SPP 1400: Early Monumentality and Social Differentiation. The Origin and Development of Neolithic Large-Scale Buildings and the Earliest Complex Societies in Northern Central Europe

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Processes evolving in different European regions in the 5th and 4th millennium BC have to be seen as formative for the whole European history and landscape. It was the time when Neolithic communities started erecting above ground monuments and marking their central places with earthen enclosures. These developments may are to be seen as the outcome of social processes resulting from changing systems of subsistence and exchange as well as ritual orientations. The Priority Programme will for the first time provide the opportunity to systematically and interdisciplinarily study these processes in the region of Northern Central Europe at different scales. In doing so, questions concerning social differentiation will be addressed, connected to the genesis of monumentality. Thus, settlement archaeology and social archaeology are especially important for the Priority Programme: (1) An evaluation of settlement structures is necessary to assess the relations between simple settlements, enclosures, depots, simple and monumental graves. (2) The exchange relations and their dynamics between regional groups of the Neolithic (funnel beaker) communities have to be investigated in regard to patterns of production and distribution. (3) The processes of social differentiation within the Neolithic communities have to be investigated via material culture studies and the spatial settings of depots, graves and settlement finds. In these respects an interdisciplinary strategy is a basic requirement for the identification of the topics mentioned. A well-directed systematic assessment of new archaeological source materials together with the combined application of methods from the bio-, geo-, materials and social sciences as well as the humanities will form the basis for historical interpretations. The investigations build upon a stringent cooperation principle between the projects involved aiming for transparency and equality not only in the process of data acquisition but also the processing and use of data. The synthesis of all currently available and newly acquired data with interpretations from an ecological, socio-historical and cultural anthropological perspective will enable a proper understanding of the processes mentioned.