From an archaeological point of view Germany is very far from being a
homogeneous whole. Not only has the development of the south differed
from that of the north, and the west been subjected to other influences
than those affecting the east, but even where the same influences have
been at work the period of their operation has often varied widely in
the different districts, so that in a general sketch of the whole
country the chronology can only be a very rough approximation. In this
article the dates assigned to the various periods in south Germany are
those given by Sophus Muller, on the lines first laid down by Montelius.
As regards north Germany, Muller puts the Northern Bronze age 500 years
later than the Southern, but a recent find in Sweden bears out
Montelius's view that southern influence made itself rapidly felt in the
North. The conclusions of Montelius and Muller are disputed by W.
Ridgeway, who maintains that the Iron age originated in central Europe,
and that iron must consequently have been worked in those regions as far
back as c. 2000 B.C.
_Older Palaeolithic Period._--The earliest traces of man's handiwork are
found either at the end of the pre-Glacial epoch, or in an inter-Glacial
period, but it is a disputed point whether the latter is the first of a
series of such periods. A typical German find is at Taubach, near
Weimar, where almond-shaped stone wedges, small flint knives, and
roughly-hacked pieces of porphyry and quartz are found, together with
the remains of elephants. There are also bone implements, which are not
found in the earliest periods in France.
_Palaeolithic Transition Period_ (_Solutre_).--More highly developed
forms are found when the mammoth has succeeded the elephant. Implements
of chipped stone for the purposes of boring and scraping suggest that
man worked hides for clothing. Ornaments of perforated teeth and shells
are found.
_Later Palaeolithic Period_ (_La Madeleine_).--The next period is marked
by the presence of reindeer. In the Hohlefels in the Swabian Achthal
there is still no trace of earthenware, and we find the skull of a
reindeer skilfully turned into a drinking-vessel. Saws, needles, awls
and bone harpoons are found. It is to be noticed that none of the German
finds (mostly in the south and west) show any traces of the highly
developed artistic sense so characteristic of the dwellers in France at
this period.
The gap in our knowledge of the development of Palaeolithic into
Neolithic civilization has recently been partially filled in by
discoveries in north Germany and France of objects showing rather more
developed forms than those of the former period, but still unaccompanied
by earthenware. It is a disputed point whether the introduction of
Neolithic civilization is due to a new ethnological element.
_Neolithic Age_ (in south Germany till c. 2000 B.C.).--Neolithic man
lived under the same climatic conditions as prevail to-day, but amidst
forests of fir. He shows advance in every direction, and by the end of
the later Neolithic period he is master of the arts of pottery and
spinning, is engaged in agricultural pursuits, owns domestic animals,
and makes weapons and tools of fine shape, either ground and polished or
beautifully chipped. Traces of Neolithic settlements have been found
chiefly in the neighbourhood of Worms, in the Main district and in
Thuringia. These dwellings are usually holes in the ground, and
presumably had thatched roofs. Our knowledge of the later Neolithic age,
as of the succeeding periods, is largely gained from the remains of
lake-dwellings, represented in Germany chiefly by Bavarian finds. The
lake-dwellings in Mecklenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia are of a
different type, and it is not certain that they date back to the Stone
age. Typical Neolithic cemeteries are found at Hinkelstein, Alzey and
other places in the neighbourhood of Worms. In these graves the
skeletons lie flat, while in other cemeteries, as at Flomborn in
Rhine-Hessen, and near Heilbronn, they are in a huddled position (hence
the name _Hockergraber_). Necklaces and bracelets of Mediterranean
shells point to a considerable amount of commerce. Other objects found
in the graves are small flint knives, stone axes, flint and lumps of
pyrites for obtaining fire, and, in the women's graves, hand-mills for
grinding corn. The earthenware vessels usually have rounded bottoms. The
earliest ornamentation consists of finger-imprints. Later we find two
periods of zigzag designs in south Germany with an intermediate stage of
spirals and wavy lines, while in north and east Germany the so-called
string-ornamentation predominates. Towards the end of the period the
inhabitants of north Germany erect megalithic graves, and in Hanover
especially the passage-graves.
_Bronze Age_ (in south Germany from c. 2000-1000 B.C.).--In the later
Stone age we note the occasional use of copper, and then the gradual
appearance of bronze. The bronze civilization of the Aegean seems to
have had direct influence along the basins of the Danube and Elbe, while
the culture of the western parts of central Germany was transmitted
through Italy and France. No doubt the pre-eminence of the north, and
especially of Denmark, at this period, was due to the amber trade,
causing southern influence to penetrate up the basin of the Elbe to
Jutland. The earlier period is characterized by the practice of
inhumation in barrows made of clays, stones or sand, according to the
district. Bronze is cast, whereas at a later time it shows signs of the
hammer. From the finds in Bavarian graves it appears that the chief
weapons were the dagger and the long pointed _Palstab_ (palstave), while
a short dagger fixed like an axe on a long shaft is characteristic of
the North. The women wore two bronze pins, a bracelet on each arm, amber
ornaments and a necklace of bronze tubes in spirals. One or two vases
are found in each barrow, ornamented with finger-imprints, "string"
decoration, &c. The later period is characterized by the practice of
cremation, though the remains are still placed in barrows. Swords make
their appearance. The women wear more and more massive ornaments. The
vases are highly polished and of elegant form, with zigzag decoration.
_Hallstatt Period_ (in Germany 8th-5th century B.C.).--The Hallstatt
stage of culture, named after the famous cemetery in upper Austria, is
marked by the introduction of iron (see HALLSTATT). In Germany its
centre is Bavaria, Baden and Wurttemberg, with the Thuringian forest as
the northern boundary. In Brandenburg, Lusatia, Silesia, Posen and
Saxony, where there was no strong Bronze age tradition, Hallstatt
influence is very noticeable. In west Prussia the urns with human faces
deserve notice. The dead are either buried in barrows or cremated, the
latter especially in north and east Germany. In Bavaria both practices
are resorted to, as at Hallstatt. The pottery develops beautiful form
and colour. Fibulae, often of the "kettle-drum" form, take the place of
the Bronze age pin.
_La Tene Period_ (4th-1st century B.C.).--Down to this time there is
very little evidence concerning the racial affinities of the population.
When our records first begin the western and southern portions of
Germany seem to have been inhabited by Celtic peoples (see below
"Ethnography"). La Tene, in Switzerland, has given its name to the
period, of which the earlier part corresponds to the time of Celtic
supremacy. It is interesting to note how the Celts absorb Roman and
still more Greek culture, even imitating foreign coins, and pass on
their new arts to their Teutonic neighbours; but in spite of the strong
foreign influence the Celtic civilization can in some sort be termed
national. Later it has a less rich development, betraying the political
decay of the race. Its centres in Germany are the southern districts as
far as Thuringia, and the valleys of the Main and Saar. The
ornamentation is of the conventionalized plant type: gold is freely
used, and enamel, of a kind different from the Roman enamel used later
in Germany, is applied to weapons and ornaments. Chariots are used in
war, and fortified towns are built, though we must still suppose the
houses to have consisted of a wooden framework coated with clay. In
these districts La Tene influence is contemporary with the use of
tumuli, but in the (non-Celtic) coast districts it must be sought in
urn-cemeteries.
_Roman Period_ (from the 1st century A.D.).--The period succeeding to La
Tene ought rather to be called Romano-Germanic, the relation of the
Teutonic races to the Roman civilization being much the same as that of
the Celts to classical culture in the preceding period. The Rhine lands
were of course the centre of Roman civilization, with Roman roads,
fortresses, stone and tiled houses and marble temples. By this time the
Teutonic peoples had probably acquired the art of writing, though the
origin of their national (Runic) alphabet is still disputed. The graves
of the period contain urns of earthenware or glass, cremation being the
prevalent practice, and the objects found include one or more coins in
accordance with Roman usage.
_Period of National Migrations_ (A.D. 300-500).--The grave-finds do not
bear out the picture of a period of ceaseless war painted by the Roman
historians. On the contrary, weapons are seldom found, at any rate in
graves, the objects in which bear witness to a life of extraordinary
luxury. Magnificent drinking-vessels, beautifully ornamented dice and
draughtsmen, masses of gay beads, are among the commonest grave-finds. A
peculiarity of the period is the development of decoration inspired by
animal forms, but becoming more and more tortuous and fantastic. Only
those eastern parts of Germany which were now occupied by Slavonic
peoples remained uninfluenced by this rich civilization.
_The Merovingian Period_ (A.D. 500-800) sees the completion of the work
of converting the German tribes to Christianity. _Reihengraber_,
containing objects of value, but otherwise like modern cemeteries, with
the dead buried in rows (_Reihen_), are found over all the Teutonic part
of Germany, but some tribes, notably the Alamanni, seem still to have
buried their dead in barrows. Among the Franks and Burgundians we find
monolithic sarcophagi in imitation of the Romans, and in other districts
sarcophagi were constructed out of several blocks of stone--the
so-called _Plattengraber_. The weapons are the _spatha_, or
double-bladed German sword, the _sax_ (a short sword, or long knife,
_semispathium_), the knife, shield, and the favourite German axe, though
this latter is not found in Bavaria. The ornaments are beads, earrings,
brooches, rings, bracelets, &c., thickly studded with precious stones.
AUTHORITIES.--S. Muller, _Urgeschichte Europas_ (1905), and
_Tierornamentik_ (1881); O. Montelius, "Chronologie der Bronzezeit in
N. Deutschland und Skandinavien," in _Archiv fur Anthropologie_, vols.
xxv. and xxvi.; M. Hoernes, _Urgeschichte des Menschen_ (1892), and
_Der diluviale Mensch in Europa_ (1903); M. Much, _Kupferzeit in
Europa_ (1893); R. Munro, _Lake-dwellings of Europe_ (1890); J. Naue,
_Bronzezeit in Ober-Bayern_ (1894); O. Tischler, _Ostpreussische
Altertumer_ (1902); R. Virchow, _Uber Hunengraber und Pfahlbauten_
(1866); J. Mestorf, _Urnenfriedhofe in Schleswig-Holstein_ (1886); A.
Lissauer, _Prahistorische Denkmaler Preussens_ (1887); I. Undset,
_Erstes Auftreten des Eisens in N. Europa_ (1882); L. Lindenschmit,
_Handbuch der deutschen Altertumskunde_, i. (1880-1889); and W.
Ridgeway, _Early Age of Greece_, i. (1901). Also articles by the above
and others, chiefly in _Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie_ (Berlin); _Archiv
fur Anthropologie_ (Brunswick); _Globus_ (Brunswick); _Westdeutsche
Zeitschrift_ (Trier); _Schriften der physikalisch-okonomischen
Gesellschaft_ (Konigsberg); _Nachrichten uber deutsche Altertumskunde_
(Berlin); _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie_,
&c.; _Beitrage zur Anthropologie Bayerns_ (Munich); and _Zeitschrift
fur deutsches Altertum_ (Berlin). (B. S. P.)