Many Paths Lead Through the Bog: Reconstructing Prehistoric Networks and Routes at the Southern North Sea Coast Based on Neolithic and Bronze Age Grave Mounds

In archaeology, communication and trade networks are of great importance. They provide the foundation of understanding cultural and social interactions of past societies. Landmarks connecting pathways play an essential role. One approach to reconstructing prehistoric paths is based on the assumption that partially linear constructed burial mounds of the End Neolithic and Bronze Age could have been used as markers for paths. In the following article a reconstruction of an interaction and path network will be attempted for the northern Elbe-Weser-Triangle, exemplary for the geography of the southern and eastern North Sea coastline.

The reconstruction will be done based on current archaeological data and by applying network models. This work investigates whether plausible communication routes can be reconstructed and how such reconstructions can provide insight into broader questions of continuity, mobility, and land use from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.

In a first step, the path networks will be reconstructed, and also the importance of the paths within the network will be evaluated. As a next step, archaeological sites such as bog trackways and settlements will be compared with the reconstructed paths. Furthermore, the importance of the landscape and the development of peatland and coastal marshland shall be included and compared with the path network. To assess its continuity, the End Neolithic/Bronze Age path network will be correlated with sites of other periods. To elevate the importance of the results for archaeological research, it will be observed if any paths cross peatland at potential fords to give a hint to important positions of the former communication network.