Reconstruction of circular ditches at Heldenberg, Lower Austria

About 150 arrangements of prehistoric circular ditches are known to archaeologists spread over Germany, Austria and Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Their diameters range from ca. 20 to ca. 130 m, and they date to the 5th millennium BC. Tools, bones, and some artefacts were found in their context. The largest of these arrangements to date was found in Leipzig in the 1990s. Another large find was at the nearby village of Aythra, outside of Leipzig. From finds in the context of these ditches, and associated settlements of longhouses, it was established that they were in use for about 200 years, until roughly 4600 BC. Similar monumental arrangements were only to re-appear in the Bronze Age, some three millennia later. Jump to: navigation, search ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1250x938, 595 KB) Beschreibung Description: de Rekonstruktion einer Kreisgrabenanlage für die Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung 2005 in Heldenberg en Reconstruction of circular ditches, Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung (Lower Austria Country Exhibition) 2005 Source: own photograph Date: 22. ... Jump to: navigation, search ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1250x938, 595 KB) Beschreibung Description: de Rekonstruktion einer Kreisgrabenanlage für die Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung 2005 in Heldenberg en Reconstruction of circular ditches, Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung (Lower Austria Country Exhibition) 2005 Source: own photograph Date: 22. ... Lower Austria (Niederösterreich) is one of the nine federal states or Bundesländer in Austria. ... (6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – other millennia) Events 4713 BC – The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. ... Jump to: navigation, search Map of Germany showing Leipzig Leipzig [â–¶] [ˈlaiptsɪç] (Polish; Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Jump to: navigation, search Map of Germany showing Leipzig Leipzig [â–¶] [ˈlaiptsɪç] (Polish; Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the federal state (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... (6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – 4th millennium BC – other millennia) Events 4713 BC – The epoch (origin) of the Julian Period described by Joseph Justus Scaliger occurred on January 1, the astronomical Julian day number zero. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

An article in The Independent of June 11, 2005 identified these structures as "monumental temples". Jump to: navigation, search The Independent is a British compact newspaper published by Tony OReillys Independent News & Media. ... Jump to: navigation, search June 11 is the 162nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (163rd in leap years), with 203 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The people that built these structures are associated with the Linear Ceramic culture. They appear to have lived in communal long houses and subsisted by farming cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep. The structures were built in a stretch of Central European land some 760 km (400 miles) across, over a period of one or two hundred years. They are believed to have migrated into this region during the 6th millennium BC from the plain of the Danube in what is now Hungary and Serbia. They made tools of wood, stone, and bone, and artwork of ceramic and pottery. The Linear Ceramic Culture (German: Linearbandkeramik-Kultur, or LBK) was a Neolithic culture of central Europe. ... The Neolithic long house was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in Europe around 7,000 years ago. ... In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (called simply cows in vernacular usage) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Jump to: navigation, search Species See Species and subspecies A goat is an mammal in the genus Capra, which consists of nine species: the Ibex, the West Caucasian Tur, the East Caucasian Tur, the Markhor, and the Wild Goat. ... Jump to: navigation, search Species Sus barbatus Sus bucculentus Sus cebifrons Sus celebensis Sus domesticus Sus heureni Sus philippensis Sus salvanius Sus scrofa Sus timoriensis Sus verrucosus Pigs are ungulates native to Eurasia collectively grouped under the genus Sus within the Suidae family. ... Jump to: navigation, search Binomial name Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758 A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries), which probably descends from the wild moufflon of south-central and south-west Asia. ... Jump to: navigation, search (7th millennium BC – 6th millennium BC – 5th millennium BC – other millennia) // Events c. ... The Danube (Donau in German; Dunaj in Slovak; Donava in Slovene; Duna in Hungarian; Dunav in Croatian and Serbian; Dunav or Дунав in Bulgarian; Dunăre in Romanian; Дунай (Dunay) in Ukrainian; Danuvius in Latin) is Europes second-longest river (after the Volga). ... Jump to: navigation, search Serbia and Montenegro  â€“ Serbia    â€“ Kosovo and Metohia        (UN administration)    â€“ Vojvodina  â€“ Montenegro Official language Serbian1 Capital Belgrade Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % water  88,361 km²  n/a Population  â€“ Total (2002)     (without Kosovo)  â€“ Density  7. ... Jump to: navigation, search A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is the xylem tissue of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Jump to: navigation, search Stone can refer to any of the following: Stone may be used as a building material, as in this dry stone wall Look up stone on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Jump to: navigation, search Grays illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. ... The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word Κεραμεικος (the name of a suburb of Athens), and in its strictest sense refers to clay in all its forms. ... A man shapes pottery as it turns on a wheel. ...

See also

• Goseck circle
• Linear Ceramic culture
• Neolithic Europe

The Goseck circle is a set of concentric ditches in the district of Weissenfels in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany 75 meters (246 feet) across, that was called the earliest ritual site of Central Europe when it was first made public in August 2003. ... The Linear Ceramic Culture (German: Linearbandkeramik-Kultur, or LBK) was a Neolithic culture of central Europe. ... Map showing the Neolithic expansions from the 7th to the 5th millennia Europe in ca. ...

External links

• AFP report
• German language article with aerial photographs