Oberkassel, Bonn

Oberkassel was first mentioned as Cassele in 722/723 and as Cassela in 1144. The name Oberkassel refers to a Roman fortification; in the course of time "Römerkastell" (Roman castle) became "Oberkassel". Oberkassel absorbed the previously separate settlements of Berghoven (mentioned for the first time in 873), Büchel (mentioned for the first time in 1202), Broich (mentioned for the first time in 1306) and Meerhausen (mentioned for the first time in 1442).

In 1870 the East Rhine Railway reached Oberkassel and crossed the Rhine by train ferry to the West Rhine Railway. The train ferry was abandoned in 1919.

In 1914, workers in a quarry detected a grave with a 50-year-old man, a 20-25-year-old woman and a dog, which came to be called the Bonn–Oberkassel dog. Carbon-14 datings estimated an age between 13,300 and 14,000 years. A study of the mitochondrial genome sequences in 2013 showed that the animal is indeed Canis lupus familiaris, not a wolf.{{Cite journal|author=Thalmann, O.|year=2013|title=Complete mitochondrial genomes of ancient canids suggest a European origin of domestic dogs|journal=Science|doi=10.1126/science.1243650|pmid=24233726|volume=342|issue=6160 |pages=871–4|bibcode=2013Sci...342..871T }}

Bonn-Oberkassel station is on the East Rhine Railway.

The Bonn Stadtbahn (city rail of Bonn) with its lines 62 and 66 serves three stations in Oberkassel: Oberkassel Nord (SWB), Oberkassel Mitte and Oberkassel Süd/Römlinghoven.

The Bundesstrasse 42 (federal highway 42) traverses the south-eastern part of Oberkassel within a {{convert|500|m|-2|abbr=on}} long tunnel. It has an exit near {{ill|Ramersdorf, Bonn|lt=Ramersdorf|de|Ramersdorf (Bonn)|tr|Ramersdorf-Bonn}}.

Oberkassel is home of several divisions of the DLR, the German Aerospace Center.

Oberkassel D999 and D998{{Cite journal |last1=Neubauer |first1=Simon |last2=Hublin |first2=Jean-Jacques |last3=Gunz |first3=Philipp |date=2018 |title=The evolution of modern human brain shape |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=eaao5961 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aao5961 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=5783678 |pmid=29376123|bibcode=2018SciA....4.5961N }} (Ok1 and 2{{Cite journal |last1=Gunz |first1=Philipp |last2=Bookstein |first2=Fred L. |last3=Mitteroecker |first3=Philipp |last4=Stadlmayr |first4=Andrea |last5=Seidler |first5=Horst |last6=Weber |first6=Gerhard W. |date=2009 |title=Early modern human diversity suggests subdivided population structure and a complex out-of-Africa scenario |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=106 |issue=15 |pages=6094–6098 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0808160106 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=19307568 |pmc=2669363 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2009PNAS..106.6094G }}) are a set of Mesolithic human skeletons discovered from 14,000 and 13,000 years{{Page needed|date=April 2024}} old deposits in a quarry. Jelinek et al. (1969) grouped these crania with Cro-Magnon under the name Homo sapiens fossilis alongside Vestonice, Brno, and Predmosti.{{Cite journal |last1=Jelinek |first1=Jan |last2=Dupree |first2=Louis |last3=Gallus |first3=Alexander |last4=Gams |first4=Helmut |last5=Narr |first5=Karl J. |last6=Poulianos |first6=Aris N. |last7=Sackett |first7=James R. |last8=Schott |first8=Lothar |last9=Suchy |first9=Jaroslav |last10=Yakimov |first10=V. P. |date=1969 |title=Neanderthal Man and Homo sapiens in Central and Eastern Europe [and Comments and Reply] |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/201049 |journal=Current Anthropology |language=en |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=475–503 |doi=10.1086/201049 |issn=0011-3204}} Typically, they are assigned to Homo sapiens, although a statue at Oberkassel is labeled as "Homo obercasseliensis"{{Citation |last=Wikipedia |first=Leonce49 at German |title=Viktor Eichler: Der erste rheinische Steinzeitmensch – Brunnen-Denkmal für den Steinzeitmenschen aus dem Doppelgrab von Oberkassel |date=2006-04-10 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bonn_memorial_homo_obercasseliensis.jpg |access-date=2023-08-02 |language=de}} and they were historically considered "close" to Neanderthals. The two individuals comprise a male and female,{{Cite journal |last=Callaway |first=Ewen |date=2023-03-09 |title=Ancient genomes show how humans escaped Europe's deep freeze |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00611-2 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=615 |issue=7951 |pages=197–198 |doi=10.1038/d41586-023-00611-2 |pmid=36859677 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..197C |issn=0028-0836}} dog bones, and two bone and antler artworks. Being a Mesolithic double burial with domesticated dogs makes the site especially important.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-06 |title=LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn |url=https://landesmuseum-bonn.lvr.de/en/forschung/projekte/oberkassel/oberkassel_1.html |access-date=2023-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206065925/https://landesmuseum-bonn.lvr.de/en/forschung/projekte/oberkassel/oberkassel_1.html |archive-date=2022-12-06 }}

File:Bonn memorial homo obercasseliensis.jpg

The burial was discovered in the quarry "Am Stingenberg", a popular basalt deposit where the double burial was discovered 99 m in a rubble dump near the base of a cliff. The initial report includes the burial and grave goods, a canine tooth, a reindeer, and a "bovid tooth" in a reddish layer with traces of charcoal.{{Cite book |last=VERWORN |first=Max |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqMRMwEACAAJ |title=Der Diluviale Menschenfund Von Obercassel Bei Bonn. Bearbeitet M. Verworn, R. Bonnet und G. Steinmann, Etc |date=1919 |language=de}} Future human finds at the site are not impossible.{{Cite web |title= |url=http://www.denkmalverein-bonn.de/PDF-Dateien/Rundschreiben_2012_03.pdf |access-date=2023-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222154449/http://www.denkmalverein-bonn.de/PDF-Dateien/Rundschreiben_2012_03.pdf |archive-date=2014-02-22 |language=de}} It was determined that the site was a place of burial and not storage, and that the hunters lived nearby in an overhang under the basalt wall. This would have provided a close location to bury their dead, but the isolated status of the double burial suggests that they did not like to lay their dead in their settlements.{{Cite journal |last1=Street |first1=Martin |last2=Terberger |first2=Thomas |last3=Orschiedt |first3=Jörg |date=2006 |title=A critical review of the German Paleolithic hominin record |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248406001370 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |language=en |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=551–579 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.04.014|pmid=17014890 |bibcode=2006JHumE..51..551S }} The graves themselves were decorated in a large amount of red pigment and with careful stone arrangement.

A dating given by Oxford in 1994 suggests an age of 12-11.35 ka,{{Cite journal |last=Baales |first=Michael |date=1998-01-01 |title=Baales & Street 1998 – Late Palaeolithic Backed-Point assemblages in the northern Rhineland: current research and changing views – NP |url=https://www.academia.edu/3616952 |journal=Notae Praehistoricae}} a conclusion also reached by the {{ill|LVR-Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege im Rheinland|de}} (Rhenish Office for the Preservation of Archaeological Monuments) through soil samples. In 2014, the 100th anniversary of the find,{{Cite web |title=Aktuelle Nachrichten {{!}} General-Anzeiger Bonn |url=https://ga.de/app/consent/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=ga.de |language=de}} genetics determined that the individuals were not as related as siblings and may be potentially helpful for Out-Of-Africa.{{Cite web |date=2013-05-08 |title=• Wann verließ der moderne Mensch Afrika? • [Archäologie Online] • • |url=http://www.archaeologie-online.de/magazin/nachrichten/wann-verliess-der-moderne-mensch-afrika-25165/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508190137/http://www.archaeologie-online.de/magazin/nachrichten/wann-verliess-der-moderne-mensch-afrika-25165/ |archive-date=2013-05-08 |language=de}}{{Cite journal |last1=Fu |first1=Qiaomei |last2=Mittnik |first2=Alissa |last3=Johnson |first3=Philip L.F. |last4=Bos |first4=Kirsten |last5=Lari |first5=Martina |last6=Bollongino |first6=Ruth |last7=Sun |first7=Chengkai |last8=Giemsch |first8=Liane |last9=Schmitz |first9=Ralf |last10=Burger |first10=Joachim |last11=Ronchitelli |first11=Anna Maria |last12=Martini |first12=Fabio |last13=Cremonesi |first13=Renata G. |last14=Svoboda |first14=Jiří |last15=Bauer |first15=Peter |date=2013 |title=A Revised Timescale for Human Evolution Based on Ancient Mitochondrial Genomes |journal=Current Biology |language=en |volume=23 |issue=7 |pages=553–559 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.044|doi-access=free |pmid=23523248 |pmc=5036973 |bibcode=2013CBio...23..553F |hdl=2158/818705 |hdl-access=free }} They discovered a meaty diet with freshwater fish and mussels,{{Cite book |title=Krieg - eine archäologische Spurensuche: Begleitband zur Sonderausstellung im Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) ; 6. November 2015 bis 22. Mai 2016 |date=2015 |publisher=Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte |isbn=978-3-8062-3172-4 |editor-last=Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte |location=Halle (Saale) |editor-last2=Meller |editor-first2=Harald |editor-last3=Schefzik |editor-first3=Michael |language=de}} as well as plant gathering. They both grew up in different locations based on enamel isotopes. They ate closely related seeds from northern Scandinavia during childhood, suggesting that it served as a refugium for hunters. The woman had given birth at least once, and the man survived a fracture to the right ulna, and an injury to the left parietal that may have been an accident or a projectile, such as a slingshot.

File:OBERCAS1.jpg

The skull of the woman is notable in having disintegrated sutures leading to mispositioning of the nasals and temporals as well as defects to the cranial base. It is 184 mm long, 129 mm in width, and 135 mm in height. The jaw apparatus is very well developed, the forehead is wider, the chin is strong, and the square orbits are large. The third right upper molar was missing in life and the molars bear less wear indicating a sooner eruption time, but otherwise the dentition was complete. The body of the woman was first suggested to be 1.55 m (~5'1 f) tall and 20 years old, but current estimates suggest 1.6-1.63 m (~5'2-5'3 f) in height and 25 years in age. The man was first considered strange because of the facial breadth and robusticity (assuming these traits are unique to Neanderthals). The male skull is 193 mm long, 144 mm wide, and 138 mm high. This individual was around 40-50 years of age, only retaining the final two molars (which sat at an incline) and an upper canine. The exposed dentin is black and the enamel is greatly worn on all remaining teeth, and the teeth not accounted for were all lost during life. Original height calculations suggested great physical strength and a stature of 1.6 m (~5'2 f), but current calculations recover 1.67-1.68 m (~5'4-5'5 f).{{Cite journal |last=Schmitz |first=Ralf W. |date=2006 |title=Homo sapiens aus Bonn-Oberkassel (Deutschland) |journal=Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn |pages=350 |language=de}} The man exhibits massiveness characteristic of Upper Paleolithic people and also seen in Neanderthals.{{Cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Osbjorn M. |date=2000 |title=Postcranial remains and the origin of modern humans |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews |language=en |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=229–247 |doi=10.1002/1520-6505(2000)9:6<229::AID-EVAN1002>3.0.CO;2-Z |issn=1060-1538|doi-access=free }}

Robert Bonnet initially attempted classification of the Oberkassel burial, finding resemblance to the Neanderthals in the skull of the man and resemblance to the Cro-Magnon humans through the narrow nose, sloped rectangular orbits, angled mandible, pronounced chin, and low, long face. He suggested that this population was subject to introgression, as evidenced by the morphology of each individual. Josef Szombathy (1920) first classified these hominins solely with Cro-Magnons, although recent research agrees that humans of this time were much more uniform than early racial classification suggests. Winfried Henke, who considers these specimens very important, investigated the burial in 1986 and especially focused on craniometric comparisons. He found "typical" European morphology, characterizing the man as "averagely robust" and the woman as "hyper-feminine type". Henke considered Oberkassel "decisive" as an ancestral role.{{Cite web |title=Die späteiszeitlichen Funde von Bonn-Oberkassel |url=https://nwbib.de/HT015676069 |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=nwbib.de |language=de}}{{Cite journal |last=Henke |first=Winfried |date=1986 |title=Die morphologischen Affinitäten der magdalénienzeitlichen Menschenfunde von Oberkassel. |journal=Bonner Jahrbücher |volume=186 |pages=331 |language=de}}

{{Main|Western Hunter-Gatherer}}

The two Oberkassel specimens (c. 14 kya) represent the earliest yet found evidence for Western Hunter-Gatherer ancestry (WHG). The Oberkassel ancestry was found to be also close to the Gravettian Arene Candide 16 genome. The observed maternal haplogroups are U5, while the Y-chromosome of the male specimen belongs to a subclade of I-M170.{{Cite journal |last1=Posth |first1=Cosimo |last2=Yu |first2=He |last3=Ghalichi |first3=Ayshin |last4=Rougier |first4=Hélène |last5=Crevecoeur |first5=Isabelle |last6=Huang |first6=Yilei |last7=Ringbauer |first7=Harald |last8=Rohrlach |first8=Adam B. |last9=Nägele |first9=Kathrin |last10=Villalba-Mouco |first10=Vanessa |last11=Radzeviciute |first11=Rita |last12=Ferraz |first12=Tiago |last13=Stoessel |first13=Alexander |last14=Tukhbatova |first14=Rezeda |last15=Drucker |first15=Dorothée G. |date=2023 |title=Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers |journal=Nature |volume=615 |issue=7950 |pages=117–126 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=9977688 |pmid=36859578 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..117P |quote=The two 14 ka Oberkassel individuals mark the earliest presence of WHG ancestry north of the Alps, which we therefore rename the Oberkassel cluster (hereafter, Oberkassel cluster or ancestry), using the name of the oldest reported individual to date carrying such ancestry with more than one-fold coverage, for consistency4. On the basis of f4-statistics, we find that individuals assigned to the Oberkassel cluster are closer to the Arene Candide 16 genome than any other Epigravettian-associated group from Italy (Supplementary Data 2.F). ... Oberkassel cluster is dominated by mtDNA haplogroup U5 and Y-chromosome haplogroup I}}

{{Multiple image

| image1 = OBERK2.jpg

| alt1 = Various cultural items at Oberkassel.

| caption1 = Various cultural items at Oberkassel.

| image2 = OBERCAS4.jpg

| alt2 = The animal sculpture or possible antler.

| caption2 = The animal sculpture or possible antler.

| total_width = 350

}}

In 1914, grave goods were recorded from the burial and considered important to defining the cultural stage of the population. Franz Heiderich discovered an "animal" or "horse" head after quarry workers noted a "hair arrow" (initially thought to be a hairpin). Made from antler, the animal head is a flat plate 8.5 cm long, 1 cm thick, and 3.4-4 cm wide and outlines the body, limbs, and head. The rear likely broke during excavation but it has not since been recovered. The piece was likely carved out of a larger material and engraved on both sides, identification as an antler is also possible. most notably with hatching to denote the stomach and neck.{{Cite book |last=Bauer |first=Anne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irX0vgEACAAJ |title=Die Steinzeitmenschen von Oberkassel: ein Bericht über das Doppelgrab am Stingenberg |date=1989 |publisher=Heimatverein |language=de}} It is assumed to be an elk, similar to those of the Magdalenian found in France and England, and a probable part of the Federmesser culture; it was not wearable.{{Cite journal |last1=Veil |first1=Stephan |last2=Breest |first2=Klaus |date=2002 |title=The archaeological context of the art objects from the Federmesser site of Weitsche, Ldkr. Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lower Saxony (Germany) – a preliminary report |journal=Recent Studies in the Final Palaeolithic of the European Plain |pages=129–13}} Also found was one of the oldest animal staffs.{{Cite journal |last1=Veil |first1=Stephan |last2=Breest |first2=Klaus |last3=Grootes |first3=Pieter |last4=Nadeau |first4=Marie-Josée |last5=Hüls |first5=Matthias |date=2012 |title=A 14 000-year-old amber elk and the origins of northern European art |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003598X00047839/type/journal_article |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=86 |issue=333 |pages=660–673 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00047839 |issn=0003-598X}} Verworn misinterpreted the sculpture as a Magdalenian cut-out and as such assigned to Magdalenian IV, which was proven incorrect by radiocarbon dating and stylistic elements.{{Cite journal |last=Baales |first=M. |date=2002 |title=Exkurs: Bonn-Oberkassel (Nordrhein-Westfalen) |journal=Der spätpaläolithische Fundplatz Kettich |language=de}} Verworn correctly described an "unworked awl-shaped animal bone", which was created with the baculum of what is likely a brown bear.

File:Dog skeleton oberkassel.jpg

The domestic dog presence at the site is the oldest undisputed record of this canine in the fossil record.{{Cite journal |last1=Thalmann |first1=O. |last2=Shapiro |first2=B. |last3=Cui |first3=P. |last4=Schuenemann |first4=V. J. |last5=Sawyer |first5=S. K. |last6=Greenfield |first6=D. L. |last7=Germonpré |first7=M. B. |last8=Sablin |first8=M. V. |last9=López-Giráldez |first9=F. |last10=Domingo-Roura |first10=X. |last11=Napierala |first11=H. |last12=Uerpmann |first12=H-P. |last13=Loponte |first13=D. M. |last14=Acosta |first14=A. A. |last15=Giemsch |first15=L. |date=2013-11-15 |title=Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Ancient Canids Suggest a European Origin of Domestic Dogs |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1243650 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=342 |issue=6160 |pages=871–874 |doi=10.1126/science.1243650 |pmid=24233726 |bibcode=2013Sci...342..871T |issn=0036-8075}} Günter Nobis (1986) published a report on the local animals at the burial, revising Steinmann (1919). Some of the original fauna include domestic dogs, the brown bear, red deer, and aurochs/steppe bison (the bovines being too fragmentary to cement an identification).{{Cite journal |last1=Henke |first1=Wilfried |last2=Schmitz |first2=Ralf W. |last3=Street |first3=Martin |date=2006 |title=Der Hund von Bonn-Oberkassel und die weiteren Faunenreste. aus: Die späteiszeitlichen Funde von Bonn-Oberkassel |journal=Rheinisches Landesmuseum: Roots – Wurzeln der Menschheit |pages=249–252 |language=de}} Nobis erroneously suggested a lynx and roe deer, but they may be dog remains instead. Previously, the dog remains were suggested to be wolf. This specimen was one in a data pool that concluded that the species was domesticated 32-18 ka.{{Cite journal |last=Nobis |first=Günter |date=1986 |title=Die Wildsäugetiere in der Umwelt des Menschen von Oberkassel bei Bonn und das Domestikationsproblem von Wölfen im Jungpaläolithikum |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/bjb/article/view/63839 |journal=Bonner Jahrbücher |language=de |pages=367–376 |doi=10.11588/bjb.1986.0.63839 |issn=2509-6141}}

• Gottfried Kinkel, * August 11, 1815 in Oberkassel, † 13 November 1882, poet also noted for his revolutionary activities
• Ernest, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld, * 9 June 1842 in Oberkassel, † 26 September 1904, head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe, regent of the Principality of Lippe

Image:Oberkassel.JPG|Oberkassel seen from its abandonend quarry – in background, on the other side of the Rhine, Bad Godesberg and Bonn

Image:Ok8.jpg|Historic photo, the place where the grave is found is marked by an arrow

{{Reflist}}

• Heimatverein (historical society) [http://www.heimatverein-oberkassel.de/ www.heimatverein-oberkassel.de] {{in lang|de}}

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