The fertile loess soil of Hofgeismar already offered a good livelihood for the earliest farmers in the Neolithic Age, whose settlements often stretched over many hectares. Traces of such a settlement could be archaeologically proven in Hofgeismar 1989-90 in the Kabemühlenweg. The 13 house floor plans and around 100 waste pits discovered at that time indicated a large Neolithic settlement from the Linear Pottery Culture culture (approx. 5,500 – 4,900 BC).
For the new extension of the old people’s care center, initial investigations were therefore carried out in coordination with hessenARCHÄOLOGY at the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Hesse, in order to check whether the linear band ceramic settlement would also continue under the new building site. Evidence of settlement traces could be found by means of non-destructive geophysical investigations; two small test excavations confirmed the finding.
Settlements of the Linear Pottery Culture are among the oldest verifiable solid traces of settlement in the history of Hesse. In order to preserve the knowledge of these early farmers for posterity, the current building site was examined and documented by the archaeological specialist company Warneke Archäologie GmbH. In doing so, excavation director Dr. Among other things, Thilo F. Warneke and his team rely on innovative photo documentation methods, in which instead of extensive excavation drawings, the documentation from the photographs is only created afterwards using photogrammetry. Klaus Vering, manager of the Gesundbrunnen, was particularly pleased that the construction work was only slightly delayed as a result. The responsible district archaeologist Dr. Eveline Hall.
During the excavation campaign, the remains of two long houses, ditches and waste pits were discovered, which marked the further course of the settlement, which had already been discovered in the 1990s.
We are probably moving here on the edge of the Linear Pottery Culture settlement, which probably extended extensively at the confluence of the Esse and Lempe rivers.Dr. Eveline Saal district archaeologist
In addition to the evidence of settlements, the excavation team also discovered finds such as a stone ax, an artefact made of flint and partially decorated pottery shards. With these simple tools, which were highly innovative at the time, the early settlers in Hofgeismar erected their first longhouses in a place where new living space can now be built again.