23 Commerce
A large cemetery near Rössen in Saxony-Anhalt gave its name to one of the first farming cultures in Germany. The typical vessels of the Rössen culture had a spherical base and were usually richly decorated with large triangular patterns, squares and zigzag bands. In Hamburg-Lohbrügge, such a Rössen cup was found on a mesolithic settlement site in the Boberger Dunes. Like numerous pierced and ground axes, the manufacture of which was still unknown to the people of northern Germany, it shows that far-reaching trade contacts existed between the native hunter-gatherers and their southern neighbours, who as farmers already followed a completely different way of life.
Info: Showcase 23
Rössen Cup
Age: 4500 - 4200 v. Chr. Mesolithic period - Neolithic period
Mesolithic period:
With the beginning of the post-glacial period, the Mesolithic phase begins in northern Germany, marking the transition from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age. In post-glacial forests, red deer and wild boar were now available to people, and on the sea and inland lake coasts, mussels, fish and waterfowl were also available as the main sources of animal protein. Plants, however, played a particularly important role in the diet of Mesolithic Age forest hunters. Hazelnuts, wild vegetables, herbs and fruits were collected on a large scale.
Neolithic period
In the Neolithic period, people began for the first time to actively shape and change their environment: sedentarisation was one of the essential prerequisites for civilisational progress. Farmers cleared forests for their settlements, fields and for keeping livestock. They built their farms out of wooden posts, wattle and daub and clay. Cattle, pigs, goats and sheep are recorded as domestic animals. The diet of the people was now enriched by cereals such as wheat and barley, which were cultivated on farmland.
Material: Ceramics
Location: HH-Boberg