1 Book review: Cziesla, E. & Ibeling, T. (eds.) (2014). Autobahn 4. Fundplatz der Extraklasse. Archäologie unter der neuen Bundesautobahn bei Arnoldsweiler. Langenweissenbach: Beier & Beran. 308 pages. ISBN 978-3-95742-012-2. Piet van de Velde & Luc Amkreutz Just leaing through this book, a Bandkeramik ar- chaeologist is immediately pleased by several sub- jects that catch one’s eye. Firstly, a well-preserved LBK cemetery has been excavated at Arnoldswei- ler near Düren in the vicinity of Aix-la-Chapelle. Secondly, an important part of the excavation area has not or only hardly been subject to soliluction, so the features of the village (houses, pits, even in- cluding an earthwork) have not been stripped away. Thirdly, water was anciently obtained mo- stly from more or less regular pits not wooden wells – although four such features have been found on the site as well. More generally, out of its 298 pages, 143 well-illustrated pages of the book are dedicated speciically to Early Neolithic re- mains; additionally, several chapters are bearing in mind a wider scale such as on soil properties. Then there are also several chapters on non-Neoli- thic (earlier and later) inds and indings. The oc- casion of this (commercial) excavation arose from the diversion of the motorway BAB 4 between Co- logne [Köln] and Aix-la-Chapelle [Aachen] where it crosses the Hambach Forest. Some more detailed commentaries Renate Gerlach, Peter Fischer, Alexandra Hilgers, Jens Protze and Jutta Meurers-Balke describe their research on the genesis of the nearby Elleb- ach valley and the settlement soils. When the irst farmers settled in this glen it had no open water: because of the virgin forest the ground water ta- ble was some three metres below the surface so they had to dig wells. It came as a surprise that OSL dating of the black earth / para-brown earth which is generally assumed to be Pre-neolithic in origin was not that early at all but rather formed in the End-Neolithic period. This latter colluvial soil is overlying the LBK loor: in places the Early Neolithic AI horizon was still visible. Horst Husmann and Erwin Cziesla wrote the largest chapter in this book. It deals with the LBK settlement which, with its houses, wells and wa- terholes, and the adjacent earthwork is one of the “large” villages in the Rhineland – although only partially excavated. Some 2.932 features could be assigned to this settlement, leaving a considerable southern part of it uncovered. However, the ceme- tery to the NW could be investigated probably completely. Situated on a valley bottom, there was nevertheless no brook anywhere near to the villa- ge seven thousand years ago. Remains of 42 houses have been secured, among which one to the North is of the old Mohelnice type and is loca- ted separately from the main group; this last struc- ture is interpreted as the irst/pioneer house at the site. In the book the plans of the individual houses are presented, together with a rather short discus- sion of a selection of them and their associated fea- tures 1 and their contents summarized. An in- teresting feature is a palisade screen separating the cemetery from the houses; some other minor fences are scattered over the village. Earliest AMS datings and typological considerations suggest a beginning of this settlement at around 5250 B.C., i.e., in the Flomborn/Older LBK or LBK-II period, coeval with the earliest habitations at Langweiler 8 and 9, Elsloo, Geleen and Sittard. As far as the data for this settlement range, it was inhabited un- til well into the Younger LBK/LBK-IV, possibly even longer. Speciically, 23 features pertaining to 5 (possibly 7) houses relate to the LBK-II period, 9 from 3 to 5 houses to LBK-III (or Middle LBK), and 24 are associated with 3, perhaps 5 houses, dated to LBK-IV (Younger LBK); inally, 2 houses are ascribed to LBK-V (Youngest LBK.) In this village the axes of the houses steadily tend more west- ward over time. The village developed from the irst pioneer house via some widely spaced suc- cessor houses to four successive rows (sensu Rück) of at least 7 houses each, every row further to the SE and later in time (p. 94-95); per row one 1a- house-type has been built. The section on “Wells and well-like features” is highly interesting, even exciting: 12 such fea- tures have been identiied within the excavated part of the settlement. Four of these showed tra- ces of a well-mantle and eight other ones (“water holes”) have been dug into the gravel layer at ma- ximally two metres below the loess surface. Their water related function is in some cases still visible by the curved in or undercut walls in their deeper parts --this undercutting is archaeologically simi- lar to silo pit walls. Three well mantles consisted of hollowed tree trunks, one of which with ano- ther hollow trunk of smaller diameter inside; the fourth well was constructed as a square block of oaken planks within a simpler square protective construction. On the slope to the east of the LBK settlement parts of the V-ditches of two superpo- sed, possibly circular earthworks have been unco- Received: 2 Feb 2016 accepted: 11 Feb 2016 published online: 19 Feb 2016 Archäologische Informationen 39, Early View Rezensionen