Dating
The hohe durchlochte Schuhleistenkeile are well dated to the post-Bandkeramik period from c. 4950 onward, since they are regularly found as grave gifts in Hinkelstein and Grossgartach cemeteries and are fully absent in LBK contexts (Farrugia 1992; Goller 1972; Lichardus-Itten 1980; Lönne 2003; Meier-Arendt 1975; Spatz 1999). The same applies to the durchlochte Breitkeile. This type gradually replaced the earlier one, but both seem to have been in use side by side for a long period and are generally considered to get out of use before the development of the Michelsberg culture (Lönne 2003; Raetzel-Fabian 1986). Keile seem however to continue for some centuries in the northern Swifterbant communities, as for instance demonstrated by fragments originating from one Keil at Swifterbant S3, dated c. 4300-4000 cal BC (Raemaekers 1999, 27).[10] Also in northern Germany and southern Scandinavia the use of Keile continues until ca. 4000 cal BC (Klassen 2004, Abb. 32). In eastern Holstein they were deposited in a restricted time span at the end of the fifth millennium BC (Hartz et al. 2011).