Grabhügel und Grabhügelgruppen

In the Bronze Age, Lower Saxony formed an important contact zone between the South German Middle Bronze Age with its tumuli and the Nordic Bronze Age of Scandinavia, but the majority of its barrows were excavated in an unprofessional manner in the 19th century A. D. Therefore the research of Hans Piesker [1894-1977], to whom this volume is dedicated, is of great importance. His numerous documents, plans, and reports were systematically collected, described in detail, and thoroughly analysed and are fully edited here. On the basis of this reappraisal of the grave inventories, five separate settlement areas were identified, the inhabitants of which occupied hamlets of up to six farms and isolated farmsteads and buried their dead over several generations in groups of tumuli with the heyday of occupation in the Early Bronze Age with its South German connections. At the end of the Early Bronze Age an abrupt end of settlement occurred, followed by a Middle Bronze Age reoccupation from a north-easterly direction. The Late Bronze Age is not attested, but with the Early Iron Age burials started to be deposited once more.