Finds and features are extraordinarily well preserved as the site was protected by fallout from the Laacher See volcanic eruption approximately 12,900 years ago.
Comprehensive archaeological studies have provided a detailed view of activities and settlement dynamics of hunter-gatherer groups at the end of the ice age.
Volcanic pumice was deposited during a major eruption of the Laacher See volcano, which according to recent dating occurred approximately 12,900 years ago.
[1] Over the course of a few days the pumice deposits, measuring up to 40 metres in thickness near the crater, sealed-in the late glacial Allerød landscape of the Neuwied basin, thus preserving the archaeology.
Evidence of the massive Laacher See volcano eruption, which most likely took place during spring/early summer,[1] can be found the form of tephra all over northern and Central Europe and is used by geologists and archaeologists as a chronostratigraphic marker.
Extensive excavations of an area almost covering 1000m2 were conducted between 1981 and 1988 and again between 1996 and 1999 by MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution of the Romano-Germanic-Centralmuseum Mainz and the State Office for Preservation of Historical Monuments Coblence.
The unusual decoration of the arrow smoother with a stylised woman figure of the Gönnersdorf type is a rare example of artistic expressions dating to this period.
The finds from Niederbieber are on display at MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for Human Behavioural Evolution of the Romano-Germanic-Centralmuseum Mainz in Neuwied.
Faunal remains, including Elk, red deer, horse, wild boar and beaver indicate a moderate, wet, atlantic climate.
Using artefact analysis and GIS analyses of the find distributions, these concentrations are currently interpreted as ephemeral working areas of late glacial hunter-gatherer groups.
The various lithic raw materials that were used for the production of stone tools were acquired locally (tertiary-aged Quartzite, Chalcedony Radiolarite) but also super-regionally, as flint from the Meuse- and southern Ruhr regions, Claystone from the Saar-Nahe Basin and Triassic chert from Saarland-Lorraine area attests to.
Spatial analyses of the various artefact categories and investigations of the lithic inventory resulted in new insights about subsistence strategies of late Palaeolithic hunters.
As a result of favourable preservation conditions and a longstanding history of research, many archaeological sites were discovered and analysed.
Against the background of other late Palaeolithic sites in the region (e.g. Andernach, Urbar and Kettig), it was possible to propose new models in regards to Federmesser culture settlement dynamics along the Middle Rhine.
Die Fundkonzentrationen der Fläche II des allerødzeitlichen Fundplatzes Niederbieber, Stadt Neuwied (Rheinland-Pfalz).