Groß Pampau, GR, c. 500,000 BP, Site, Characteristic Tools, Bifaces / d)pampaustrat

Comment: Section from Ohle gravel pit, Groß Pampau, GR. Section illustration by Herbst (1983) [no citation, in Lierl, H-J. (1985). Der Miozäne glimmerton von Gross Pampau. Der Geschiebesammler 19(1):9-29]. The Weichsel glacial did not reach the Pampau area. Saale/Riss III (or Treene Glacial, OIS 7 = c. 200,000 BP) likely deposited the Saale/Riss gravels at the site as it was the last glaciation to cover this area, its end moraine some 40 km to the south. Saale III would have brought stones from c. 200,000 or earlier periods. The Miocene level is the only fresh surface exposure of the Langfeldian (Upper Miocene) in NW Germany [Hinsch, W. (1990). Biostratigraphy of Reinbekian/Levesauian/Lüneburgian/Langfeldian boundary stratotypes in Pampau area (SE Holstein). Veroff. Übersee-Museum A10:55-79. Bremen.] The "Feinsand" deposit appears comparable to the Pliocene and lower Quaternary quartz sands described in Duphorn, K. et al. (1973). Pleistocene and Holocene. Eiszeitalter u. Gegenwart, Band 23/24, s. 222-250. They note that there are no moraines older than the Elster/Mindel in the Hamburg and northern Lower Saxony area and Elster sediments generally overly Tertiary beds.

Artifacts presented in these Pampau galleries, unless otherwise noted, are collected from the deep gravel layar of the Elster/Mindel deposits (OIS 12) and presumably any artifacts would be from sites dating to OIS 13 = c. 500,000 BP or older. Of course, there is the possibility that some of these artifacts were reworked during the OIS 11 Holstein warmtimes, c. 400,000 BP, before the moraine was covered over by warmtime clays and later Rissian deposits. It is also possible that some Saale/Riss III (c. 200,000) materials in riverine channels may have dropped into the Elster moraine materials, though based on tool typology this does not appear to have been frequent or significant.

Photo © Ursel Benekendorff. The site is documented in Benekendorff, U. (1990). From the information recorder stone to a picture book of the stone age. Archaeologische Berichten 20:14-28 and 43-65 (Elst, NL).