7,000-Year-Old Deer Antler Headdress From Eilsleben Illustrates Contact Between Hunter–Gatherers and Early Farmers

7,000-year-old deer antler headdress from Eilsleben illustrates contact between hunter–gatherers and early farmers

Central Germany is among the regions where, as early as the mid-6th millennium BC, farmers displaced the Mesolithic hunter–gatherers from the fertile loess soils. Soon after this migration, however, exchange began between the newcomers and the established inhabitants. The State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt is investigating the Neolithic Eilsleben settlement, a key site for understanding this period.

Deer Skull Headdress Highlights Neolithic Community Exchange - Archaeology Magazine

T-shaped antler axe with broken and polished edge EILSLEBEN, GERMANY—Live Science reports that excavations at an ancient farming village near Eilsleben in northern Germany have uncovered intriguing new evidence about interactions between the region’s preexisting hunter-gatherers and Europe’s earliest farmers. Archaeologists believe the site served as a kind of frontier outpost for the first wave of Neolithic agriculturists who migrated to centra…