The Salzmuende Society around 3300 BC - an example of migration and its consequences.

Susanne Friederich∗1

1Landesamt f¨urDenkmalpflege und Arch¨aologieSachsen-Anhalt (LDA-LSA) – Richard-Wagner-Straße 9 06114 (), Allemagne

R´esum´e

XXXIV-8: Friederich et. al.

Above the course of the river Saale the enclosure of Salzmuende presents itself proudly. Quite obvious it exudes power. With a size of 37 ha in particular and without internal palisades, it was more obviously a place exuding power rather than a stronghold or a simple stock enclosure. But it is not a stronghold. There are many elaborately built graves inside the complex, sometimes missing the head. Numerous human skulls were found in the inner ditch of the earthwork. Their deposition reflects only a short moment. But the radiocarbon data show different times of death amongst the individuals over a period of 300 years. What was going on? And who, in younger times, did rebury a complete collective grave belonging to the cultural group (in the tradition of the Funnel Beaker culture), which was also found in the four miles long ditches?

On the basis of DNA research Salzmuende demonstrates the cultural network in Saxony- Anhalt over the whole fourth millennium BC and how the Salzmuende culture as the suc- cessor of culture reacts to migration from northern territories. Those immigrants belonged to the Tiefstich culture in the first place, followed by the Walternienburg culture and finally pushed aside by the Bernburg culture. The site illustrates the events of the second Neolithic revolution in the fourth millennium BC, when semi-peasant societies re- turned to their ancient cultured landscape and displaced the 2000 years old peasant cultures of ”Danubian tradition”. The complete process lasted for several centuries and the earth- work indicates the last gasp of a 2000 years old society and the introduction of a new era. Exemplarily, the site of Salzmuende decrypts the cultural network in the middle part of Ger- many – representative for Central Europe – and illustrates the different streams of migration.

Mots-Cl´es: Salzmuende culture, society, migration, economy

∗Intervenant

sciencesconf.org:uispp2018:181303