Bandceramic settlement of Rosmeer-Staberg

About

The band ceramic settlement of Rosmeer-Staberg is one of the earliest sites in Belgium. The origins of this farming community are located in Central Europe, on the banks of the Danube, about 5400 BC. From here, this culture spread very quickly along streams and rivers in western and northern directions. Around 5300 BC these farmers settled in Dutch Limburg (Sittard, Geleen, Beek, Elsloo and Stein). A little later they crossed the Meuse and settled in Rosmeer and surroundings. The new sedentary lifestyle of the neolithic band ceramics is best illustrated by the site on the Staberg. It was the first place in Belgium where the characteristic ground plans of the BC houses were found.

Excavations: The site on a low hill in the Limburgse Rosmeer was excavated from 1952 to 1966. Besides traces of sixteen houses from the band ceramic culture, an Iron Age settlement was also found and scattered rubble from the Roman era. The then director of the National Service for Digs, Heli Roosens, investigated a Merovingian grave field and struck in the trial slots...