In late February, a group of Graduate School members and students of the Institute for Pre- and Protohistory went to Kronsburg-Glinde for a week of field work.

The trip was organized and guided by Jutta Kneisel, Christian Horn, Nicole Taylor, Christoph Rinne and Florian Bauer. “We had three aims”, Jutta explains: “The first was to test the newly acquired high-precision GPS tachymeter in combination with the geomagnetic equipment of the Graduate School. Secondly, the participating students had the opportunity to gain practical experience in this kind of survey work. Last but not least, we wanted to prospect possible future sites of investigation.”

Whereas the first two aims can already be regarded as successfully accomplished, there are also positive prospects for the third. Kronsburg-Glinde is known to be a rich Neolithic and Bronze Age burial ground, the gently undulated landscape spotted with over 50 tumuli. Although all of the grave mounds are heritage-protected, and it is therefore difficult to obtain permission for an excavation, the Graduate School team might have found another object worth investigating: “First analysis of the geomagnetic data shows an anomaly that could be the remains of a Bronze Age house”, Jutta says. “This find on an open field among the tumuli would add an interesting aspect to the ongoing scientific debate whether extensive burial grounds, such as Kronsburg-Glinde, were spatially separated from the closest settlements.” So far, no traces of buildings have been found on the ridge where the mounds are located. “We will continue to analyze our data and then decide about organizing an excavation”, Jutta concludes.

Text and Photo: Jirka N. Menke