C04_P08

High precision dating of a Neolithic wooden trackway from Lower Saxony, Germany, using radiocarbon wiggle matching

Rose H¹, Brozio J², Shindo L³, Meadows J^1,4, Feeser I², Dörfler W², Heumüller M⁵

¹Zentrum für Baltische und Skandinavische Archäologie (ZBSA), Schleswig, Germany, ²Institute of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany, ³ROOTS Cluster of Excellence , University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany, ⁴Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany, ⁵Lower Saxony State Office for Heritage, Hannover, Germany

Wooden trackways dating from the Neolithic to the medieval period are well-documented in Europe. The earliest finds date to the middle of the 5th millennium BC and are linked to the invention of wheeled wagons, which are known in northern Germany from 3400 BC. We present new results from a wooden trackway found east of Aschener Moor in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was discovered in the 1890s and a 100-meter-long section was excavated in the 1980s. We returned to the site in 2021 and excavated a smaller section left untouched by the earlier campaign. The trackway is wide enough to allow passage of a wagon, but it is unclear where it led; across the marshy area of the Aschener Moor would be an obvious possibility, but previous attempts to prove this have been unsuccessful. The trackway is constructed of wooden trunks placed diagonally in two layers, consisting primarily of alder (Alnus sp.), but with a smaller number of birch (Betula sp.). This excludes traditional dendrochronological dating, but using radiocarbon wiggle matching, we have dated the felling date of one alder trunk to a 20-year-window in the mid-25th century BC. Such a precise date is rare for the Neolithic period, but it is supported by chronological modelling of dates on branch wood found between the trackway logs. On-site palaeoenvironmental analyses relate the trackway construction to its local environment and periods of increasing precipitation. We will also compare our findings to the chronology of other wooden trackways in northern Europe.