

 There is a surprising amount of ignorance regarding aspects of the Neolithic and Bronze Age material and spiritual cultures of the German-speaking lands in the Anglophone world. I believe that this is largely due to a lack of  knowledge of the German tongue in these lands: most of the relevant literature is only or mainly available in German rather than English.

There is a thematic connection between this article and my previous one The Nebra Sky Disc-Unetice Culture Part 1  : I would encourage my readers to also read that article. The Goseck Circle predates the Nebra Sky Disc by more than 3,300 years, rooting it firmly in the Neolithic culture of central Europe, not the Unetice culture, which belongs to the central European Bronze Age. However, the distance between these two sites (Nebra and Goseck) is only 25 miles and both are situated in the modern German Land (state) of Sachsen-Anhalt.

Constructed around 4,900 BCE, the circle remained in use until 4,700 BCE, making this the oldest known circle in Europe, older than the first phase of Stonehenge by 1,800 years! I would ask the question, how many people in the United Kingdom or other parts of the English-speaking world are aware of that fact? This is one of the reasons why I started this blog and my previous ones 19 years ago, to bring to light that which is hidden. I have been described by one person as a 'spiritual archaeologist' and this term fits my role exactly!

The Goseck circle was discovered in 1991 due to the result of an aerial field survey. This resulted in a major excavation of the site between 2002 and 2005. Following the reconstruction of the wooden palisade, it was opened to the general public in December of 2005. 1,675 oak poles were shaped using hand tools, measuring 8.2 ft in height for each one.

Unlike the better known circles or henges, Goseck was not constructed of stone but of two wooden palisade rings which contain entrances in alignment with the sunrise and sunset of the winter solstice. The southeast gate is aligned with the winter solstice sunrise, the southwest gate with the winter solstice sunset and there is a third gate which points to the true north. Surrounding these wooden palisades was a ditch with the following dimensions: 82 yards in diameter, 2.2 to 3.3 yards in width and a depth of 1.6 to 2.2 yards. It is clear from the dimensions of the ditch that it was ritualistic, not defensive in nature.

It is interesting that while Stonhenge focuses on the summer solstice, the Goseck circle's main focus is that of the winter solstice. However, there are two narrower entrances located between the main gates which are aligned with the summer solstice and these are far less prominent architecturally. Location of the narrower entrances: one between the southeast and northern gates, aligned to the summer solstice sunrise, and one between the southwest and northern gates, aligned to the summer solstice sunset. The two narrower gates appear to have been constructed during the initial building phase. While this neolithic solar observatory marks both solstices, it is interesting why there should be an emphasis on the winter solstice.

The age of the circle as revealed through radiocarbon dating establishes the 4,900 BCE date of the site's construction while the style of the pottery shards establish a presumed last use date of 4,700 BCE. The pottery was the product of the Stroke-ornmented ware culture which flourished between 4,900 to 4,400 BCE or the Danubian Ib culture of V. Gordon Childe which marked the beginning of agrarian society in central Europe. The fact that this was a settled agricultural community explains the emphasis on the winter rather than on the summer solstice. The knowledge of the dating of the winter solstice was a crucial element in the planning of the agricultural cycle. Connected to this scientific knowledge was the religious symbolism of the rebirth of the sun and the rituals associated with that. Winters in that part of the world would have been quite harsh, and thus the expectation of the return of the sun would have held much greater significance spiritually and psychologically than in southern Europe.

There is no evidence of permanent human habitation at the site but human remains have been found there, such as a headless skeleton buried near the southeastern gate, which aligns with the winter solstice sunrise and thus of ritual significance. Other human bones have been found within pits, buried within the circular ditch system. Bovine skulls, dog skulls, goat horns and other animal bones have been found along with multiple burn marks and fire pits, all suggestive of ritual sacrifice. Solar worship was obviously a key element of the Goseck Circle.

It would appear that the abandonment of the Goseck Circle coincided with a transitional phase in neolithic culture, the replacement of the Linear Pottery culture with the Stroke-ornamented ware culture. Whether this change in pottery style was indicative of migration and population replacement, I cannot determine. With a change in material culture there is often a change in that of ritual and belief but it would appear than any such change had been gradual at Goseck and that their beliefs as a continuous population simply evolved.

As with the Nebra Sky Disc, the Goseck Circle is evidence of an advanced central European solar knowledge, and with that knowledge, it is inconceivable to me that there was not a priesthood to safeguard and transmit it!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goseck_Circle_1.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Goseck_Circle_1.jpg

Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

[[File:Goseck Circle 1.jpg|thumb|512px|alt=Goseck Circle, Germany, 4900 BC|Goseck Circle, Germany, 4900 BC. Photo by Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons]]