Rectangular enclosures at Nordheim and the settlements of the younger Latène period in the Heilbronn area

• Applicant: Dr. Andrea Neth
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 264625219

Near Nordheim, ca. 10 km to the south-west of Heilbronn, two rectangular enclosures of late iron age date were discovered by aerial photography. Both enclosures, about 300 m distant from each other, were completely excavated between 1995 and 2000. At both enclosures the stratigraphy of the ditch fills and the building plans show evidence for several building phases, dated by Radiocarbon and Dendrochronology to the 2nd to 1st century BC (LTC2-D1). Both sites also contain structures from an earlier settlement phase, not enclosed by ditches, and dated to the early to middle Latène period. Unusually large numbers of finds were recovered from both enclosures, consisting mainly of pottery and animal bones, as well as several hundred small finds of metal, glass and stone, making the Nordheim finds the largest finds complex known from any such enclosure. Until now, large finds complexes from the middle and late Latène period were absent from the Central Neckar Valley area. The large numbers of finds from Nordheim now offer the possibility to define the regional finds spectrum and to investigate the relations of the area to neighbouring regions. In the course of this project, structures and finds from both enclosures will be compared to define similarities and differences in chronology and function of both sites. The first results from the finds analysis show possible central place functions of the Nordheim enclosures, in an area devoid of oppida and other large settlement sites, and contacts to both regional and long distance trade networks. The Nordheim enclosures will be analyzed in the context of contemporary sites in the Heilbronn area and the regional settlement systems of the Middle and Late Latène period. Around the mid first century BC both enclosures were systematically destroyed. The houses were burned down, wells, sunken floor buildings, postholes and pits were filled in with debris. These structures will be compared to similar destruction layers known from several contemporary enclosures in southern Germany. Both enclosures were reused later during the Roman Imperial Period. Wooden fences were constructed along the ditches, and burned down at the end of their use. Construction, chronology and function of the roman period fences will be investigated, accompanied by a search for similar structures in the archaeological literature. The paramount objective of the archaeozoological analyses is to contribute to the interpretation of both enclosures. For this purpose the previous and current approaches to the socio-economic interpretation of these sites will be examined by adequate traditional and analytical methods of archaeozoology. The most promising method is the combined analysis of strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes in the teeth of domestic mammals, to gather informations about an eventual import of animals, the enclosures possible role in redistribution, the location of pastures, and herd management.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Günther Wieland