View source for Altes Lager (Menzlin)

{{Infobox ancient site
|name = Altes Lager
|native_name =
|alternate_name =
|image = Menzlin Schiffssetzungen 24.JPG
|alt =
|caption = [[Stone ship]]s at Altes Lager Menzlin
|map_type = Germany Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
|map_caption = Location in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
|map_size = 250px
|coordinates = {{coord|53|52|15|N|13|37|45|E|display=inline,title}}
|location = [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]], [[Germany]]
|region =
|type = Settlement
|part_of =
|length =
|width =
|area =
|height =
|builder =
|material =
|built =
|abandoned =
|epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" -->
|cultures =
|dependency_of =
|occupants =
|event =
|excavations =
|archaeologists =
|condition = In ruins
|ownership =
|management =
|public_access =
|website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
|notes =
}}
'''Altes Lager''' ([[German language|German]] for "Old Camp") is a site {{convert|1.5|km|mi}} south of the village of [[Menzlin]] near [[Anklam]], [[Western Pomerania]], [[Germany]]. The site, on the banks of the river [[Peene]], was an important [[Viking]] trading-post during the [[Viking Age]]. At that time, [[Pomerania]] was inhabited by Slavic [[Wends]], yet several Viking trading-posts were set up along the coast (the nearest were [[Ralswiek]] to the [[West]] and [[Jomsborg]]/[[Wollin]] to the east).
The settlement covered an area of approximately 18 hectares in the 9th century. Remnants of a bridge and a cemetery have been excavated. Some artifacts found in the graves originated in [[Ireland]] and in the [[Baltic states|lands east of the Baltic]]. Following Scandinavian customs, the dead were buried either in [[stone ship]]s, i.e. ship-like graves, or within [[stone circle (Iron Age)|stone circles]]. The graves excavated so far have been found to be the tombs of women. Most findings date back to the 9th and 10th centuries.
== Name ==
The ancient name of the site is unknown. ''Altes Lager'', the current name, dates back to  [[Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg]]'s 1676 siege of [[Anklam]].
== Sources ==
* J. Hermann (Hrsg): ''Archäologie in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik''. Stuttgart 1989
* Ulrich Schoknecht: ''Menzlin: Ein frühgeschichtlicher Handelsplatz an der Peene. Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Bezirke Rostock''. Schwerin und Neubrandenburg 1977
* H. Keiling: ''Menzlin, frühstädtisches Zentrum der Slawen mit Niederlassung skandinavischer Händler''. In: H.Keiling: ''[[Archäologische Freilichtmuseum Groß Raden]]''. Museumskatalog 7, Museum für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Schwerin 1989
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== See also ==
*[[Pomerania during the Early Middle Ages]]
{{Baltic emporia}}
{{Pomerania}}
{{Ship burial customs in Germanic paganism}}
[[Category:Former populated places in Germany]]
[[Category:History of Pomerania]]
[[Category:Viking Age populated places]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Germany]]