The archaeological site near the village of Breitenbach in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany is an important open-air settlement that dates to the period of initial colonization of Europe by anatomically modern humans.

It also promises insight to spatial organisation and subsistence practices of hunter-gatherer groups during the time of the initial occurrence of the “complete set” of behaviourally modern characteristics.

The village Breitenbach is part of Wetterzeube municipality and is located approximately 6 km south of the town of Zeitz.

[2] In the process of extending an existing storage yard adjacent to the mill, large numbers of bones had already been discovered and discarded since the autumn of 1924.

[3] First sondages by H. Hess von Wichdorff and A. Götze took place in 1925 and large scale archaeological excavations exposing 400 square meters were conducted by N. Niklasson and F. Wiegers in 1927.

This is suggested by the presence of large stone manuports, imported and intentionally arranged sandstone slabs, pits and hearths.

The Breitenbach lithic inventory (n=737) is made exclusively of Baltic flint and shows a high prevalence of keeled, simple and nosed scrapers, as well as various types of burins.

[1][6] A Neolithic settlement, belonging to the Linear Pottery Culture (c. between 7.500–5.500 years ago) overlying the Palaeolithic layer was first recognized during geological sondages by Hess von Wichdorff in 1927(3).