Reconstruction (model) of the Künzing-Unternberg rondel, Museum Quintana, Künzing, Lower BavariaArchaeological cultures in Neolithic Europe of the late 5th millennium BC. The Central European cultures associated with roundels (Lengyel, Stroked Pottery, Rössen) are indicated in yellowReconstruction of circular ditches at Heldenberg, Lower AustriaThe Goseck circle, GermanySketch of the layout of the Goseck circle, with indication of the direction of sunrise and sunset on winter solstice[1]Aerial image of a Neolithic rondel enclosure from Drzemlikowice, SW Poland
Only a few examples approximate a circular form; the majority are only very approximately circular or elliptic. One example at Meisternthal is an exact ellipse with identifiable focal points. The distribution of these structures seems to suggest a spread from the middle Danube (southern Slovakia and western Hungary) towards the west (Lower Austria, Lower Bavaria) along the Danube and to the northwest (Moravia, Bohemia, Saxony-Anhalt) following the Elbe. They precede the comparable circular earthwork or timber enclosures known from Great Britain and Ireland, constructed much later during c. 3000 to 1000 BC (late Neolithic to Bronze Age). But, by contrast to the long lifetime of the "Megalithic" culture, the time window during which the neolithic Roundels were in use is surprisingly narrow, lasting only for about 200–300 years (roughly 49th to 47th centuries BC).[3]
The earliest roundel to be described was the one at Krpy (Kropáčova Vrutice), Bohemia, by Woldřich 1886, but it was only with systematic aerial survey in the 1980s and the 1990s that their ubiquity in the region became apparent. Three types have been distinguished:
two semicircular ditches forming a circle and separated by causeways at opposing entrances.
multiple circuits of ditches interrupted with entrances at cardinal or astronomically-oriented points and also having an internal single or double timber palisade.
The structures are mostly interpreted as having served a cultic purpose. Most of them are aligned and seem to have served the function of a calendar (Kalenderbau), in the context of archaeoastronomy sometimes dubbed "observatory", with openings aligned with the points sunrise and/or sunset at the solstices. This is the case with the "gates" or openings of the roundels of Quenstedt, Goseck and Quedlinburg. The observational determination of the time of solstice would not have served a practical (agricultural) purpose, but could have been used to maintain a lunisolar calendar (i.e. knowledge of the date of solstice allows an accurate handling of intercalary months).[4]
Known Circular Enclosures:
in Slovakia (Ivan Kuzma 2004): about 50 candidate sites from aerial surveys, not all of which are expected to date to the Neolithic. There are 15 known neolithic (Lengyel) sites. The largest of these are (with outer diameters of more than 100 m): Svodín 2 (140 m), Demandice (120 m), Bajtava (175 m), Horné Otrokovce (150 m), Podhorany-Mechenice (120 m), Cífer (127 m), Golianovo (210 m), Žitavce (145 m), Hosťovce (250–300 m), Prašník (175 m). Others include: Borovce, Bučany, Golianovo, Kľačany, Milanovce, Nitrianský Hrádok, Ružindol-Borová.
in Hungary: Aszód, Polgár-Csőszhalom, Sé, Vokány, Szemely-Hegyes.
in the Czech Republic (Jaroslav Ridky 2004): 15 known sites, all dated to the late Stroked pottery (Stk IVA). Běhařovice, Borkovany, Bulhary, Krpy, Křepice, Mašovice, Němčičky, Rašovice, Těšetice,[5] Vedrovice, Vinoř roundel near Prague[6]
in Austria (Doneus et al. 2004): 47 known sites with diameters between 40 and 180 m. Lower Austria:[7] Asparn an der Zaya, Altruppersdorf, Altruppersdorf, Au am Leithagebirge, Friebritz (2 sites), Gauderndorf, Glaubendorf (2 sites), Gnadendorf, Göllersdorf, Herzogbirbaum, Hornsburg, Immendorf, Kamegg, Karnabrunn, Kleedorf, Kleinrötz, Michelstetten, Moosbierbaum, Mühlbach am Manhartsberg, Oberthern, Perchtoldsdorf, Plank am Kamp, Porrau, Pottenbrunn, Pranhartsberg, Puch, Rosenburg, Schletz, Simonsfeld, Statzendorf, Steinabrunn, Stiefern, Straß im Straßertale, Strögen, Velm, Wetzleinsdorf, Wilhelmsdorf, Winden, Würnitz. Upper Austria: Ölkam.
^map in Daim and Neubauer 2005, p. 14; reprinted in Plath 2011, p. 24. Main distribution is between the Danube Bend and the middle Elbe, say between Budapest and Brunswick (800 km). Including outliers, the area is somewhat larger, encompassing most of Central Europe, stretching over some 1100 km from the Danube-Drava confluence to the lower Rhine (Ruhr area).
^Holger Dambeck, Wirbel um angebliche Archäologie-Sensation, Spiegel Online, 13 June 2005.
^Ralf Schwarz, Kreisgrabenanlagen der Stichbandkeramikkultur in Sachsen-Anhalt, Neolithic Circular Enclosures in Europe, International Workshop in Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) 7.-9. Mai 2004 (abstract).
^Podborský, V.: Těšetice-Kyjovice 4. Rondel osady lidu s moravskou malovanou keramikou. Brno, 1988
^"Liste unbeweglicher und archäologischer Denkmale in Niederösterreich, Stand 2010" (PDF).
^"Ślady potężnej konstrukcji sprzed 7 tys. lat odkryto pod Oławą" (in Polish). Nauka w Polsce. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
^Florian Eibl et al.: Die mittelneolithische Kreisgrabenanlage von Stephansposching, Lkr. Deggendorf zum Kenntnisstand nach den archäologischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen der Jahre 2008 und 2009. In: K. Schmotz (ed.): Vorträge des 28. Niederbayerischen Archäologentages. Rahden/Westf. 2010, 165-201
^Bayern-Viewer Denkmal des Landesamtes für Denkmalschutz des Freistaates Bayern [1]
^Stefan Hecht, Jörg Faßbinder, Der Blick in den Untergrund: Magnetometrie und Geoelektrische Tomographie in der Geoarchäologie 2008-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, 2006
Neolithic Circular Enclosures in Europe, International Workshop in Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) 7.-9. Mai 2004 (abstracts).
Gillian Varndell, Peter Topping (eds.), Enclosures in Neolithic Europe, Oxbow, 2002, ISBN9781842170687.
Peter F. Biel, "Measuring time in the European Neolithic? The function and meaning of Central European circular enclosures" in: Iain Morley, Colin Renfrew (eds.), The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies, Cambridge University Press, 2010, ISBN9780521119900, 229-243.
Thomas Plath, Zur Problematik der Nutzungsinterpretation mittelneolithischer Kreisgrabenanlagen, diss. Hamburg University, 2011.[4]
Falko Daim, Wolfgang Neubauer, Zeitreise Heldenberg – Geheimnisvolle Kreisgräben. Horn, Wien : Berger, 2005 (Katalog des Niederösterreichischen Landesmuseums, N. F. 459).
André Spatzier, Systematische Untersuchungen der Kreisgrabenanlage von Pömmelte-Zackmünde, Salzlandkreis. Zum Abschluss der Grabungen an mitteldeutschen Rondellen im Rahmen der Forschergruppe FOR:550. In: H. Meller (Hrsg.), Zusammengegraben - Kooperationsprojekte in Sachsen-Anhalt. Tagung vom 17. bis 20. Mai 2009 im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale). Arch. Sachsen-Anhalt Sonderbd. 13 (Halle/Saale 2012), 89-98.
January 01, 1970
neolithic, circular, enclosures, central, europe, approximately, neolithic, earthworks, enclosures, known, central, europe, they, called, kreisgrabenanlagen, circular, ditched, enclosures, german, alternatively, roundels, rondels, german, rondelle, sometimes, . Approximately 120 150 Neolithic earthworks enclosures are known in Central Europe They are called Kreisgrabenanlagen circular ditched enclosures in German or alternatively as roundels or rondels German Rondelle sometimes also rondeloid since many are not even approximately circular They are mostly confined to the Elbe and Danube basins in modern day Germany Austria Czech Republic Slovakia as well as the adjacent parts of Hungary and Poland in a stretch of Central European land some 800 km 500 mi across 2 They date to the first half of the 5th millennium BC they are associated with the late Linear Pottery culture and its local successors the Stroke ornamented ware Middle Danubian and Lengyel Moravian Painted Ware cultures The best known and oldest of these Circular Enclosures is the Goseck circle constructed c 4900 BC Reconstruction model of the Kunzing Unternberg rondel Museum Quintana Kunzing Lower Bavaria Archaeological cultures in Neolithic Europe of the late 5th millennium BC The Central European cultures associated with roundels Lengyel Stroked Pottery Rossen are indicated in yellow Reconstruction of circular ditches at Heldenberg Lower Austria The Goseck circle Germany Sketch of the layout of the Goseck circle with indication of the direction of sunrise and sunset on winter solstice 1 Aerial image of a Neolithic rondel enclosure from Drzemlikowice SW Poland Only a few examples approximate a circular form the majority are only very approximately circular or elliptic One example at Meisternthal is an exact ellipse with identifiable focal points The distribution of these structures seems to suggest a spread from the middle Danube southern Slovakia and western Hungary towards the west Lower Austria Lower Bavaria along the Danube and to the northwest Moravia Bohemia Saxony Anhalt following the Elbe They precede the comparable circular earthwork or timber enclosures known from Great Britain and Ireland constructed much later during c 3000 to 1000 BC late Neolithic to Bronze Age But by contrast to the long lifetime of the Megalithic culture the time window during which the neolithic Roundels were in use is surprisingly narrow lasting only for about 200 300 years roughly 49th to 47th centuries BC 3 The earliest roundel to be described was the one at Krpy Kropacova Vrutice Bohemia by Woldrich 1886 but it was only with systematic aerial survey in the 1980s and the 1990s that their ubiquity in the region became apparent Three types have been distinguished two semicircular ditches forming a circle and separated by causeways at opposing entrances multiple circuits of ditches interrupted with entrances at cardinal or astronomically oriented points and also having an internal single or double timber palisade a single ring ditch The structures are mostly interpreted as having served a cultic purpose Most of them are aligned and seem to have served the function of a calendar Kalenderbau in the context of archaeoastronomy sometimes dubbed observatory with openings aligned with the points sunrise and or sunset at the solstices This is the case with the gates or openings of the roundels of Quenstedt Goseck and Quedlinburg The observational determination of the time of solstice would not have served a practical agricultural purpose but could have been used to maintain a lunisolar calendar i e knowledge of the date of solstice allows an accurate handling of intercalary months 4 Known Circular Enclosures in Slovakia Ivan Kuzma 2004 about 50 candidate sites from aerial surveys not all of which are expected to date to the Neolithic There are 15 known neolithic Lengyel sites The largest of these are with outer diameters of more than 100 m Svodin 2 140 m Demandice 120 m Bajtava 175 m Horne Otrokovce 150 m Podhorany Mechenice 120 m Cifer 127 m Golianovo 210 m Zitavce 145 m Hostovce 250 300 m Prasnik 175 m Others include Borovce Bucany Golianovo Kľacany Milanovce Nitriansky Hradok Ruzindol Borova in Hungary Aszod Polgar Csoszhalom Se Vokany Szemely Hegyes in the Czech Republic Jaroslav Ridky 2004 15 known sites all dated to the late Stroked pottery Stk IVA Beharovice Borkovany Bulhary Krpy Krepice Masovice Nemcicky Rasovice Tesetice 5 Vedrovice Vinor roundel near Prague 6 in Austria Doneus et al 2004 47 known sites with diameters between 40 and 180 m Lower Austria 7 Asparn an der Zaya Altruppersdorf Altruppersdorf Au am Leithagebirge Friebritz 2 sites Gauderndorf Glaubendorf 2 sites Gnadendorf Gollersdorf Herzogbirbaum Hornsburg Immendorf Kamegg Karnabrunn Kleedorf Kleinrotz Michelstetten Moosbierbaum Muhlbach am Manhartsberg Oberthern Perchtoldsdorf Plank am Kamp Porrau Pottenbrunn Pranhartsberg Puch Rosenburg Schletz Simonsfeld Statzendorf Steinabrunn Stiefern Strass im Strassertale Strogen Velm Wetzleinsdorf Wilhelmsdorf Winden Wurnitz Upper Austria Olkam in Poland by region Biskupin Greater Poland Bodzow Rapice 2 3 Pietrowice Wielkie Upper Silesia Nowe Objezierze Pomerania near Lysomice Kuyavian Pomeranian near Tylice Kuyavian Pomeranian Drzemlikowice Lower Silesia 8 in Germany Saxony Anhalt Ralf Schwarz 2004 Quenstedt Goseck Kotschlitz Quedlinburg outer diameters between 72 and 110 m Saxony Dresden Nickern 3 sites Eythra 2 sites Neukyhna 3 sites Bavaria Lower Bavaria Eching Viecht Kunzing Unternberg Meisternthal Moosburg an der Isar Kirchamper Oberporing Gneiding Osterhofen Schmiedorf 2 sites Stephansposching 9 Wallerfing Ramsdorf Zeholfing Kothingeichendorf Upper Bavaria Penzberg 10 Nordrhein Westfalen Borchum Harpen Warburg Daseburg Niedersachsen Musleringen Franconia Hopferstadt 11 Ippesheim Brandenburg Bochow Quappendorf Rheinland Pfalz GoloringSee also editGoseck circle Schalkenburg Astronomical complex Earthwork archaeology Henge Stroke ornamented ware culture Lengyel cultureReferences edit based on Biel 2010 p 233 fig 18 6 map in Daim and Neubauer 2005 p 14 reprinted in Plath 2011 p 24 Main distribution is between the Danube Bend and the middle Elbe say between Budapest and Brunswick 800 km Including outliers the area is somewhat larger encompassing most of Central Europe stretching over some 1100 km from the Danube Drava confluence to the lower Rhine Ruhr area Holger Dambeck Wirbel um angebliche Archaologie Sensation Spiegel Online 13 June 2005 Ralf Schwarz Kreisgrabenanlagen der Stichbandkeramikkultur in Sachsen Anhalt Neolithic Circular Enclosures in Europe International Workshop in Goseck Saxony Anhalt Germany 7 9 Mai 2004 abstract Podborsky V Tesetice Kyjovice 4 Rondel osady lidu s moravskou malovanou keramikou Brno 1988 Killgrove K 7 000 year old structure near Prague https www livescience com neolithic roundel structure prague Livescience Sept 2022 Liste unbeweglicher und archaologischer Denkmale in Niederosterreich Stand 2010 PDF Slady poteznej konstrukcji sprzed 7 tys lat odkryto pod Olawa in Polish Nauka w Polsce Retrieved 2019 04 03 Florian Eibl et al Die mittelneolithische Kreisgrabenanlage von Stephansposching Lkr Deggendorf zum Kenntnisstand nach den archaologischen und naturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen der Jahre 2008 und 2009 In K Schmotz ed Vortrage des 28 Niederbayerischen Archaologentages Rahden Westf 2010 165 201 Bayern Viewer Denkmal des Landesamtes fur Denkmalschutz des Freistaates Bayern 1 Stefan Hecht Jorg Fassbinder Der Blick in den Untergrund Magnetometrie und Geoelektrische Tomographie in der Geoarchaologie Archived 2008 11 20 at the Wayback Machine 2006 Neolithic Circular Enclosures in Europe International Workshop in Goseck Saxony Anhalt Germany 7 9 Mai 2004 abstracts Gillian Varndell Peter Topping eds Enclosures in Neolithic Europe Oxbow 2002 ISBN 9781842170687 Peter F Biel Measuring time in the European Neolithic The function and meaning of Central European circular enclosures in Iain Morley Colin Renfrew eds The Archaeology of Measurement Comprehending Heaven Earth and Time in Ancient Societies Cambridge University Press 2010 ISBN 9780521119900 229 243 Thomas Plath Zur Problematik der Nutzungsinterpretation mittelneolithischer Kreisgrabenanlagen diss Hamburg University 2011 4 Falko Daim Wolfgang Neubauer Zeitreise Heldenberg Geheimnisvolle Kreisgraben Horn Wien Berger 2005 Katalog des Niederosterreichischen Landesmuseums N F 459 Andre Spatzier Systematische Untersuchungen der Kreisgrabenanlage von Pommelte Zackmunde Salzlandkreis Zum Abschluss der Grabungen an mitteldeutschen Rondellen im Rahmen der Forschergruppe FOR 550 In H Meller Hrsg Zusammengegraben Kooperationsprojekte in Sachsen Anhalt Tagung vom 17 bis 20 Mai 2009 im Landesmuseum fur Vorgeschichte Halle Saale Arch Sachsen Anhalt Sonderbd 13 Halle Saale 2012 89 98 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe amp oldid 1211673493, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
