Innovation transfer can be described as a process of communication and integration. Its success depends on two conditions: first, the information flow itself and, second, the acceptance and implementation of this information. In this article, it is assumed that both aspects are influenced by certain factors that can stimulate or constrain the transfer of innovation. This hypothesis is tested in a case study concerning the spread of copper metallurgy in Central Europe. A contextual analysis shows that its transmission can be reconstructed as a slow integrational process. Further, the spread of copper metallurgy occurred in fits and starts, with repeated breaks that, in some cases, lasted for several hundred years. These halts are key for analysing the mechanisms of innovation transfer. In this context, the role of those variables which influenced this transfer will be analysed.

Der Forschungsstand zum mittelneolithischen Siedlungswesen ist äußerst lückenhaft. Für viele Regionen liegen kaum Daten vor, die Auskunft darüber geben könnten, wie die Siedlungen strukturiert waren oder wie die Wirtschaftsweise ihrer Bewohner zu rekonstruieren ist. Noch weniger Informationen existieren zu mittelneolithischen Siedlungen mit Kreisgrabenanlage. Am nordwestbayerischen Fundort Ippesheim konnten nun durch geomagnetische Prospektion, Grabungen, archäozoologi-sche sowie archäobotanische Analysen erste Ergebnisse zu den genannten Aspekten gewonnen werden.Abstract: L'état de la recherche sur l'habitat au Néolithi-que moyen est extrêmement lacunaire. Maintes régions n'ont guère livré de données sur l'organisation spatiale des habitats ou permettant de reconstituer le mode de subsistance de leurs habitants. On dispose encore moins d'informations sur les habitats néolithiques moyens avec système de fossés circulaires. Prospection géomagnéti-que, fouilles, analyses archéozoologiques et archéobota-niques ont livré de premiers résultats au site d'Ippesheim dans le Nord-Ouest de la Bavière. Abstract:The state of research on Middle Neolithic settlements is extremely patchy. For many regions there are little available data which could give information on how settlements were structured or how the economy of their inhabitants was organised. There is even less information on Middle Neolithic settlements with circular enclosures.At the Northwestern Bavarian site of Ippesheim, initial findings on the above-mentioned aspects have been obtained through geomagnetic surveys, excavations, as well as archaeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses.

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The beginnings of food production-animal husbandry and crop cultivation-and of a sedentary way of life represent one of the most drastic changes in human history. Likewise, this is accompanied by an increasing human impact on nature, which is mainly caused by agricultural practices. Agriculture is related to the clearing of forests, tillage, maintenance of the cultivated land, and finally harvesting, which alters not only the vegetation cover but also soil fertility as there is a potential risk for a loss of nutrients. People already countered this loss of nutrients in the times of early agriculture through different techniques and practices. The article summarizes the earliest evidence of fertilization in the prehistory of Central Europe and presents the most important methods for their investigation. What significance fertilization had for early farming societies can presently not be estimated due to the small amount of data. We therefore advocate the development of a routine for sampling during archaeological excavations and for the analysis of various materials (sediment and plant remains) using various methods. For this, the awareness must be raised that anthropogenic sediments, such as pit fills, are important archives for research into the history of humankind.

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