Zwei außergewöhnliche Silexklingenkomplexe aus dem Domleschg (Kt. Graubünden / CH): Paspels-Canova und Rothenbrunnen-Hochjuvalt

Abstract

Two Unusual Flint Assemblages from the Domleschg (Ct. Graubünden / CH): Paspels-Canova and Rothenbrunnen-Hochjuvalt

While updating and digitalising the site inventory of the canton of Graubünden, two hitherto unpublished flint assemblages from Rothenbrunnen-Hochjuvalt and Paspels-Canova in the Domleschg were noticed. Both were discovered in the 1860s and subsequently in written sources variously mentioned and also swapped. A careful reworking of the research history, as well as the technological and morphological analysis allow a clear separation of the two assemblages. Based upon cultural historical comparisons, they can easily be designated as depositions. The assemblage from Paspels-Canova, consisting of two blades of raw material from the Monti Lessini (prov. Verona / I) and a radiolarite blade of an unknown origin, can be dated with a high probability to the Late Neolithic. The depot can certainly be seen in the context of the transalpine transport of such blades, whereby the precise reasons for the deposition remain unclear. One possibility could be a placement at a prominent location in the mental map of the prehistoric people, especially since the site of the deposition, when coming from the south, lies close to the final two, only with difficulty passable gorges on the way to the Alpine Rhine Valley. On the other hand, the assemblage from Rothenbrunnen-Hochjuvalt, comprising two blades of flint from Świeciechów-Lasek (woj. lubelskie / PL), cannot be dated with precision. The most plausible theory to us seems that the deposition occurred within the Late Medieval to Modern river barrage during the historical period by soldiers who had brought the finds from Eastern Europe, e. g. during the Revolt of the Leagues (1620-1637) or the so-called Helvetic Republic (1798-1802).