Archaeologists in Großköllnbach (Lower Bavaria, Dingolfing- Landau district, Germany) recently uncovered the remains of an adolescent who lived about 7,000 years ago, buried in an unusually twisted posture that departs from typical practices of the Linear Pottery culture (Linienbandkeramik or LBK).

The discovery occurred during preventive excavations ahead of housing construction in the Steigäcker IV development area. After about five weeks of work, the team noticed a dark soil discoloration that turned out to be a pit containing human bones, located near one of the settlement’s ancient ovens.

The remains date to the early Neolithic period (roughly associated with the LBK’s presence in the region around 5300- 5000 BC), when the first farming communities were establishing permanent settlements across Central Europe.

Unusual burial position and other puzzles

People of the Linear Pottery culture commonly used “crouched” or “hocker” burials: the body was laid on its side with legs drawn up, resembling a sleeping posture. In this case, the right leg was bent up extremely sharply (a position that would have been painful for a living person), while the left leg was angled outward. This creates a striking, twisted overall posture.

The pit itself was irregular and sloping rather than carefully prepared. Archaeologists (including district archaeologist Dr. Florian Eibl) suggest the body may have slipped down the incline after placement, shifting bones or pressing them into soft clay. It is unclear whether the unusual pose was intentional (possibly a special or secondary burial in a pit originally dug for another purpose) or resulted from post- depositional movement.

The cervical spine also shows a pronounced deformation. Researchers have not yet determined whether this reflects a pathological condition or physical peculiarity from the individual’s lifetime, or whether it developed after burial due to pressure and decomposition processes. Initial examination confirms the person was an adolescent (growth plates/epiphyses at the ends of the long bones had not yet fully fused); exact age and sex remain to be clarified through further anthropological study. The skeleton has been fully recovered and transferred to the district archaeology department for detailed analysis.

Broader settlement context

The skeleton is part of a larger LBK settlement landscape. Excavators documented around 150 features, including traces of three large longhouses (likely no more than two standing at the same time), well-preserved hearths, and domed clay ovens insulated underneath with packed pebbles. Grinding slabs (some of stone that may have come from beyond the Danube or the Bavarian Forest) indicate processing of grain and possible longer- distance procurement of materials. These finds offer insights into daily life, cooking, and communal activities among early farmers.⁠

The site is not open to the public, and further scientific results (including more on the adolescent’s life, health, and the circumstances of burial) are expected once analyses are complete. The find highlights both the routine settlement remains of Europe’s first farmers and the occasional anomalies that continue to raise questions about individual lives and burial practices roughly seven millennia later.

The Linear Pottery culture (LBK), also known as the Linearbandkeramik, Linear Band Ware, or Danubian culture, was a major early Neolithic archaeological . It flourished roughly from c. 5500- 4500 BC (with some regional variation in start and end dates) and represents one of the first widespread farming societies in the region.

It takes its name from the distinctive decoration on its pottery: simple handmade vessels (cups, bowls, vases, and jugs) ornamented with incised or impressed linear bands, spirals, meanders, and related geometric patterns. Early phases feature more uniform styles; later ones show increasing regional variation.

Origins and spread

The culture emerged in the middle Danube region (areas of modern Hungary, Slovakia, Bohemia, and Moravia), likely deriving from or strongly influenced by earlier Balkan farming groups such as the Starčevo- Körös- Criș complex.

From there it expanded rapidly westward and northward along river valleys (Danube, Rhine, Elbe, and others), covering a vast area from western Hungary and Ukraine in the east to the Paris Basin, the Netherlands, and parts of France in the west, spanning roughly 1,500 km in a few centuries at an average rate of about 4 km per year.⁠

This expansion marks a key stage in the Neolithization of Europe: the shift from Mesolithic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to sedentary agriculture, driven primarily by the migration of farming communities (with some admixture of local hunter- gatherer ancestry confirmed by ancient DNA).

Economy and daily life

LBK communities practiced mixed farming on fertile loess soils:

• Crops: Emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, peas, lentils, flax, and others.
• Animals: Cattle (dominant), sheep, goats, and pigs. Evidence of dairy use (including possible early cheese-making) appears in pottery residues from many sites.
• They used to slash- and- burn or shifting cultivation in some areas and produced polished stone adzes (“shoe- last” adzes), flint tools, grinding stones, and bone implements.

Settlements consisted of rectangular timber longhouses (often 20- 45 and more meters long, among the largest free- standing buildings of their time), built with posts, wattle- and- daub walls, and sometimes partial upper stories. Houses were typically arranged in small villages or clusters along river terraces. Some sites include enclosures, wells (showing sophisticated carpentry), and evidence of trade in flint, obsidian, amber, and other materials.

Burial practices

Typical burials were flexed (“crouched” or hocker) inhumations, with the body laid on its side and legs drawn up, often in pits lined with stone, clay, or plaster. Both individual graves and small cemeteries occur; grave goods (pottery, tools, ornaments) sometimes appear and can vary by age or sex. Cremation was also practiced in some cases. Unusual or special burials (such as the recently reported twisted adolescent skeleton from Großköllnbach, Bavaria) occasionally deviate from the norm.

Society and later developments

Early LBK material culture was relatively uniform, suggesting shared traditions across a wide area. Later phases show greater regionalization. Society appears largely egalitarian in many respects, though evidence of interpersonal and intergroup violence increases toward the end of the culture (e.g., mass graves at sites such as Talheim, Herxheim, and others). Some communities show signs of social stress, fortified settlements, or abrupt endings.

Around 4500 BC (or earlier in some regions), the LBK gave way to a series of successor cultures, including the Stroke- ornamented ware, Rössen, Lengyel, and others, through a combination of cultural transformation, population changes, environmental factors, and possible conflict.⁠

The Linear Pottery culture is central to understanding how farming, permanent villages, and new social patterns first took hold across much of temperate Europe. Major excavated sites include Bylany (Czech Republic), Langweiler and Zwenkau (Germany), Vráble and Nitra (Slovakia), and many others along the major river systems.

Climate played a role in the dynamics of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK, c. 5500- 4500 BC), but it was rarely a sole or immediately catastrophic driver.

Research frames climate as one factor among others (social, demographic, economic) that influenced population trends, expansion, resilience, and eventual transformation into successor Middle Neolithic cultures.

Climatic background of the LBK period

The LBK developed during the mid- Holocene Climatic Optimum (Atlantic period), which featured generally warmer and wetter conditions than today across much of Central Europe. Mean annual temperatures were roughly 1- 2°C higher in some areas (e.g., estimates around 11.4°C on the Aldenhovener Plateau in the Rhineland). Precipitation was often 8- 22% higher than modern levels, with relatively mild, wetter winters and somewhat drier summers in certain reconstructions. These conditions favored early farming on fertile loess soils along river valleys.⁠

However, the period was not uniformly stable. Paleoclimate proxies (tree rings, lake sediments, ice cores, pollen records) show repeated short- term fluctuations in temperature, rainfall, and solar activity, including links to ice- rafted debris (IRD) events and phases of rapid climate change (e.g., around the 5.9 ka / IRD 5b interval spanning much of the LBK’s duration).

Impacts on population, farming, and expansion

• Rainfall and population: Studies correlating high- resolution archaeological chronologies (especially in western Central Europe) with rainfall proxies find that periods of decreased or irregular precipitation often coincide with population declines, while increased rainfall phases align with growth. This is particularly notable after about 5150 cal BC.
• Agricultural vulnerability: LBK farming (emmer/einkorn wheat, barley, pulses, cattle husbandry) was sensitive to spring- summer rainfall variability, which is critical for crop development. Tree- ring data from Bavaria indicate high year- to- year hydroclimatic variability during much of the LBK, with frequent extreme dry or wet seasons until roughly 5100 BC. Such extremes could reduce yields or increase disease risk.
• Expansion phases: Some reconstructions link LBK origin and westward and northward expansions to intervals of climatic stress or cooling (e.g., around 7.7 and 7.2 ka events). Other work associates geographic expansion with multi- century phases of warmer winters (by ~2.5°C on average in some models) and increased precipitation, conditions well-suited to certain crops like einkorn. Decline phases correlate with cooler winters and reduced summer rainfall in some regions.⁠

Overall, climate often acted as a stabilizing or destabilizing influence rather than a direct force. Early LBK societies showed resilience; most fluctuations did not cause immediate collapse. Resilience- theory approaches (adaptive cycles) describe climate as one component in broader processes of growth, increasing fragility, and reorganization.⁠

Role in the late LBK and cultural transformation

Toward the end of the 6th millennium BC, a trend toward reduced rainfall, punctuated by short- term wet episodes, created a volatile climatic setting. During this time the LBK reached peak population levels in western Central Europe while also showing evidence of heightened conflict and warfare.

Population then declined, and the culture gradually disappeared from the record, replaced by Middle Neolithic groups (e.g., Stroke- ornamented ware, Rössen).

Climate is viewed as a contributing stressor alongside possible soil exhaustion, social tensions, disease, or intergroup violence,not the single cause.⁠

Regional differences matter, core loess areas may have responded differently from peripheral or lowland zones. Some multi- agent models and pollen- based reconstructions explore how climatic shifts affected settlement trajectories and farmer- hunter- gatherer interactions, but endogenous social factors remain important.

In summary, the LBK thrived under generally favorable mid- Holocene conditions that supported early agriculture, yet it was sensitive to rainfall variability and short- term fluctuations. Climate helped shape expansion, population cycles, and the culture’s eventual transformation, typically in combination with human and environmental factors rather than as a deterministic force.

Ongoing research continues to refine the precise timing and regional strength of these links using better-dated proxies and archaeological sequences.