Armbergen from Neuendorf Monastery
The armbergs of Neuendorf Abbey in the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt were found in 1886 in the forest near Neuendorf Abbey while digging trenches. The site, which is typical for depots, is located near a small hill overgrown with oaks and surrounded by swamp. In 1905, the State Institute for Prehistory in Halle bought the two arm mountains from the shift foreman Löscher in Wansleben am See for 130 marks. He stated that the mountains were neither in a skeletal nor in a cremation grave. It is therefore a matter of deliberately placing two valuable offerings in the moor, which is also indicated by the coloring of the finds.
The arm or leg mountains with their large spiral ends are very well preserved. Because of the location of such pieces in graves, it is known that they were worn in pairs on the upper arm or on the lower legs. The two 20.5 cm long pieces of the same size from Neuendorf Monastery consist of oval bronze wire with a tapering cross-section. The spiral disks each have ten tight turns. The ring is decorated with deep notches that are bordered by cross-hatched fields. The outer turns are notched transversely in groups. This arrangement creates a radial motif.
The main distribution of the richly decorated arm mountains from the Bronze Age is in Germany in West Mecklenburg. However, individual finds occur as far as the Swabian Alb . The woman in the grave mound of Onstmettingen ( Baden-Württemberg ) from the 14th century BC Chr. Wore four arm rings and two arm mountains. They are also not uncommon in Eastern Europe (Vorlausitzer Group) and in the Balkans . The finds from the Altmark may indicate communication between neighboring groups in the course of the metal trade. Mecklenburg women around 1100 BC. In the Altmark, and brought their jewelry - in this case the mountains.
Of the nine known mountains from the Altmark, seven are largely identical both in size and decoration. The notches on the spiral disks of the mountains from Güssefeld and Kuhfelde (Altmarkkreis Salzwedel), on the other hand, are arranged in the form of an "iron cross". The Kuhfelde fragment comes from a grave, the circumstances of the other pieces are unknown.
literature
- Barbara Fritsch: Strange women in the Altmark . In: State Office for Archeology Saxony-Anhalt, State Museum for Prehistory (Hrsg.): Beauty, power and death. 120 finds from 120 years of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Accompanying volume for the special exhibition from December 11, 2001 to April 28, 2002 in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle / Saale. P. 68