Neue Erkenntnisse zur Ausdehnung der spätpaläolithischen Besiedelung am Martinsberg in Andernach (Lkr. Mayen-Koblenz)

Abstract

In 2006, the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz (GDKE) had to conduct an excavation in the Roonstraße in Andernach, immediately beside the important Palaeolithic site of Andernach-Martinsberg. Due to construction work, the time for the excavation of the 120 m² area was very short and the sediment was divided into quarters of metre squares and packaged in bags. Later, employees of the GDKE and students of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) conducted a wet-sieving of the sediments. In 2018, within the context of a bachelor thesis, the lithic artefacts found during wet-sieving were analyzed technologically and typologically as well as with regard to their spatial distribution. Typological elements, such as three short scrapers, indicate a Late Palaeolithic origin of the finds which is further corroborated by the lack of any characteristic Magdalenian tools. The technological analysis led to the result that a soft organic and a soft mineral hammer were both used for blank production. Comparing Andernach-Roonstraße with the Magdalenian concentrations I-IV and the Late Palaeolithic concentrations Andernach 2 and 3 showed several similarities with the latter two, but almost none with the Magdalenian assemblages. The spatial analysis of the finds distribution indicates that they represent a continuation of the already known Late Palaeolithic settlement of Andernach-Martinsberg.