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Archaeological work at Eilsleben, in northern Germany, has uncovered unexpected evidence of connections between the early farmers living at this site and the pre-existing hunter-gatherer communities of the region.
Eilsleben was discovered in the 1970s and has since undergone extensive excavations, including most recently in 2024, as well as geomagnetic survey and other investigations. These have revealed a Linear Pottery Culture (LBK) settlement covering 80,000m2, which was established in c.5375 BC by some of the first waves of farmers to arrive in this part of Europe. In addition to typical LBK houses, pits, and burials, the earliest phase of construction features a system of ramparts and ditches that enclosed a settlement more than 400m wide, making this site the earliest potential fortified settlement in the borderland between the Early Neolithic world and the Late Mesolithic populations of Central Europe.
It could perhaps be assumed, then, that the inhabitants of Eilsleben were keen to keep their hunter-gatherer neighbours at bay. However, other finds from the site paint a more complex picture. Among the discoveries were a number of antler tools that reflected the types and techniques typical of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer assemblages, as well as production flakes, suggesting that they were being made at the site. These differ substantially from the rest of the tools found at the site, which are clearly part of the standard Neolithic tradition. Archaeologists also unearthed a headdress made from the skull and antlers of a roe deer, which resembles other such objects found at hunter-gatherer sites across Europe. In particular, it has direct similarities to the antler headdress found in the ‘shaman’ burial at Bad Dürrenberg, dating to c.7000 BC. Such objects, once again, firmly belong to Mesolithic symbolic and material culture, and are incredibly unusual in a Neolithic context. The presence of these objects at Eilsleben indicates that ideas and technology were being exchanged between these Neolithic people and the Mesolithic groups they encountered in the area.
These discoveries, recently published in Antiquity (https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10270), offer fascinating new insights into the complex social relationships in this frontier region during a transformative period of prehistory.
Text: Amy Brunskill / Image: © Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, J Lipták
