Michelsberg culture

The Michelsberg culture is an important Neolithic culture in Central Europe. Its dates are ca 4400-3500 BC. Its conventional name is derived from that of an important excavated site on Michelsberg hill near Untergrombach, between Karlsruhe and Heidelberg .The Michelsberg culture is dated in the late 5th and the first half of the 4th millennium BC. Thus, it belongs to the Central European Late Neolithic. Its distribution covered much of West Central Europe, along both sides of the Rhine. A detailed chronology, based on pottery, was produced in the 1960s by the German archaeologist Jens Lüning.SettlementsLarge-scale excavations of MK settlements have not taken place so far. Some settlements have earthwork enclosures.EconomyResearch so far tends to characterise MK as a culture that avoided or rejected the use of copper, but occasional finds, e.g. at Heilbronn-Klingenberg, do indicate use of that metal.Important sitesHeilbronn-KlingenbergUrmitzIlsfeldHofheim am TaunusBruchsal-Aue