The Great Pit of Estenfeld (Bavaria) - Disposal of refuse or structured deposition? Studies of the taphonomy, chronology and function of an archaeological phenomenon of the Middle Neolithic in Southern Germany

该项目的重点是来自北巴伐利亚州埃斯滕菲尔德的记录良好的大坑。这个长达30多米，深达3米的坑里有大量保存完好的陶器、泥土、动物骨头和故意打碎的磨石。它可以与德国南部可追溯到新石器时代中期（MN）的其他几个大坑进行比较，并且应该与更频繁的坑复合体区分开来，这是MN定居点的共同特征。在Hopferstadt的大型MN圆洞的挖掘已经表明，在有意回填圆形沟渠期间，有复杂的仪式实践。这些发现促使我们对大坑通常被解释为公共粘土坑提出质疑，这些粘土坑后来被用来处理垃圾。我们的工作假设并没有把埃斯滕菲尔德大坑看作是垃圾的处理场，而是结构化的沉积。到目前为止，该项目旨在激发德语考古学中关于结构沉积的论述。详细的地面学分析（破碎程度、碎片类型分类、寻找连接碎片和评价匹配的空间分布）将有助于重建回填过程，并将其与几个区域可用的坑复合体进行比较。由于埃斯滕菲尔德的发现只是在没有水的情况下进行了表面清洗，因此存在一个难得的机会，不仅可以分析粘土基质中的脂质和生物标志物，还可以分析表面残留的沉积物。这些分析可以帮助区分累积使用寿命残留物和容器的最后使用。研磨石的工作表面将采集植物岩样本，以表明所加工的谷物/植物。绝大多数陶器可以归因于风格阶段Planig-Friedberg，这表明相当短的时间，因此，一个相当快的回填过程。然而，这些印象必须通过贝叶斯模型来检验，这些贝叶斯模型是从动物骨骼和/或植物大化石中提取的分层的短寿命放射性碳样本。该项目旨在首次全面分析新石器时代中期的一类定居点，该定居点已有120年的历史，但迄今为止研究很少。它采用跨学科和面向地药学的方法方法。

The project focusses on the well documented Great Pit from Estenfeld, Northern Bavaria. This over 30 m long and up to 3 m deep pit contained large quantities of exceptionally well-preserved pottery, daub, animal bones and intentionally smashed grinding stones. It can be compared to but a few other Great Pits in Southern Germany dating to the Middle Neolithic (MN) and should be differentiated from much more frequent pit complexes which are a common feature of MN settlements. The excavations in the large MN rondel of Hopferstadt already suggested complex ritual practices during the intentional backfilling of the circular ditches. These findings induced us to challenge the usual interpretation of Great Pits as communal clay pits, which had later been used to dispose refuse. Our working hypothesis does not see the Estenfeld Great Pit as disposal of refuse, but rather as structured deposition. Insofar the project intends to stimulate a discourse on structured deposition also within German-speaking archaeology. A detailed taphonomic analysis (degree of fragmentation, classification of sherd type, search for joining sherds and evaluation of the spatial distribution of matches) will help to reconstruct the backfill process and to compare it to several regionally available pit complexes. Since the finds from Estenfeld have only been cleaned superficially without water, a rare opportunity exists to analyse lipids and bio-markers not only from the clay matrix but also from sediment remains on the surface. These analyses could help to distinguish between accumulated use life residues and the last use of the vessel. Working surfaces of grinding stones will be sampled for phytoliths indicating the cereals/plants processed. The large majority of pottery can be attributed to the stylistic phase Planig-Friedberg, suggesting a rather short period of time and, thus, a rather fast backfill process. These impressions, however, must be checked by a Bayesian model of stratified short-lived radiocarbon samples to be taken from animal bones and/or botanic macrofossils. The project intends to comprehensively analyse for the first time a category of Middle Neolithic settlements, which is known for 120 years but so far poorly researched. It applies an interdisciplinary and taphonomy-oriented methodological approach.