Archäologisches Zentrum Hitzacker

Description

In Hitzacker (Niedersachsen), the Archäologische Zentrum Hitzacker vividly shows how people lived and settled in the Bronze Age. The open-air museum focuses on reconstructing Bronze Age ways of life and offers hands-on insights.

On an area of 15,000 m², 40 archaeological stations have been laid out. The reconstructed buildings include three Wohnstallhäuser (longhouses), a mortuary hut and a pit-house, all based on local finds. These buildings are complemented by reconstructed domestic and craft facilities. One of the longhouses houses an exhibition on central aspects of Bronze Age life from around 3,000 years ago. The ruin of another longhouse, which burned in 2008 but remained standing, serves as a research subject to investigate which traces of natural destruction remain for archaeological excavation.

The museum’s origins go back to finds discovered during construction work at Hitzacker See in 1969 (ceramic sherds and house floorplans). Planned excavations on the site in the 1970s and 1980s produced further evidence; the investigations were initiated because the enlargement of the lake and of a federal road endangered the archaeological sites. The excavation results showed dense settlement of the area from the Neolithic (from about 2,200 BC) to the 7th century BC, as well as a renewed settlement in Slavic times from the 8th century AD. In 1990 the Archäologische Zentrum Hitzacker was established as an open-air museum and the surrounding grounds (16 hectares) were designated a protected excavation area. The museum was initially managed by the responsible district archaeology office and a support association; since 2006 administrative responsibility has rested with the town of Hitzacker (Elbe). The Samtgemeinde Elbtalaue recognises the open-air museum as a venue for civil marriage ceremonies, which the museum accompanies with a supporting programme.

The centre also offers numerous craft demonstrations and participatory activities: flint knapping, bronze casting, bread baking, fire making, spinning and weaving, a pottery kiln, the production and use of pitch, and methods for storing and preserving food such as storage pits and smoking.