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Salzmünd group

Salzmünde Group
Geographical range central and lower Saal region, exclave in the region of Leipzig and Altenburg
Period Middle Neolithic
Dates 3400 BC - 3000 BC.
Type site Salzmünde-Schiepzig, Saalekreis
Characteristics Pottery of the Opperschöner Type, Amphorae, clay drums

The Salzmünde Group or Salzmünde Culture (German: Salzmünder Gruppe / Salzmünder Kultur) is the name for a late group from the Funnelbeaker culture in central Saale-Elbe region of Germany, which existed between 3400 and 3000 BC during the Neolithic period.

The type site, Salzmünde-Schiepzig (Saalekreis) was excavated by Nils Niklasson in 1921. He attributed the finds to a "nordic culture" which in his opinion also included the Baalberge group. In 1938, Paul Grimm grouped Niklasson's "nordic culture" and the Opperschöner pottery style together as the Salzmünde culture.

Distinguishing the central and east German prehistoric groups (Hutburg, Walternienburg-Bernburg, Salzmünde und Schöningen) from one another is notoriously difficult with dramatic differences from author to author. For this reason, Johannes Müller argues they should all be understood as subgroups within the Funnelbeaker culture.

The Salzmünde group fits in the middle Neolithic according to the North German chronology, but in the Younger Neolithic according to Jens Lüning's South and West German chronology. In the central Saale-Elbe region, the Salzmünde ceramic style is the local expression of Funnelbeaker phases TRB-MES IV and V. In Bohemia, the latest material from the funnelbeaker culture (TRB C) belongs to the Salzmünde Group, which lasted longer here than in central Germany.

Some walled hilltop settlements are known, such as Halle, Dölauer Heide, Salzmünde-Schiepzig, Mücheln and Wallendorf. The settlement of Halle, Dölauer Heide was surrounded by a two metre deep ditch with a palisade on the inside. The irregularly shaped fortifications enclose the entire plateau of the hill and were supplemented by at least two towers.


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