“All the World’s a Stage”: The Enduring Concept of Performative Practices and the Transience of Neolithic Earthworks at Mangolding (Upper Palatinate)

Abstract Several earthworks were constructed over the course of a millennium as outstanding joint achievements on a large Neolithic settlement site in north-western Gäuboden. An enclosure of the Linienbandkeramik was replaced by a Middle Neolithic complex, which was followed by multi-phase ditch rings of the Münchshöfen culture. The ditch systems on both sides of the middle course of the Pfatter River were rather of a short-lived and transient character. Remarkable, however, is the persistence of the idea to construct monumental enclosures in the region over many generations. There is also evidence of such earthwork complexes at other significant sites in the Neolithic settlement landscape. They are of particular importance as venues for performative practices in the context of symbolic communication. It was here that Neolithic communities presented their value systems, collective orientations, and interpretations of the world through rituals and ceremonies.