Rössen culture
The Rössen culture or Roessen culture (German: Rössener Kultur) is a Central European culture of the middle Neolithic (4,600–4,300 BC).
| Geographical range | Central Europe: Germany except north, Low Countries, northeast France, north Switzerland and Austria: Northern and Central Hesse, Westphalia, South Lower Saxony, West Thuringia. |
|---|---|
| Period | Neolithic |
| Dates | 4,600–4,300 BC |
| Characteristics | incised pottery: footed bowls, globular cups, flint blades, axes, adzes longhouse settlements, inhumation graves |
| Preceded by | Linear Pottery Culture |
| Followed by | Michelsberg culture, Funnelbeaker culture, Pfyn culture |
It is named after the necropolis of Rössen (part of Leuna, in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt). The Rössen culture has been identified in 11 of the 16 states of Germany (it is only absent from the Northern part of the North German Plain), but also in the southeast Low Countries, northeast France, northern Switzerland and a small part of Austria.
The Rössen culture is important as it marks the transition from a broad and widely distributed tradition going back to Central Europe's earliest Neolithic LBK towards the more diversified Middle and Late Neolithic situation characterised by the appearance of complexes like Michelsberg and Funnel Beaker Culture.