Sievern, Ldkr. Cuxhaven –

The area around Sievern has long been attributed special importance for the 1st millennium A.D. General interest focussed on three neighbouring fortifications called Heidenschanze, Heidenstadt, and Pipinsburg in the vicinity of which several Migration Period gold hoards have been found. Therefore the question emerged whether these finds and features indicated a political, social, cultural, and economic centre and to what degree this might have been comparable to Southern Scandinavian central places. In order to solve this problem, metal detector surveys were carried out as were geophysical measurements, drilling, trial trenches, and excavations. These form the basis for the present volume containing a reconstruction of the occupation history and significance of the Sievern region and the marshes of the Wursten district, divided into four chronological layers [1st century B.C.-A.D. 150, 150-325/50, 325-500, 6th century]. Although many parallels with Southern Scandinavia exist, there are also clear differences such as a lesser degree of specialisation, fortifications, and less continuity, owed not least to environmental change, so that an interpretation as a central region is more appropriate than as a central place.