Die Besiedlungsgeschichte des Brenz-Kocher-Tals (östliche Schwäbische Alb) vom Neolithikum bis zur Latenezeit

Abstract

The spatial distribution of sites dating from the Neolithic to the Latene period in the river valley of Brenz and Kocher and the sourrounding areas is investigated with respect to settlement dynamics. After a relatively dense settlement in the Early Neolithic the number of sites diminishes heavily in the Middle Neolithic, whereas in the Young/Late Neolithic the number rises again remarkably. Düring
the Late- and EndNeolithic as well as in the Early Bronze A g e the study area wwas only sporadically visited. In the Middle Bronze Age the settlement density rises considerably and during the Urnfield period an inferior colonization takes place. But it is not until the Hallstatt and Latene period that the upper parts of the eastern Swabian Alb, especially the Härtsfeld, are strongly settled. This is surely caused by the deposits of iron ore that can be found there