Baalberge group

A more complex society developed after 3350 BC in the TRB-MES IV phase, with distinct decorative styles (Salzmünd group and Walternienburg-Bernburg Culture).

The Baalberge culture was first identified as a distinct group on the grounds of pottery types by Nils Niklasson and Paul Kupka.

[1] Kupka grouped the finds belonging to the Baalberge culture together under the name "Central German Stilthouse Pottery" (mitteldeutsche Pfahlbaukeramik).

Joachim Preuß divided the Baalberg culture into an older and later phase using burial practices and pottery typologies.

[7] The Baalberge group is largely made up of undecorated wares with clearly defined neck, shoulder and lower parts.

The complete ceramic inventory forms a self-contained type region in the usage area of the Baalberg culture.

The main forms are: Stone tools: The metal finds associated with the Baalberge culture are among the oldest in the central German Neolithic.

Baalberge is the first culture in which megalithic influences in the form of grave complexes, tumulus enclosures, and cists can be detected.

In the gravemound at Latdorf in Bernburg, a narrow stone cist was found which was surrounded by a 25 metre long trapezoidal barrow.

[12] The earthen graves of the Baalberge culture usually contain inhumations, with the bodies nearly always laid out on a west-east orientation flexed on their right side.

[14] The grave-complex at Stemmem excavated by W. Matthias in 1952 is 16.4 m long and squared at both ends and was the first enclosure grave recognised as a Baalberge burial.

In Großbrembach in Sömmerda a nearly square complex with rounded corners measuring 10.8 x 10.4 metres contains two crouching inhumations lying on their right sides and oriented south-north.

This Corded Ware grave in the centre also shows that the main tomb must have remained well known even 1000 years after its construction.

Cultic finds include charred remains of human and animal skeletons in a pit at Melchendorf in Erfurt.

General Overview Chronology Material culture Building works Grave complexes and burial customs Anthropology