Kemmelberg

It is believed that the Kemmelberg was equipped with enclosures during the Middle Neolithic. Finds in other altitude sites suggest - besides a defensive use - use as a meeting place for feasts and/or ceremonies of a religious nature.

For thousands of years the Kemmelberg has also been a particularly interesting vantage point for hunter-gatherers, allowing them to observe the environment and, therefore, to locate people, prey, or herd animals.

Once people started to lead a sedentary existence, tensions could sometimes arise between groups regarding ownership of land and supplies. Groups also had a greater need for marking their territories.

On the Kemmelberg - both on the surface and in situ - traces or artefacts from the Middle Neolithic have been found.

Due to the difficult excavation conditions and the many sources of disturbance after the Middle Neolithic (such as by Iron Age fortifications, the destruction wreaked by the First World War, erosion, and so on), very few legible traces have been found. Nevertheless, it is assumed that the Kemmelberg is part of a select group of sites which were provided with 'enclosures' - fences with or without ditches - and ramparts. It is quite logical to assume that these first farming communities used the highest peaks to better protect themselves, to have a (supervisory) view of the small pieces of agricultural land below, and to be able to detect signals from people. In other high-altitude sites, finds suggest a use as a meeting place for feasts and/or ceremonies of a religious nature.

Mont d'Hubert in France, cross-section and course of dark-coloured ditch.

Sites with partially similar features were found in Carvin in France, Spiere in Belgium, and Mont d'Hubert in France, at 35km, 40km, and 80km from the Kemmelberg respectively.

The site of Mont d'Hubert is located right on the Pas de Calais (Cap Blanc Nez), with a view of the chalk cliffs of Dover, 36km from the Neolithic site.

 

RELATED KEMMELBERG LINKS:
First Farmers
Earliest Humans

EXTERNAL LINKS:
Un camp de hauteur du Néolithique sur le Mont d'Hubert à Escalles (video, in French)
Un camp de Hauteur du Néolithique au Cap Blanc-Nez (in French)
Journées Régionales de l'archéologie du Nord Pas-de-Calais spécial littoral Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 1er - 2 Oct 2015 – Escalles 'Mont d'Hubert': Une enceinte du Néolithique Moyen sur le littoral du Pas-de-Calais (in French)
L'enceinte Néolithique moyen II de Carvin 'La Gare d'Eau' (Pas-de-Calais). Présentation préliminaire (in French)

RELATED HISTORY FILES LINKS:
Early Cultures of Europe
Neolithic Farmer Cultures in Europe
Modern Belgium
Modern Netherlands

 

Text copyright © Archeo Kemmelberg. An original feature for the History Files: Kemmelberg.