Pömmelte Ring Sanctuary

Ringheiligtum Pömmelte

Germany · Saxony-Anhalt, Salzlandkreis

Temple / ritual siteIntermittent excavation
Approximate period2,300 BCE — 1,900 BCELate Neolithic–Early Bronze Age See on the map ↓

In brief

The excavated sanctuary consisted of concentric ditches, earthen banks and rows of wooden posts. Excavations around the structure, reconstructed in its original location, have also revealed an extensive prehistoric settlement area.

What was found?

  • 1Broken ceramic vessels

    Broken drinking and storage vessels were found in steep-sided pits. According to researchers, these are the remains of repeated offering and drinking ceremonies.

  • 2Grinding stones

    The grinding stones recovered from offering pits are tools for processing grain. Researchers associate them with food preparation during ceremonies.

  • 3Flint arrowheads and stone axes

    These stone tools were also found in offering pits. They show that everyday production and hunting tools were transferred into a ceremonial context.

  • 4Human remains

    Bones belonging to children, adolescents and women were also found in the pits. These finds show that the site also involved practices in which human remains were deposited.

  • 5House plans and silo pits

    House foundation traces and pits interpreted as having been used to store grain were uncovered around the sanctuary. These allow the ceremonial site to be studied together with the surrounding settlement and food economy.

What does it point to?

According to researchers, food preparation, communal consumption and offerings at Pömmelte were parts of the same ceremonial system. The surrounding houses and storage pits show that the sanctuary stood within an inhabited settlement landscape.

What did it teach us?

  1. The deposition of objects in pits in similar ways at different times indicates repeated ceremonies.
  2. A monumental sanctuary had been constructed using wooden posts, ditches and earthen banks.
  3. Excavations in the surrounding area revealed dwelling and grain-storage activities alongside ceremonies.

Latest news / selected archive

Research in 2024 reported the investigation of a storage area consisting of a total of 78 grain silos in the surrounding Corded Ware culture settlement.

Record

Culture
Corded Ware, Bell Beaker and Únětice cultures
First modern dig
2005
Team / historical
State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt; Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Coordinates
51.9971°, 11.7997°

Sources

  1. salzlandkreis.de
  2. landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de
  3. nachrichten.idw-online.de
  4. de.wikipedia.org

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