Editing History of Germany (section)

==Prehistory==
{{See also|Prehistoric Europe|Archaeology of Northern Europe}}

===Paleolithic and Neolithic ages===
{{further|Paleolithic Europe|Neolithic Europe}}
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 | caption2          = The [[Lion-man|Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel]], [[Aurignacian|Aurignacian culture]], {{circa}} 41.000 BP
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 | caption3          = [[Paleolithic flute|Bone flute]] from [[Geissenklösterle|Geißenklösterle]]. [[Aurignacian|Aurignacian culture]], 43,000–35,000 BC
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Pre-human apes such as [[Danuvius guggenmosi]], who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest apes to walk on two legs prior to other species and genera such as [[Australopithecus]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=McRae |first1=Mike |title=We Just Found an 11-Million-Year-Old Ancestor That Hints How Humans Began to Walk |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/discovery-of-a-new-11-million-year-old-ancestor-reveals-how-humans-began-to-walk |work=ScienceAlert |date=6 November 2019}}</ref> The discovery of the [[Mauer 1|Homo heidelbergensis]] mandible in 1907 affirms archaic human presence in Germany by at least 600,000 years ago,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagner |first=Günther A. |date=2010 |title=Radiometric dating of the type-site for Homo heidelbergensis at Mauer, Germany |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=107 |issue=46 |pages=19726–19730 |bibcode=2010PNAS..10719726W |doi=10.1073/pnas.1012722107 |pmc=2993404 |pmid=21041630 |doi-access=free}}</ref> so stone tools were dated as far back as 1.33 million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.3390/h8030129 | doi-access=free | title=Several Lower Palaeolithic Sites along the Rhine Rift Valley, Dated from 1.3 to 0.6 Million Years | date=2019 | last1=Fiedler | first1=Lutz | last2=Humburg | first2=Christian | last3=Klingelhöfer | first3=Horst | last4=Stoll | first4=Sebastian | last5=Stoll | first5=Manfred | journal=Humanities | volume=8 | issue=3 | page=129 }}</ref> The oldest complete set of hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world was excavated from a coal mine in [[Schöningen]], [[Lower Saxony]]. Between 1994 and 1998, [[Schöningen spears|eight 380,000-year-old wooden javelins]] between {{Convert|1.82|and|2.25|m|ft|2|abbr=on}} in length were eventually unearthed.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Gerhard |last=Trnka |url=https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-10766 |title=Rezension zu: H. Thieme (Hrsg.): Die Schöninger Speere, ...es sind acht Speere...(There are eight javelins) |date=2007 |publisher=H-Soz-Kult |isbn=978-3-8062-2164-0 |access-date=1 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first=Guido |last=Kleinhubbert |date=20 April 2020 |title=Vogelkiller aus der Steinzeit |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/homo-heidelbergensis-neue-wurfwaffe-aus-der-steinzeit-entdeckt-a-8c0454ed-2c82-448c-b0fa-c38e60eea69c |access-date=23 April 2020 |publisher=SPIEGEL Akademie}}</ref>
One of the oldest buildings in the world and one of the oldest pieces of art was found in [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stanzon.husemann.net/download.php?id=201533&type=T|title=Nr.33/2015 - Homo erectus lädt in seine Welt ein|publisher=Thüringer Staatsanzeiger|date=17 August 2015|issn=0939-9135|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250214140050/http://stanzon.husemann.net/download.php?id=201533&type=T|archive-date=14 February 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1856, the fossilized bones of an extinct human species were salvaged from a limestone grotto in the [[Neander]] valley near [[Düsseldorf]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]]. The archaic nature of the fossils, now known to be around 40,000 years old, was recognized and the characteristics published in the first-ever [[paleoanthropology|paleoanthropologic]] [[species description]] in 1858 by [[Hermann Schaaffhausen]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tattersall |first1=Ian |author-link=Ian Tattersall |last2=Schwartz |first2=Jeffrey H. |author-link2=Jeffrey H. Schwartz |date=22 June 1999 |title=Hominids and hybrids: The place of Neanderthals in human evolution |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |volume=96 |issue=13 |pages=7117–7119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.13.7117 |pmc=33580 |pmid=10377375 |bibcode=1999PNAS...96.7117T |doi-access=free}}</ref> The species was named ''Homo neanderthalensis'', [[Neanderthal]] man in 1864.

The oldest traces of [[homo sapiens]] in Germany were found in the cave {{ill|Ilsenhöhle|de}} in [[Ranis]], where up to 47,500-year-old remains were discovered, among the oldest in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Geoff M. |last2=Ruebens |first2=Karen |last3=Zavala |first3=Elena Irene |last4=Sinet-Mathiot |first4=Virginie |last5=Fewlass |first5=Helen |last6=Pederzani |first6=Sarah |last7=Jaouen |first7=Klervia |last8=Mylopotamitaki |first8=Dorothea |last9=Britton |first9=Kate |last10=Rougier |first10=Hélène |last11=Stahlschmidt |first11=Mareike |last12=Meyer |first12=Matthias |last13=Meller |first13=Harald |last14=Dietl |first14=Holger |last15=Orschiedt |first15=Jörg |last16=Krause |first16=Johannes |last17=Schüler |first17=Tim |last18=McPherron |first18=Shannon P. |last19=Weiss |first19=Marcel |last20=Hublin |first20=Jean-Jacques |last21=Welker |first21=Frido |title=The ecology, subsistence and diet of ~45,000-year-old Homo sapiens at Ilsenhöhle in Ranis, Germany |journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution |date=31 January 2024 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=564–577 |doi=10.1038/s41559-023-02303-6 |pmid=38297138 |doi-access=free |pmc=10927544 |bibcode=2024NatEE...8..564S }}</ref> The remains of [[Paleolithic]] [[Homo sapiens|early modern human]] occupation uncovered and documented in several caves in the [[Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura|Swabian Jura]] include various mammoth ivory sculptures that rank among the oldest uncontested works of art and several flutes, made of bird bone and mammoth ivory that are confirmed to be the oldest musical instruments ever found. The 41,000-year-old [[Löwenmensch figurine]] represents the oldest uncontested figurative work of art and the 40,000-year-old [[Venus of Hohle Fels]] has been asserted as the oldest uncontested object of human figurative art ever discovered.<ref name="Conard">{{Cite journal |last=Conard |first=Nicholas J. |date=2009 |title=A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=459 |issue=7244 |pages=248–252 |bibcode=2009Natur.459..248C |doi=10.1038/nature07995 |pmid=19444215 |s2cid=205216692}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ice Age Lion Man is the world's earliest figurative sculpture – The Art Newspaper |url=http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 |website=The Art Newspaper |access-date=24 November 2013 |archive-date=10 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810061713/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Ice-Age-iLion-Mani-is-worlds-earliest-figurative-sculpture/28595 |url-status=dead }}{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Venus of Hohle Fels |url=http://donsmaps.com/hohlefelsvenus.html |website=donsmaps.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 May 2012 |title=Earliest music instruments found |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18196349}}</ref> These artefacts are attributed to the [[Aurignacian]] culture.

Between 12,900 and 11,700 years ago, north-central Germany was part of the [[Ahrensburg culture]] (named for [[Ahrensburg]]).

[[File:Smac Neolithikum 122.jpg|thumb|[[Stroke-ornamented ware culture]] settlement with [[Neolithic long house|long houses]] and
[[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|circular enclosures]] in [[Dresden]], c. 4700 BC|211x211px]]

The first groups of early farmers different from the indigenous hunter-gatherers to migrate into Europe came from a population in western [[Anatolia]] at the beginning of the [[Neolithic Europe|Neolithic]] period between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Eva |last=Fernández |date=5 June 2014 |title=Ancient DNA Analysis of 8000 B.C. Near Eastern Farmers Supports an Early Neolithic Pioneer Maritime Colonization of Mainland Europe through Cyprus and the Aegean Islands |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=10 |issue=6 |page=e1004401 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004401 |pmc=4046922 |pmid=24901650 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Central Germany was one of the primary areas of the [[Linear Pottery culture]] ({{Circa|5500 BC|4500 BC}}), which was partially contemporary with the [[Ertebølle culture]] ({{Circa|5300 BC|3950 BC}}) of Denmark and northern Germany. The construction of the Central European [[Neolithic circular enclosures in Central Europe|Neolithic circular enclosure]]s falls in this time period with the best known and oldest being the [[Goseck circle]], constructed {{Circa|4900 BC}}. Afterwards, Germany was part of the [[Rössen culture]], [[Michelsberg culture]] and [[Funnelbeaker culture]] ({{Circa|4600 BC|2800 BC}}). The oldest traces for the use of wheel and wagon ever found are located at a northern German Funnelbeaker culture site and date to around 3400 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=3400 BC: The oldest evidence for the use of the wheel and wagon originates from Northern Germany |url=https://www.uni-kiel.de/en/details/news/051-wheel-tracks |publisher=Kiel University}}</ref>

===Bronze Age===
{{See also|Bronze Age Europe|Unetice culture|Nordic Bronze Age|Tumulus culture|Urnfield culture}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Nebra disc 1.jpg | width1 = 165 | caption1 = The [[Nebra sky disc]], [[Unetice culture]], {{Circa|1800–1600 BC}}<ref name="Halle">{{Cite web |title=Nebra Sky Disc |url=https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/en/nebra-sky-disc.html |website=Halle State Museum of Prehistory}}</ref> | image2 = Speyer-2009-historisches-museum-026.jpg| width2 = 140 | caption2  = [[Golden Hat of Schifferstadt]], [[Urnfield culture]], c. 1400 BC}}

The settlers of the [[Corded Ware culture]] ({{Circa|2900 BC|2350 BC}}), that had spread all over the fertile plains of Central Europe during the Late Neolithic were of [[Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] ancestry. The Indo-Europeans had, via mass-migration, arrived into the heartland of Europe around 4,500 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |last12=Mittnik |first12=Alissa |last13=Bánffy |first13=Eszter |last14=Economou |first14=Christos |last15=Francken |first15=Michael |last16=Friederich |first16=Susanne |last17=Pena |first17=Rafael Garrido |last18=Hallgren |first18=Fredrik |last19=Khartanovich |first19=Valery |last20=Khokhlov |first20=Aleksandr |last21=Kunst |first21=Michael |last22=Kuznetsov |first22=Pavel |last23=Meller |first23=Harald |last24=Mochalov |first24=Oleg |last25=Moiseyev |first25=Vayacheslav |last26=Nicklisch |first26=Nicole |last27=Pichler |first27=Sandra L. |last28=Risch |first28=Roberto |last29=Rojo Guerra |first29=Manuel A. |last30=Roth |first30=Christina |last31=Szécsényi-Nagy |first31=Anna |last32=Wahl |first32=Joachim |last33=Meyer |first33=Matthias |last34=Krause |first34=Johannes |last35=Brown |first35=Dorcas |last36=Anthony |first36=David |last37=Cooper |first37=Alan |last38=Alt |first38=Kurt Werner |last39=Reich |first39=David |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=Nature |date=11 June 2015 |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |pmid=25731166 |pmc=5048219 |arxiv=1502.02783 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H }}</ref>

By the late [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]], the [[Urnfield culture]] ({{Circa|1300 BC|750 BC}}) had replaced the [[Bell Beaker culture|Bell Beaker]], [[Unetice culture|Unetice]] and [[Tumulus culture]]s in central Europe,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iñigo Olalde |date=8 March 2018 |title=The Beaker Phenomenon and the Genomic Transformation of Northwest Europe |journal=Nature |publisher=National Center for Biotechnology |volume=555 |issue=7695 |pages=190–196 |bibcode=2018Natur.555..190O |doi=10.1038/nature25738 |pmc=5973796 |pmid=29466337}}</ref> whilst the [[Nordic Bronze Age]] had developed in Scandinavia and northern Germany. The name comes from the custom of [[cremation|cremating]] the dead and placing their ashes in [[urn]]s, which were then buried in fields. The first usage of the name occurred in publications over grave sites in southern Germany in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite thesis |author=Louwen, A.J |date=2021 |type=PhD |publisher=Leiden University |title=Breaking and making the ancestors. Piecing together the urnfield mortuary process in the Lower-Rhine-Basin, c. 1300–400 BC |url=https://www.academia.edu/85067342}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Probst |first1=Ernst |title=Deutschland in der Bronzezeit : Bauern, Bronzegiesser und Burgherren zwischen Nordsee und Alpen |date=1996 |publisher=C. Bertelsmann |location=München |isbn=978-3570022375 |page=258}}</ref> Over much of Europe, the Urnfield culture followed the [[Tumulus culture]] and was succeeded by the [[Hallstatt culture]].<ref name=chadcorc>{{cite book|last=Chadwick and Corcoran|first=Nora and J.X.W.P.|title=The Celts|year=1970|publisher=Penguin Books|pages=28–29}}</ref> The [[Italic peoples]], including the [[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latins]], from which the [[Roman people|Romans]] emerged, come from the Urnfield culture of central Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saupe |first1=Tina |last2=Montinaro |first2=Francesco |last3=Scaggion |first3=Cinzia |last4=Carrara |first4=Nicola |last5=Kivisild |first5=Toomas |last6=D’Atanasio |first6=Eugenia |last7=Hui |first7=Ruoyun |last8=Solnik |first8=Anu |last9=Lebrasseur |first9=Ophélie |last10=Larson |first10=Greger |last11=Alessandri |first11=Luca |last12=Arienzo |first12=Ilenia |last13=De Angelis |first13=Flavio |last14=Rolfo |first14=Mario Federico |last15=Skeates |first15=Robin |last16=Silvestri |first16=Letizia |last17=Beckett |first17=Jessica |last18=Talamo |first18=Sahra |last19=Dolfini |first19=Andrea |last20=Miari |first20=Monica |last21=Metspalu |first21=Mait |last22=Benazzi |first22=Stefano |last23=Capelli |first23=Cristian |last24=Pagani |first24=Luca |last25=Scheib |first25=Christiana L. |title=Ancient genomes reveal structural shifts after the arrival of Steppe-related ancestry in the Italian Peninsula |journal=Current Biology |date=June 2021 |volume=31 |issue=12 |pages=2576–2591.e12 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.022 |pmid=33974848 |s2cid=234471370 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2021CBio...31E2576S |hdl=11585/827581 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aneli |first1=Serena |last2=Caldon |first2=Matteo |last3=Saupe |first3=Tina |last4=Montinaro |first4=Francesco |last5=Pagani |first5=Luca |title=Through 40,000 years of human presence in Southern Europe: the Italian case study |journal=Human Genetics |date=October 2021 |volume=140 |issue=10 |pages=1417–1431 |doi=10.1007/s00439-021-02328-6 |pmc=8460580 |pmid=34410492 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Saupe|Montinaro|Scaggion|Carrara|2021}} "The results suggest that the Steppe-related ancestry component could have first arrived through Late N/Bell Beaker groups from [[Central Europe]]."</ref>
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===Iron Age===
{{See also|Iron Age Europe|Archaeology of Northern Europe|Celts}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Heuneburg 600 B.C..jpg| width1 = 178 | caption1  = The [[Hallstatt culture|Celtic]] city of [[Heuneburg]] by the Danube, {{Circa|600 BC}}, the oldest city north of the Alps<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city|title=Celtic City: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg|website=heuneburg-pyrene.de|accessdate=31 July 2024}}</ref>| image2 = Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave reconstruction.jpg | width2 = 155 | caption2 = The [[Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave]], [[Hallstatt culture]], 530 BC}}

The [[Hallstatt culture]], which had developed from the Urnfield culture, was the predominant Western and Central European culture from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and during the early [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] (8th to 6th centuries BC). It was followed by the [[La Tène culture]] (5th to 1st centuries BC).

The people who had adopted these cultural characteristics in central and southern Germany are regarded as [[Celts]]. How and if the Celts are related to the Urnfield culture remains disputed. However, Celtic cultural centres developed in central Europe during the late Bronze Age ({{circa|1200 BC}} until 700 BC). Some, like the [[Heuneburg]], the oldest city north of the Alps,<ref name="auto1"/> grew to become important cultural centres of the Iron Age in Central Europe, that maintained trade routes to the [[Mediterranean]]. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] mentioned a Celtic city at the Danube – ''Pyrene'', that historians attribute to the Heuneburg. Beginning around 700 BC (or later), [[Germanic peoples]] (Germanic tribes) from [[Archaeology of Northern Europe|southern Scandinavia and northern Germany]] expanded south and gradually replaced the Celtic peoples in Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heuneburg (Herbertingen-Hundersingen) |url=http://www.landeskunde-online.de/rhein/geschichte/antike/kelten/heuneburg/genese.htm |access-date=17 April 2020 |publisher=Landeskunde Online}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1857">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9rfAAAAMAAJ |title=Herodoti Musae |date=1857 |publisher=in bibliopolio Hahniano}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1829">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q45PxRGLB5sC&pg=PA110 |title=Herodoti historiarum libri IX |date=1829 |publisher=G. Fr. Meyer |page=110}}</ref><ref name="Gimbutas2011">{{Cite book |first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvtRdigDtFoC&pg=PA312 |title=Bronze Age cultures in Central and Eastern Europe |date=25 August 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-1116-6814-7 |page=100}}</ref><ref name="Milisauskas2002">{{Cite book |first=Sarunas |last=Milisauskas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31LFIITb3LUC&pg=PA363 |title=European Prehistory: A Survey |date=30 June 2002 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-3064-7257-2 |page=363}}</ref><ref name="RankinRankin1996">{{Cite book |first1=David |last1=Rankin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdqk4vXqntgC |title=Celts and the Classical World |last2=H. D. Rankin |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4151-5090-3}}</ref>
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