Editing Essen (section)

=== Early history ===
The oldest archaeological find, the ''[[Vogelheimer Klinge]]'', dates back to {{BCE|280,000{{snd}}250,000}}. It is a [[blade]] found in the borough of {{Interlanguage link multi|Vogelheim|de}} in the northern part of the city during the construction of the [[Rhine–Herne Canal]] in 1926.<ref>[https://media.essen.de/media/wwwessende/aemter/41/stadtarchiv/1_ergrabene_zeit.pdf "Ergrabene Zeiten"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071935/https://media.essen.de/media/wwwessende/aemter/41/stadtarchiv/1_ergrabene_zeit.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}, City of Essen, undated {{in lang|de}}</ref> Other artifacts from the [[Stone Age]] have also been found, although these are not overly numerous. Land utilization was very high—especially due to mining activities during the Industrial Age—and any more major finds, especially from the [[Mesolithic]] era, are not expected. Finds from {{BCE|3,000}} and onwards are far more common, the most important one being a [[Megalith|Megalithic tomb]] found in 1937. Simply called ''Chest of Stone'' ({{lang|de|Steinkiste}}), it is referred to as "Essen's earliest preserved example of architecture".<ref>Detlef Hopp: ''Essen vor der Geschichte – Die Archäologie der Stadt bis zum 9. Jahrhundert'', in Borsdorf (Ed.): ''Essen – Geschichte einer Stadt'', 2002, p. 32</ref>

Essen was part of the settlement areas of several Germanic peoples ([[Chatti]], [[Bructeri]], [[Marsi (Germanic)|Marsi]]), although a clear distinction among these groupings is difficult.

The {{ill|Alteburg (Essen)|de|lt=Alteburg}} castle in the south of Essen dates back to the eighth century, the nearby {{ill|Herrenburg|de}} to the ninth century.

Recent research into [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geographia]]'' has identified the ''polis'' or ''[[oppidum]]'' [[Navalia]] as Essen.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/mapping-ancient-germania-berlin-researchers-crack-the-ptolemy-code-a-720513.html "Mapping Ancient Germania: Berlin Researchers Crack the Ptolemy Code"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802160750/http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/mapping-ancient-germania-berlin-researchers-crack-the-ptolemy-code-a-720513.html |date=2 August 2014 }}, ''[[Der Spiegel]]''</ref>