Definition: Bilzingsleben is a Lower Paleolithic open air site with fabulous preservation, located in Thuringia, eastern Germany and dated between 320,000 and 412,000 years ago. The site includes the remains of what appear to have been a circle of simple oval huts each measured about 10x13 feet.
Over 200,000 stone artifacts and hundreds of bone, wood, and antler artifacts were recovered from the site. The assemblage includes a wide variety of faunal material including megafauna. Fragments from two hominin skulls recovered at Bilzingsleben are probably Homo erectus. The site was discovered in the early 19th century; excavations were conducted at the site during the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by Dietrich Mania; and into the 1990s by Jurgen Vollbrecht.
Over 200,000 stone artifacts and hundreds of bone, wood, and antler artifacts were recovered from the site. The assemblage includes a wide variety of faunal material including megafauna. Fragments from two hominin skulls recovered at Bilzingsleben are probably Homo erectus. The site was discovered in the early 19th century; excavations were conducted at the site during the late 1960s and early 1970s, led by Dietrich Mania; and into the 1990s by Jurgen Vollbrecht.
Source
Bahn, Paul. 1996. Bilzingsleben. Pp 91-92 in Brian Fagan (ed). 1996. The Oxford Companion to Archaeology[/link. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
This glossary entry is part of the [link url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/glossary/]Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
