HÖHENSIEDLUNGEN DER SPÄTBRONZE- UND ÄLTEREN EISENZEIT AN DER SAALE BEI JENA UND IN MITTELDEUTSCHLAND

A lot of hilltop settlements were founded in the Late Bronze Age in Central Germany (Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt). The building of castles in different quantity and quality continues in the Late Hallstatt- and Early La Tène cultures. There are about 150 hilltop settlements which mainly were founded near the rivers like Elbe, Saale etc. To these river-oriented castles belong the three hilltop settlements by the Saale near Jena: Jenzig, Johannisberg and Alter Gleisberg, which tell their own little history of castle building. In the last years, research excavations of the University of Jena were undertaken at the hilltop settlement Alter Gleisberg, to make ascertained statements about chronology, construction of fortification and interior structure. Now we have new knowledge of settlement and function especially for the northern part of the hilltop of Alter Gleisberg. Therefore the hilltop Alter Gleisberg was a central place of prime range with different central functions as protection, representation of authority, control of trade and traffic, craftsmanship and industries especially metalworking industries. On the Jenzig site, several hoards indicate a sacral function.