Bremen peppercorn

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Black and white photographs taken around 1990, which show the Bremen peppercorn in a greatly enlarged format

As Bremer Pfefferkorn a 1989 discovered during excavations in the city center of Bremen is Pfefferkorn called, which dates from the first half of the 13th century and as frühester archaeological evidence of the use of the spice in medieval Europe north of the Alps is. Otherwise pepper appears there in written sources from the 11th century . The object, measuring just three millimeters, is exhibited in the Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History ( Focke Museum ).

Finding circumstances and dating

Presentation of the Bremer Pfefferkorn in the Focke Museum

In 1989, the State Archeology of Bremen, under the direction of Thomas Moritz, carried out an emergency excavation in Bremen's old town at the intersection of Wachtstrasse and Böttcherstrasse as part of a new hotel building . Among other things, three sewers were uncovered that were dated to the 13th and 15th centuries and the early modern period. In the oldest finding, a spherical pot made of gray ware was exposed, which was recovered along with its contents. The archaeobotanist Karl-Ernst Behre documented numerous remains of organic material in the following investigations, including 166 plant species. The discovery of a grain of white pepper was rated as a "sensation" , which due to the circumstances of the find could be dated to the early 13th century and is a testament to the high medieval trade relations of the Hanseatic city to South Asia . If the spread of pepper in the Roman Empire is also documented, this is the earliest evidence of the spice in medieval Europe north of the Alps.

Damage on loan

On the occasion of the exhibition Departure into the Gothic. The Pfefferkorn was awarded for the first time in 2009 to Magdeburg Cathedral and the late Staufer period in the Magdeburg Cultural History Museum . During the return transport it partially broke after a cotton plug had loosened and the object was only inadequately protected against vibrations. Due to the fragile nature of the find, restoration was ruled out. The four-digit reimbursement sum of the responsible transport insurance should therefore be invested in the future exhibition design in the Focke Museum . This was done by 2012; the newly made special showcase in which the peppercorn is exhibited has a magnifying glass that allows an enlarged view of the object.

literature

  • Thomas Moritz: "The excavation in the old town of Bremen 1989", in Bremisches Jahrbuch, Volume 70, Bremen 1991, pp. 191-206
  • Karl-Ernst Behre : The first finds of food plants from the Middle Ages of Bremen , in: Staatsarchiv Bremen (Hrsg.): Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 70, Bremen 1991, p. 207-227, ISSN  0341-9622 , here: p. 213 f . ( online , PDF)
  • Manfred Rech : Luxury goods - pepper, figs, wine and other things , in: Ders. (Ed.): Found past. Archeology of the Middle Ages in Bremen , Bremen 2004, pp. 361–362, ISBN 3-7749-3233-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Bischop : So close from a distance. Pfefferkorn , in: Matthias Puhle (Hrsg.): Aufbruch in die Gotik. Magdeburg Cathedral and the late Staufer period , Magdeburg 2009, p. 526.
  2. ^ Karl-Ernst Behre : The first finds of food plants from the Middle Ages of Bremen , in: Staatsarchiv Bremen (Hg.): Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 70, Bremen 1991, pp. 207-227, here: p. 213.
  3. ↑ a b Jürgen Hinrichs: Trouble with damaged peppercorn. Weser-Kurier , September 15, 2012, accessed on September 15, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Cf. D. Kucan: The first Roman pepper discovery, proven in the Oberaden legion camp (city of Bergkamen). Excavations and finds in Westfalen-Lippe 2, 1984, pp. 51-55.
  5. ↑ Uwe Dammann: Bremer Pfefferkorn under the magnifying glass. Weser-Kurier , November 9, 2013, accessed on September 15, 2015 .