 Another theory is that Hamburg comes from "ham" which is Old Saxon for “(grassy) river bank” or “meadow/pasture (by a river) ”.First settlers in the area would have been a hunting and gathering society in the late Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic.There are several archaeological documented records in the areas of Wellingsbüttel, Meiendorf and Rahlstedt from 20,000 to 8000 BC.