Since the beginning of the Early Neolithic Linearbandkeramik ditched enclosures play an important role in the settlement pattern covering in increasing density the Löss-plateaus of Central Europe. These monumental earthworks have been interpreted in the last decades in different ways, focusing in recent publications on social and ritual aspects emphasizing the collective character of the construction itself as a part of their function. The increasing number of the enclosures to the end of the LBK corresponds and is in some cases directly connected to the deposition of human bodies, which show a wide range of multiple manipulations. Both, the enclosures and the human remains are part of a general discussion concerning a fundamental and to some extent violent crisis at the turn to the Middle Neolithic at least in some parts of the LBK

One of the key sites in this context is the settlement of Herxheim (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) with its numerous depositions of the skeletal remains of over 500 people, intentionally destroyed pottery vessels and stone implements in the surrounding earthwork consisting of two ditches. Concerning the size and number of the deposits and especially considering the intensive manipulation of the human bodies including dismemberment, de-fleshing and fragmentation of the postcranial bones and the standardised production of the skull-caps it so far unique. The detailed examination of the complex construction of ditches and the fill formation processes including the distribution and stratigraphic position of the find concentrations hints to a rather short time frame for the building and utilisation of the entire ditched enclosure. The activities in Herxheim were interpreted as human sacrifice or cannibalism, which both supposed to be strongly ritualised. Beside these scenarios the question, if we can observe any pre-existing traditions for these kinds of ritual behaviour, which should be presumed for rituals as repetitive sequences, is basic to a better understanding of the site and the wider context at the end of LBK.