Ebbe Nielsen

University of Bern, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Emeritus

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Phone: +41794051347
Address: Universität Bern
Institut für Archäologische Wissenschaften, Prähistorische Archäologie
Mittelstrasse 43
CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland

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Markus Wild

Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology

Irina Schmidt

Omsk State University of F.M. Dostoyevskiy

Michael Baales

LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen

Dirk Leder

Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege

Gabrielė Rimkutė

Vilnius University

Mathilde Samsel

Université de Bordeaux

Christian Böhling

Jana Javornik

University of East London

Gwen Robbins Schug

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Gabriel Gutierrez-Alonso

University of Salamanca

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Papers by Ebbe Nielsen

Multiple osteosclerotic lesions in an Iron Age skull from Switzerland (320-250 BC)--an unusual case

Swiss medical weekly, Jan 29, 2013

The single Hochdorf burial was found in 1887 during construction work in the Canton of Lucerne, S... more The single Hochdorf burial was found in 1887 during construction work in the Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. It dates from between 320 and 250 BC. The calvarium, the left half of the pelvis and the left femur were preserved. The finding shows an unusual bony alteration of the skull. The aim of this study was to obtain a differential diagnosis and to examine the skull using various methods. Sex and age were determined anthropologically. Radiological examinations were performed with plain X-ray imaging and a multislice computed tomography (CT) scanner. For histological analysis, samples of the lesion were taken. The pathological processing included staining after fixation, decalcification, and paraffin embedding. Hard-cut sections were also prepared. The individual was female. The age at death was between 30 and 50 years. There is an intensely calcified bone proliferation at the right side of the os frontalis. Plain X-ray and CT imaging showed a large sclerotic lesion in the area of t...

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Kyiv Conference- The Organiser`s Experience

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Die versteckte Bronzezeit : ein überdeckter Grabhügel bei Schötz (LU)

Grâce a des decouvertes recentes et plus anciennes, les contours de l'occupation du Bronze fi... more Grâce a des decouvertes recentes et plus anciennes, les contours de l'occupation du Bronze final autour des marais de Wauwilermoos se dessinent peu a peu. Dans la plaine inondable, pres du village de Schotz, des tombes et d'autres trouvailles sont le reflet d'habitats importants. Des indices montrent que le niveau de l'eau du Wauwilermoos etait eleve a cette periode. La plupart des installations de l'âge du Bronze se trouvent ainsi a l'exterieur de la zone humide.

Neolithische Landsiedlungen zwischen Napf und Rigi

Grabungsbefunde, Lesefunde sowie Pollenanalysen zeigen, dass das Gebiet zwischen Napf und Rigi – ... more Grabungsbefunde, Lesefunde sowie Pollenanalysen zeigen, dass das Gebiet zwischen Napf und Rigi – der heutige Kanton Luzern – im Neolithikum auch ausserhalb der Feuchtbodenzonen intensiv besiedelt war. Fast die Halfte dieser Fundstellen – aus heutiger Sicht als Landsiedlungen eingeordnet – liegen am Ufer vollig ausgetrockneter Gewasser bzw. im Hinterland der Feuchtbodensiedlungen. Haufig vertreten sind aber auch Fundstellen an Hanglagen oder auf Hugelkuppen. Siedlungen ausserhalb des Feuchtbodenbereichs sind fur die weitere Forschung besonders wichtig, da mehrere Phasen des Neolithikums nur hier vertreten sind. Auch die „Pfahlbauten“ konnen nur verstanden werden, wenn die gleichzeitigen Landsiedlungen erforscht sind.

Fundort Seetaler Kies. Mammut und Mensch in der Eiszeit

Funde von Mammutknochen und -stosszahne aus dem Kanton Luzern werden zusammen mit weiteren Tierkn... more

Diversity of resources and volatility of metallurgical networks—multi-methodological provenance analysis of neolithic and EBA-copper-artefacts from Switzerland and eastern France

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2021

Thirty-nine Neolithic and Early Bronze Age copper objects (primarily axe blades and daggers) from... more Thirty-nine Neolithic and Early Bronze Age copper objects (primarily axe blades and daggers) from Central, southern and eastern Switzerland or eastern France were analysed typochronologically, chemically and with regard to their lead isotope ratios. This combination of methods allows for more differentiated and reliable conclusions about the provenances of the copper ores and metallurgies than the individual methods could provide in isolation. The primacy of the typochronological classification is paramount for assessing the scientific results appropriately. For the period between c. 4300 and c. 1800 BCE, there is evidence of at least seven different metallurgical traditions found in the Prealps, some of them stemming from far-away innovation hotspots. These metallurgies do not form part of a continuous tradition; instead, they emerge unexpectedly and disappear again just as abruptly. This could hint at the fragility and volatility of these strands of tradition and the groups who keep them. Between 4300 and 3500 BCE, there was a multitude of types, groups of copper compositions and isotope ratios. Arsenic plays an essential role in the composition of copper during this time. Such arsenic-enriched copper is generally referred to as ‘arsenic copper’. It is likely that a considerable share of the raw material used in arsenic copper from this first heyday of copper metallurgy originates from the Slovak or Saxon-Bohemian Ore Mountains. Nevertheless, it seems likely that arsenic copper was at least partially cast locally in the pile dwelling of the Prealps and forged into the shapes known from these areas. According to our analyses, the raw material of some of the objects found in the Swiss Prealps, whether they are arsenic copper or not, could also stem from the eastern Alpine region. Concentrations of crucible and axe blade finds are not necessarily evidence for ore deposits in close proximity, as was assumed in the case of Mondsee and Attersee; these finds could also be indicative of local salt sources, with the salt being exchanged for copper from other areas. The copper of the flanged axe blades from the last quarter of the 4th millennium BCE found mainly south of the Alps—in isolation also north of the Alps—is very similar to the early arsenic copper mentioned above. The axe blades’ distribution patterns and the ‘fingerprint’ of their lead isotope ratios suggest that this later arsenic copper has its origin in the metallurgical centres in South Tuscany. These innovations from the West Mediterranean inspired the metallurgical traditions in the South of France (e.g. Cabrières, Montagne Noire) and the south-western Alps (Massifs des Grandes Rousses, Saint Véran).

Chipped Stone Assemblage of the Layer B of the Kamyana Mohyla 1 Site (South-Eastern Ukraine) and the Issue of Kukrek in the North Meotic Steppe Region

Open Archaeology

The layer B is one of the lower layers of the long stratigraphic sequence of the Kamyana Mohyla 1... more The layer B is one of the lower layers of the long stratigraphic sequence of the Kamyana Mohyla 1 site. The layer B received eight new AMS radiocarbon dates that clarified its chronology: 7950–7300 calibrated years BC. They are in a reasonable correspondence with the dates for lower and upper layers. The lithic assemblage belongs to Kukrek cultural aspect. It is characterized by pencil-like conical cores, Kukrek inserts, Kukrek burins and Dęby burins, nongeometric microliths (oblique points). The assemblage finds close parallels in the sites of Kukrek, Ihren VIII, Melnychna Krucha SU4 and Domchi-Kaia. They can be united into Kukrek sensu stricto cultural unit. The overlying layer C yielded somewhat different complex that finds parallels in the materials of the so-called “Kukrek cultural tradition.” Due to clear stratigraphic position of these units in the Kamyana Mohyla 1 sequence, we are able to differentiate Kukrek sensu stricto and “Kukrek cultural tradition” and suggest their re...

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Neolithic Copper Artefacts from the Canton of Lucerne (Central Switzerland)

The earliest copper finds in Switzerland are usually associated with the emergence of the middle ... more The earliest copper finds in Switzerland are usually associated with the emergence of the middle Neolithic Pfyn Culture. This culture is dated to the period between approx. 3900 and 3500 BC in eastern Switzerland. At around 3800 BC it replaces the Cortaillod Culture at Lake Zurich and Lake Zug, and thus in the eastern part of central Switzerland, as well (Stöckli 2009, 203; Hügi 2006). From approx. 3750 BC copper artefacts and local copper processing are known in the Swiss sites of the Pfyn Culture. In neighbouring southern Germany, some imported copper finds are known as early as between 4300 and 4200

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Mammutfunde im Lunzerner Seetal

Jungsteinzeitlicher Ackerbau in der Wauwiler Ebene

Eine jungpaläolithische Kerbspitze aus Bergkristall von Kottwil-Seewagen 24 (Kt. Luzern/CH)

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Développement de la végétation et de l'environnement durant la Préhistoire

Chur, Marsöl : eine spätpaläolithische Fundstelle im Bündner Rheintal

Die neolithischen und bronzezeitlichen Seeufersiedlungen des zentralen Mittellandes

Schötz 1-Fischerhäusern and Wauwil-Obermoos : two Late Paleolithic sites in Wauwilermoos (canton Lucerne, Switzerland)

Network in Eastern European Neolithic and Wetland Archaeology. Scientific Cooperation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland

Valentina Todoroska BA, Archaeological Museum of Struga, underwater archaeologist in piledwelling... more

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Helvetier am Wauwilermoos und am Sempachersee

Sursee Zellmoos - Grabung der Universität Bern 2005

La Suisse centrale au Néolithique et à l'âge du Bronze: les sites palafittiques

La region du Plateau correspondant a la Suisse centrale fait figure de « classique » parmi les re... more La region du Plateau correspondant a la Suisse centrale fait figure de « classique » parmi les regions comportant des sites palafittiques. Durant des decennies, les decouvertes les plus spectaculaires s'y sont succede sur les rives des lacs de Burgaschi et de Baldegg, a Egolzwil ou a Zoug-Sumpf; elles constituent un apport essentiel a la recherche archeologique et ont alimente la controverse relative a la «question lacustre». Les fouilles menees recemment dans la region, essentiellement sur les rives du lac de Zoug, ont livre des resultats de premiere importance.

Vegetation shifts at the monumental Ukrainian site of Kamyana Mohyla during the Neolithisation period

Paleoecological analyses were conducted at Kamyana Mohyla, a monumental prehistorical site in the... more Paleoecological analyses were conducted at Kamyana Mohyla, a monumental prehistorical site in the steppic zone of the Ukraine close to the Black Sea shore. The goal was to reconstruct the vegetational environments around the site during the Neolithization, which covers the period ca. 6300 - 5000 calBC. The on-site pollen and macrofossil data suggest that steppic environments shifted during the Mesolithic and Neolithic. This ecological change occurred in several steps. Firstly, drought-adapted Chenopodiaceae started to decline during the Mesolithic before 7000 - 6500 calBC, when moisture- loving plants such as ferns and mosses increased. Secondly, at ca. 7000 - 6500 calBC. Chenopodiaceae declined further and mesophilous Trifolium repens. and Achillea. expanded. Thirdly, moisture-loving communities peaked when Ranunculus acris, which also prefers nutrient-rich environments, expanded massively at the expense of Chenopodiaceae at around the Neolithic/Eneolithic transition between 5500 t...

Multiple osteosclerotic lesions in an Iron Age skull from Switzerland (320-250 BC)--an unusual case

Swiss medical weekly, Jan 29, 2013

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Kyiv Conference- The Organiser`s Experience

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Die versteckte Bronzezeit : ein überdeckter Grabhügel bei Schötz (LU)