Bronze bucket from Sasendorf
The bronze bucket from Sasendorf is a bronze situla from Roman manufacture used as an urn . It was uncovered in 2006 on the area of a Germanic burial ground from the earlier Roman Empire near Sasendorf near Bad Bevensen in Lower Saxony . Investigations of the contents of the vessel showed that a man between 60 and 70 years old was buried in it in the first half of the 2nd century AD.
Find history
During the construction of a pipeline from Stade to Teutschenthal by the chemical company Dow Chemical in 2003 a Germanic burial ground from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD was discovered and archaeologically examined near Sasendorf. All burials were damaged by modern agriculture. In 2005, the aerial archaeologist Heinz-Dieter Freese examined the site again with a metal detector . At one point he received a signal that suggested a larger metal object. In 2006, members of the Association of Friends of Archeology in Lower Saxony (FAN) excavated the object under the scientific direction of the archaeologist Wilhelm Gebers from the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation . When the bronze vessel, which was 90 centimeters deep, was uncovered, the crumbly material splintered, necessitating a block recovery .
description
The bronze bucket has a height of 25 cm and a diameter of 26.5 cm at the shoulder of the vessel. The opening is around 19 cm wide and the diameter of the stand is 15 cm. The vessel was made as a cast in a lost form and then processed on the lathe . The handle is made of solid bronze and has a hanging loop at the highest point. The handle ends are designed as a bird's head with a neck. The attached attachments of the handle are made as a woman's head. Remnants of tissue adhere to the outer wall of the vessel.
The inside of the vessel contained the corpse burn of a deceased and various objects as grave goods . These included a gold ring, a button made of copper, nails, scissors, a knife, bone needles, a trumpet and a knee fibula, and over 100 small fragments of enamel made of copper from the cremation .
Find investigations
The scientific research began in 2006 and lasted, including the restoration of the bronze bucket, until 2015; they caused costs of around 5500 euros .
The first examination in 2006 consisted of a CT scan of the block recovery by the Daimler company in Stuttgart . It showed a situla-shaped bucket within the earth block , half of which was filled with corpse fire and metallic additions. It was not until 2012 that the block was exposed in the restoration workshop of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation, which was carried out by a member of the FAN and the archaeologist Wilhelm Gebers.
Inside the vessel there were 1032 grams of corpse burn , which was examined anthropologically and paleopathologically . According to the investigations, the deceased was bedridden for a long time before his death and suffered from osteoarthritis and osteoporosis . Other signs of the disease were an inflammation of the maxillary sinus and periodontal disease . Its former size is estimated at 1.74 meters plus / minus 8 cm.
The investigations into the origin of the metal objects were carried out by the chemists Carla Vogt and Robert Lehmann from the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Hanover . On the basis of the determination of the lead isotope ratios , the Rhenish Slate Mountains could be determined as the place of origin of the metal of the bucket . The metal (silver / copper) of the grave goods contained in the bucket comes from the Eastern Alpine region and also from the Rhenish Slate Mountains and thus Roman areas of the 2nd – 4th centuries. Century.
A textile and fiber examination was carried out on the tissue remnants adhering to the outside of the vessel. According to this, it is vegetable fibers, probably flax fibers .
presentation
A first temporary exhibition of the finds under the title "Everything in the Bucket" took place in Scharnebeck in 2015. Further presentations will take place in 2018 in Bad Fallingbostel and in the Archaeological Museum Hamburg .
See also
literature
- Heinz-Dieter Freese: "Top (p) oder Flop?" Preliminary report on an extraordinary excavation at Bevensen in FAN-Post , issue 1, 2007, p. 3 ( online , pdf)
- Heinz-Dieter Freese, Gerd Lübbers: A bronze bucket (situla) with cremation from the Older Roman Empire from Sasendorf (district of Uelzen) in: Die Kunde NF 65, 2014, p. 157 ff. ( Online , pdf)
- Carla Vogt, Robert Lehmann: Lead isotope analysis on Roman imports in Sasendorf, Lower Saxony in: Die Kunde NF 65, 2014, p. 167 ff. ( Online )
- Kristina Scheelen: Anthropological and palaeopathological investigation of an imperial corpse burn from a bronze bucket from the Sasendorf 19 site (Ldkr. Uelzen) in: Die Kunde NF 65, 2014, p. 173 ff. ( Online )
- Gerd Lübbers: Uncovering the Roman bronze bucket Sasendorf, Ldkr.Uelzen, and its contents , 2015 ( online , pdf)
Web links
- Gerald Weßel: The treasure in the potato field in Weser-Kurier from March 5, 2018
Individual evidence
- ↑ Workshop excavation 2012 Bronze bucket at Hobby: Excavation
- ↑ Archaeologists have a lot of patience in the state newspaper of September 12, 2015
- ↑ Special exhibition “Everything in the Bucket” in the Bad Fallingbostel Museum April to August 2018 at the FAN from March 13, 2018
- ^ Germanic cremation in the district newspaper of April 24, 2018