Bronze hand from Prêles

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sketch of the bronze hand of Prêles

The bronze hand of Prêles ( French Main en bronze de Prêles ) is an object made of bronze and gold in the shape of a human hand, found near Prêles (German: Prägelz ), today part of the merged municipality of Plateau de Diesse in the Bernese Jura administrative district of the Swiss canton of Bern .

The bronze hand comes from the Middle Bronze Age . It was made in the 16th or 15th century BC. And given a few decades later to a high-ranking figure as a grave object. It is therefore the oldest known anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe. The bronze hand was discovered by illegal probe users in 2017 and is now in the possession of the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern . In September and October 2018 it was presented to the public for the first time as part of a special exhibition at the NMB Neues Museum Biel .

Find history

The hand, including a cuff made of sheet gold , was allegedly discovered on October 7, 2017, along with a bronze dagger and a piece of bone that was identified as a human rib , by probe users who were traveling without a permit. On October 9, they delivered their finds to the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern . According to their statements, they had only discovered the objects two days earlier and only determined their meaning after an initial cleaning.

The specified site was initially prospected geoelectrically in March 2018 . An excavation followed between April and June, during which the severely disturbed grave of a 25–45 year old man was discovered. It still contained some skeletal remains as well as some ceramic fragments, a needle and a spiral made of bronze and other fragments of the bronze hand that had been overlooked by the probe users.

From September 18 to October 18, 2018, the hand was exhibited to the public for the first time in the NMB New Museum Biel. A symposium was held on October 30, 2019 at the University of Bern . From November 15, 2019 to June 1, 2020, the bronze hand was on display for the first time outside of Switzerland in a special exhibition in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale) .

In September 2018, the public prosecutor's office in Bern opened criminal proceedings for robbery against the finder of the bronze hand . In September 2019, one of them was sentenced to a fine of 2500 francs . Although the probes had voluntarily submitted their finds to the archaeological service of the canton of Bern, the judge followed the demands of the public prosecutor's office, since the accused could be proven four further violations of the monument protection law. The man had violated the Monument Preservation Act, according to the judgment of the Bernese Jura-Seeland regional court in Moutier (BE). According to the Archaeological Service, there was a risk that the digging would destroy an archaeological site. He was credited with having acted not out of greed, but out of enthusiasm , but he should have obtained permission from the cantonal office to search the underground for archaeological objects using technical aids . The fact that the finds as such were not archaeologically assessable for laypeople was not accepted as a discharge.

The reference

47 ° 5 ′ 53 ″ N, 7 ° 8 ′ 15 ″ E

The site is located on the «Les Combettes» parcel southeast of Prêles on a striking terrace at the foot of the highest elevation of the Bernese Jura , the Chasseral , and above Lake Biel . To the east, the terrain is limited by the Twannbach Gorge cut . To the south, the terrain slopes down relatively steeply to Lake Biel . From the terrace you have a very good view, certainly also in the Bronze Age, of the lake plateau south of the Jura, of the Swiss plateau including the Alpine arc from the Säntis to the Mont Blanc massif . The plateau with the site is criss-crossed by several rock ribs, which are only faintly visible in today's agricultural terrain. The place of discovery lies at the foot of such a rib in a weak depression.

Until the discovery of the hand, no Bronze Age finds were known from Prêles or the immediate vicinity, but the area had never been systematically explored. The closest Middle Bronze Age settlements are in Cressier “La Baraque” ( canton Neuchâtel ), on the Jolimont near Gals (canton Bern), in Murten -Löwenberg ( canton Friborg ), near Coffrane “Les Favergettes” and Colombier “Plantée de Rive” ( both cantons of Neuchâtel).

description

The grave

The original mound of the grave has now completely disappeared. Numerous limestone pebbles were discovered at a depth of 40–50 cm below today's ground level, which probably belonged to the mound. The stones were less dense in the center of the finding. Remnants of the burial and four disturbances caused by the probes were found there.

An older, trapezoidal stone setting with a length of 12 m and a width between 1 m and 5 m was found under the burial and clearly separated from it by a thin layer of earth. The structure was not examined in more detail because its low location means there is no danger from agricultural activity. Its exact time is still unclear, but it is assumed that it belonged to a structure that was visible above ground in the Middle Bronze Age and was therefore deliberately chosen for the construction of the tomb.

The skeletal remains

The skeleton of the deceased was poorly preserved. Fragments of the skull, eight individual teeth, parts of the right forearm, the left upper arm, the left shoulder blade, the left ribs, both upper and lower legs and small remnants of the pelvis and spine were found. Some bone fragments are discolored green where bronze objects were placed. Only in these places is the original bone surface preserved. The buried subject could be identified as male on the basis of the area above the eyes and the rather strong stature of the skeleton. The age at death could be roughly estimated at 25–45 years based on the degree of tooth wear. The body height could no longer be determined.

The bronze hand

The object is shaped like an open right hand. It has a weight of 502 g and a length of 17.8 cm. The palm is massive, the inside is concave and the back of the hand is convex. The arm attachment is made as a spout, the back is broken off and missing. The spout has an outside diameter of 7.2 cm, a clear width of 5.5 cm, a depth of 6.4 cm and a wall thickness of about 0.3 cm. A cuff made of sheet gold is glued to the base of the arm; this is also missing on the back. It is between 3 cm and 4.1 cm wide and 0.5 mm thick. At the lower end and in the middle, the gold sheet has a circumferential rib. It was created below by placing a bronze wire underneath; It is currently unclear whether there is also a wire in the middle. The cuff is divided into two zones, both of which are decorated with circular eye marks and rows of dots. The fingers of the hand are broken off; three were found by the probes and a fourth at the follow-up examination. Most of the thumb is missing. The palm has a width of 7.3 m or 9 cm with the thumb base obtained.

The finger discovered during the re-excavation and two gold sheet fragments, which probably came from the cuff, were on the right side of the buried in the pelvic area. It is possible that the entire hand was originally located here.

A first material analysis could only be carried out superficially using a pXRF handheld device. It revealed an unusually high proportion of tin in the bronze of over 40 percent, on the fingers even 50 percent. Examinations under the incident light microscope show fine dendrites , typical of cast bronzes.

The gold sheet has a silver content of around 10 percent, which is a common value for prehistoric gold finds in Switzerland. More detailed analyzes were later carried out by the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt , Metallor in Neuchâtel , the University of Geneva and the Curt Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry in Mannheim . The Grandes-Rousses massif in the French Alps or the Val d'Anniviers in the canton of Valais were identified as possible places of origin for copper . The region of origin of the tin is assumed to be Cornwall or the Ore Mountains . The gold of the cuff could come from Ireland or Schleswig-Holstein .

Other additions

A handle plate dagger was already found by the probe users , but no information is available about its original location in the grave. Further additions were found at the follow-up examination. This includes two other bronze objects. The first is an imperforate club- head needle broken in two and found in the area of ​​the chest of the deceased. The second is a spiral made of 5 mm wide wire with four windings, which was found in the neck and shoulder area of ​​the deceased and which probably served as a hair ornament. Some ceramic shards were found at the foot end. A broken rib of a beef , a thighbone of a sheep or a goat and an upper front leg bone of a pig have been preserved from food . They were mixed with the bones of the buried.

Dating

An absolute chronological dating of the hand was possible by analyzing the organic glue with which the gold sheet was attached to the bronze. Using the radiocarbon method, his age could be determined to be 1507–1430 cal. BC . This coincides with the stylistic classification of the found objects: The circular eye decoration on the gold sheet of the hand is typical of the Middle Bronze Age and the dagger also belongs to the Middle Bronze Age level Bz B2 according to the chronology of Paul Reinecke . The hand seems to have been in use for at least a few decades before it was given to its last owner in the grave. Radiocarbon dating of two bone fragments (skull and rib) gave values ​​of 1431–1371 and 1405–1275 cal. BC.

Possible functions of the bronze hand

What purpose the bronze hand originally served is unclear. Since it has a socket from which a piece has broken out, it can be assumed that the hand was once attached to a carrier material from which it was removed with greater force before being used as a grave object. Perhaps it was originally part of a scepter , a standard or the statue of a god or an ancestor. That the hand was shown in a raised gesture is just as conceivable as a horizontal or downward-pointing position. It is also possible that the hand served as a prosthesis . It is unclear whether the person buried with her was actually missing a hand due to the poor bone preservation. In any case, only a symbolic or ritual function would come into question for the hand in this case, since above all the filigree design, but also the material used and the elaborate decoration exclude any practical use.

Significance and cultural-historical context

The bronze hand of Prêles is so far without parallel. Its meaning has been compared to the somewhat older Nebra Sky Disc . Other examples of hands made of metal are much more recent and of a completely different design. There are several examples from the 7th century BC that should be mentioned here. From Etruria , especially from Vulci , or a pair of hands made of sheet bronze, which together with a mask in the 6th century BC. Chr. Originating prince grave of Kleinklein ( Großklein , Styria ) were found.

Award

The find itself was selected as one of the top 5 archaeological discoveries of 2018 at the International Archaeological Discovery Award in honor of Khalid al-Asʿad .

See also

literature

  • Andrea Schaer : The bronze hand from Prêles, Canton Bern (Switzerland). In: Harald Meller , Susanne Kimmig-Völkner , Alfred Reichenberger (eds.): Rings of Power. International conference from 9th to 10th November 2018 in Halle (Saale) (= conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory Halle (Saale). Volume 21/1). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt / State Museum for Prehistory, Halle (Saale) 2019, ISBN 978-3-944507-97-2 , pp. 301-320.
  • Andrea Schaer: The bronze hand from Prêles - a sensational new find . In: Harald Meller, Susanne Kimmig-Völkner, Alfred Reichenberger (eds.): Rings der Macht (= booklets accompanying special exhibitions in the State Museum of Prehistory. Volume 7). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt / State Museum for Prehistory, Halle (Saale) 2019, ISBN 978-3-944507-96-5 , pp. 86–89.
  • Andrea Schaer: Plateau de Diesse, Prêles. La main en bronze découverte aux Combettes. In: Archeology Bern / Archeology Bernoise. 2019, pp. 96-101 ( online ).
  • Andrea Schaer, Adriano Boschetti : The bronze hand of Prêles: the oldest bronze sculpture of a human body part in Central Europe. In: as. Archeology switzerland. archeology suisse. archeologia svizzera (newsletter of «Archeology Switzerland»), Volume 41, 2018, ISSN 0255–9005. Pp. 38-39 ( online ).
  • Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? In: Archaeological correspondence sheet. Volume 49/1, 2019, pp. 57-69 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Bronze Hand of Prêles  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Lux: Spectacular find. In: restauro.de. September 19, 2018, accessed November 15, 2020.
  2. ^ Schaer, Alterauge, Brechbühl, Kissling: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? , Reprint Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt (Volume 49, 2019, Issue 1), RGZM, p. 57
  3. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 57, 61-62.
  4. ↑ The bronze hand of Prêles. The oldest bronze sculpture in Central Europe. In: nmbiel.ch. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  5. ^ The 3,500-year-old bronze hand from Prêles . In: erz.be.ch. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ Rings of Power. November 15, 2019 to June 1, 2020. In: landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  7. ↑ Bronze Hand of Prêles: Was the tomb looted? In: Berner Zeitung. September 18, 2018, accessed November 21, 2020.
  8. ↑ Schweizer makes find of his life - and is now being fined for it. In: Aargauer Zeitung. September 25, 2019, accessed November 21, 2020.
  9. ↑ Bernese treasure hunter has to pay a fine of 2500 francs: for using a metal detector without a permit, a man in the Bernese Jura was sentenced to a fine - despite a sensational discovery. at www.derbund.ch , online on September 26, 2019; accessed on November 25, 2019
  10. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. p. 57
  11. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 58–59
  12. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. p. 62.
  13. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 65-66.
  14. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 63-64.
  15. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 59–60.
  16. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. p. 65.
  17. ^ A b Cornelia Zogg: The bronze hand of Prêles / Canton of Bern. Finest handwork. In: empa.ch. November 13, 2019, accessed November 19, 2020.
  18. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. p. 61.
  19. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 64–65.
  20. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. pp. 60-61.
  21. ↑ Andrea Schaer et al .: The bronze hand of Prêles (Canton Bern / CH) - the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe? 2019. p. 66.
  22. ↑ Andrea Schaer: Authenticity and age confirmed: Researchers reveal secrets about "hand made of metal" . In: Focus Online . November 14, 2020, accessed November 15, 2020.
  23. ↑ Central-Anzeiger für Freunde der Literatur, Volume 5, 1862, P. 35: J. Becker: Die Heddernheimer Bronzehand
  24. ^ Jacob Becker : The Heddernheimer Bronzehand, a votive monument of Juppiter Dolichenus, with the other Dolichenus monuments from Heddernheim , self-published by the Association for History and Antiquity, Frankfurt am Main 1861, 23 pages
  25. ^ International Archaeological Discovery Award “Khaled al-Asaad” (5th edition) , Mediterranean Exchange of Archaeological Tourism (BMTA); accessed on November 26, 2019