Monrepos is an archaeological research centre and a museum of human behavioural evolution located in Germany, at Schloss Monrepos in the city of Neuwied. The development of modern human behaviour in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic is studied at the research centre and the findings of these studies are conveyed to the public in the museum. Monrepos is one of the leading institutions for the research of early human history.
Structure Monrepos is part of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Romano-Germanic Central Museum, known as RGZM), which is a member of the Leibniz Association.
Another provider for Monrepos is Prinz Maximilian zu Wied-Stiftung, supported by the Förderkreis Altsteinzeit e.V., which assists with research, teaching and the publication of research.
Monrepos collaborates closely with the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz.
Location Monrepos (French: "my rest") is a historical recreation area located on the hills above the town of Neuwied in a transition zone between the Middle Rhine valley and the Westerwald. In the extensive forests of Monrepos several long-distance hiking trails cross such as the Rheinsteig, the Rheinhöhenweg Trail, and a trail along the remains of the limes—the frontier and border defences of the Roman Empire. The previous summer residence of the princes of Wied is today the centre of an ensemble of historic buildings from the 18th and 19th century.
History
Until 2012, Monrepos was named "Research Unit Palaeolithic“ (Forschungsbereich Altsteinzeit) of the RGZM and "Museum for Ice Age Archaeology“ (Museum für die Archäologie des Eiszeitalters). The Forschungsbereich Altsteinzeit was formed in 1984, following the discovery of major Paleolithic sites in the Neuwied Basin including Niederbieber, Gönnersdorf, and Bad Breisig.
In 1988, the Forschungsbereich and Museum moved to Schloss Monrepos, which in 1986 had joined the foundation of the Prince Maximilian of WiedSabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Olaf Jöris (Hrsg.): 600.000 Jahre Menschheitsgeschichte in der Mitte Europas. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung im Museum für die Archäologie des Eiszeitalters, Schloss Monrepos, Neuwied. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz 2006, .
Manrepos was founded by Gerhard Bosinski, professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Cologne and head of the Forschungsbereich Altsteinzeit. In 2003, Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, a professor in the Institute of Prehistory and Early History at the University of Mainz, was named head of Monrepos.
Temporal and geographic frame of research The research at Monrepos encompasses the early human history of the Old World from its beginnings to the invention and spread of agriculture and stock farming. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the studies focused particularly on the rich archaeological sites from the Neuwied basin and its vicinity.M. Baales 2005, Archäologie des Eiszeitalters. Archäologie an Mittelrhein und Mosel 16, Koblenz 2005 The Lower Palaeolithic site at Miesenheim is approximately 600,000 years old and among the oldest settlement sites in Central Europe.E. Turner, Miesenheim I. Excavations at a Lower Palaeolithic Site in the Central Rhineland of Germany; with contributions by F. Bittmann, W. Boenigk, M. Frechen, D. Muller and U. Schweitzer (2000) Sites in former volcano craters in the eastern Eifel such as the Schweinskopf, the "Wannen“ volcano group, the Tönchesberg, and the Plaidter Hummerich are worldwide the only settlement sites of this type inhabited by Neanderthals.S. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, O. Jöris (Hrsg.), 600.000 Jahre Menschheitsgeschichte in der Mitte Europas. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, Mainz 2006, 18-26
Important sites of the Magdalenian cultures were excavated and studied at Andernach-Martinsberg and Gönnersdorf. Many sites studied at Monrepos such as Niederbieber, Bad Breisig, Kettig, Urbar, and the upper horizons of Andernach-Martinsberg were attributed to the Federmesser culture which were similar in behavioural development to the French Azilian if the late Ice Age. The sites were unusually well-preserved, due to being covered by tephra from the Laacher See volcanic eruption, and their discovery allowed for new scholarly insights into prehistoric land-use.S. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, O. Jöris (Hrsg.), 600.000 Jahre Menschheitsgeschichte in der Mitte Europas. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz, Mainz 2006
Monrepos began to cooperate on international projects in the 1990s, including the Ubeidiya prehistoric site and Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel.S. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, Subsistenzstrategien frühpleistozäner Hominiden in Eurasien. Taphonomische Faunenbetrachtungen der ‘Ubeidia Formation (Israel) (2005); Rabinovich, R., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Kindler, L., Goren-Inbar, N., 2011. The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov. Mammalian Taphonomy. The assemblages of Layers V-5 and V-6. Springer, Dordrecht In Dmanisi in Georgia, Monrepos has excavated a site which yielded some of the oldest hominid remains found in Eurasia.O. Joris, Der altpaläolithische Fundplatz Dmanisi (Georgien, Kaukasus). Archäologische Funde und Befunde des Liegenden Fundkomplexes im Kontext der frühen Menschheitsentwicklung (2008); More recent work in Romania examined some of the oldest sites in Eastern Europe. Research at Taforalt in Morocco examined the behaviour of early modern humans and recovered shell jewelry dated to 82,000 years Before Present.
Mesolithic sites such as DuvenseeD. Holst, Hazelnut economy of early Holocene hunter gatherers: a case study from Mesolithic Duvensee, northern Germany" Journal of Archaeological Science 2010; 37, 2871-2880 and Bedburg-KönigshovenM. Street 1991: Bedburg-Königshoven: A Pre-Boreal Mesolithic site in the Lower Rhineland (Germany). In: N. Barton, A. J. Roberts & D. A. Roe (eds.), The Late Glacial in north-west Europe: Human adaptation and environmental change at the end of the Pleistocene (London 1991) 256-270. are some of the "youngest" studied by Monrepos.
Guiding principle of research The research and the conveying of its results aim at understanding the essential behavioural characteristics of modern humans and the development of these characteristics during the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods from 2.5 Million years to approximately 7,500 years ago.
Monrepos is among the few archaeological research institutions which are guided by an own principle of research. This principle defines the objectives of research and the strategy necessary to achieve these objectives. The principle of research is based on an integrative, holistic understanding of science. Thereby, it merges the traditional dichotomy of Social and Natural Sciences. Different sources of evidence and variable contexts are connected diachronically in the principle of research. They are pooled in three research units: "time slices“, "strategies”and “social organisation”. "Time slices“ relates to the group of questions of where, when, and in which frame of references human behaviour evolved. The research units "strategies“ and "social organisation“ try to identify survival strategies and behavioural patterns as well as their social embedding. The research principle is oriented diachronically and perspectively. That means that the research is systematically looking at different time periods and levels of resolution. Large frames allow for an orientation, whereas more detailed frames allow for a punctually high resolution. By the use of a synthetic comparison of the three research units and the comparative transfer between the different time periods and levels of resolution, it is possible to reconstruct the development of human behaviour in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic.
Research foci
Particularly relevant research foci in the study of the behavioural development of early humans and hominids are the processes relating to subsistence patterns, mobility, settlement behaviour, and land-use patterns of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
Calibration and dating programmes Since the mid-1980s, Monrepos has been involved in the construction and improvement of an absolute chronology of the European Palaeolithic. In this process, comprehensive dating programs of the Upper Palaeolithic were initiated. Innovative methods of radiocarbon calibration were developed by Olaf Jöris (Monrepos) and Bernhard Weninger (University of Cologne). These methods improved the precise calibration of increasingly older radiocarbon dates integrating high-resolution climate data. The calibration program CalPal is based on this approach and was first created by Olaf Jöris and Bernhard Weninger in the mid-1990s.
Subsistence Hunting of big game is an important ability in the development of early hominid subsistence. Monrepos has set an international standard in the study of hominid hunting by the use of an elaborated set of archaeozoological methods and a diachronic perspective. For instance, big game hunting by early hominids and its evolutionary relevance was demonstrated for the first time in the archaeological record by a member of Monrepos The Role of Early Humans in the Accumulation of European Lower and Middle Palaeolithic Bone Assemblages. Ergebnisse eines Kolloquiums (1999)
Currently, the research mainly focuses on Neanderthals' hunting behaviour in the context of land use. This behaviour is examined particularly in cave sites such as the Balve cave or the Moravian Kůlna Cave and at the largest Middle Palaeolithic open-air site in Neumark-Nord.
Further research projects relating to subsistence concentrate on the late Ice age and the early Holocene. Studies from concentrations at the Mesolithic site of Duvensee were the first to show the significance of vegetation resources such as hazelnuts in the early Holocene subsistence.
Settlement behaviour The investigation and analysis of the evolution of settlement and land use behaviour represent another research focus at Monrepos. Since its inception the systematic analysis of extensively-excavated open-air sites and settlement structures has always been a focus at Monrepos. Current research involves the application of GIS-supported geostatistical approaches that allow for quantitative and verifiable analyses of settlement dynamics.S. Gaudzinski-Windheuser, O. Jöris, M. Sensburg, M. Street, E. Turner (Hrsg.) 2011, Site-internal spatial organization of hunter-gatherer societies: Case studies from the European Palaeolothic and Mesolithic. RGZM – Tagungen, Band 12 (2011), E. Cziesla, S. Eickhoff, N. Arts und D. Winter (Hrsg.), The big puzzle. International symposium on refitting stone artefacts. Kolloquium Monrepos 1987. Studies in Modern Archaeology 1. Bonn
The wide spectrum of investigated sites allows for a diachronic comparison of settlement and land-use behaviours and their links with environmental change and socioeconomic factors. Current projects involve the sites of Neumark-Nord, Bilizingsleben, Niederbieber, Breitenbach, Magdalena cave, Gönnersdorf, Andernach, Oelknitz and Duvensee.Tagungsheft der 53. Jahrestagung der Hugo Obermaier Gesellschaft in Herne 2011, https://www.obermaier-gesellschaft.de/2010_leipzig/10-04-28_Programmheft.pdfTagungsheft der 53. Jahrestagung der Hugo Obermaier Gesellschaft in Leipzig 2010 https://www.obermaier-gesellschaft.de/2011_herne/Tagungsheft_11-04-14.pdf
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