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The Emperor Charlemagne's Sarcophagus or Coffin in the Aachen Cathedral
The Stone Age
Today Aachen is a place where one can live well. In this city that is nestled in a ring of forested hills, people have almost everything that they need to live. The time lies far back in history, when this area was anything but a livable place. From the surrounding hills of Lousberg Salvatorberg, and Wingertsberg, a forest so thick that it is practically impassable reaches down into the valleys. They make it hard for people to move around, and in the forest depths they can lose themselves and many dangers can be hidden in the thickets. Even more threatening are the valleys. The hollows are full of swamps where people can become miserably stuck, and from the unhealthy places many fatal illness arise. Therefore the valleys are the least appropriate places to live.
And yet the area which is today called Aachen, in fact a very attractive location for stone age man. In this time period (circa 2700 -- 1900 B.C.) we can find settlements on the hills surrounding Aachen.
Why do people stay here?
Four reasons can be given why people settled here:
1. Two-thirds of all the wind in the area surrounding Aachen comes from the southwest or the northwest. Therefore it is understandable, that people would settle into wind shadow of a chain of hills that would protect them from the western wind.
2. In the middle of the large Aachen valley basin there is something which attracts people like a magnet. At first glance it appears to be just a few puddles with steaming water, that are connected to each other by a small flowing channel and above which a scent of sulfur hovers. When one looks more closely however, the water is revealed to be a wonderful burbling treasure. Nowhere else far and wide are there such hot springs. To bathe in these waters in the summer and winter is a delicious pleasure, and in addition the hot sulfurous waters have a certain healing power. This unique water is an attraction. No other stone age camping place offers this advantage.
3. The springs do not lie in a swampy area, instead they are on the side of the mountain slope. This slope pushes itself forward like a finger in the swampy valley basin and offers an appropriate settlement area. The ground rises 10 to 12 meters above the wet surrounding areas, more gently in the south, more steeply in the north, and this means that the habitations in the settlement will not sink in mud during periods of rain. In addition this sandy hillside is a dry substrate and the swampy streams, which surround the hillside on three sides, offer a natural protection against possible enemies.
4. We believe that the men in that time survived by hunting wild animals in the endless forests. However around Aachen there is a different natural resource to be found and the people enjoyed a higher level of culture 5000 years ago than their neighbors. They showed themselves to be highly specialized technicians. On the Lousberg hill they had a regular mining operation, in which for hundreds of years, they excavated flint (2900 -- 2500 B.C.). Day in and day out throughout the year they practiced specialized jobs on several terrace shaped excavation points. Some practiced surface mining using crowbars to break flat stones off the mountain side. Others right next to them broke the flint and made ax heads and other pieces for tools or weapons. The third group transported the waste material to a dump. A fourth group acted as traders. They exported the products of this industry as half finished goods to surrounding communities.
Looking for Clues to the Past Today
Even today water bubbles up in the inner city of Aachen. The springs are among the hottest in Europe. We have even found stone age settlements in the city center. Therefore we can assume, that the hillside was already under continuous habitation from the early Stone Age. Also a nearly complete quarry has been found on the Lousberg hill. This is probably the oldest industrial monument in Germany. Researchers have found exported items from Aachen up to 200 km away , mostly ax heads. Experts can even find hints of round graves from the bronze age (about 1600 B.C.) on the Klausberg hill.
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