Bothenheilingen depot

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The depot finds from Bothenheilingen (right) and Kehmstedt (left) with the bronze shields from Herzsprung (Brandenburg) and two sword molds from Wennungen (Saxony-Anhalt); State Museum for Prehistory, Halle (Saale)

The custodian of Bothenheilingen is a six swords existing hoard of Late Bronze Age from Bothenheilingen in Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis , Thuringia . The depot dates from the 9th or 8th century BC. Today it is exhibited in the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle (Saale) .

Find history

The depot was discovered in 1931 while digging a beet pile. It was about 0.5 m deep.

description

The swords were close together when the depot was located and their points all pointed southwest, which suggests that they had been laid in a bundle. The swords form three pairs, each with a short and a long one of the same or similar type. There are two antenna swords , two Möring swords as well as a long sword of the Tachlovice type and a similar Auvernier sword .

The swords have the following dimensions:

No. Weight overall length Blade length Max. Blade width
Antenna sword 1 1.134 kg 84.1 cm 70.7 cm 3.9 cm
Antenna sword 2 0.798 kg 65.2 cm 52.2 cm 3.7 cm
Möringen sword 1 1.155 kg 80.1 cm 69.8 cm 4 cm
Möringen sword 2 0.518 kg 64.8 cm 54.6 cm 3.5 cm
Tachlovice sword 1.088 kg 84.5 cm 73.5 cm 4.2 cm
Auvernier sword 0.8 kg 73.1 cm 62.7 cm 3.4 cm

One of the antenna swords has the blade immediately below the booklet an ornament in the form of four animals being on. Two beings face each other in mirror image. They are reminiscent of ducks or similar water birds, but strangely enough they each have four legs. The booklet itself is also decorated. A ship is shown here. Ships and birds, along with wheel crosses , are typical motifs of the 11th-8th centuries. Century in Europe. The concrete ensemble of images on the sword of Bothenheilingen is, however, without parallel.

literature

  • Harald Meller (Eds.), Regine Maraszek et al .: Glutgeboren. Middle Bronze Age to Iron Age (= booklets accompanying the permanent exhibition in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle. Volume 5). State Museum for Prehistory, Halle (Saale) 2015, ISBN 978-3-944507-14-9 , pp. 162–165.
  • Wilhelm Limpert : The bronze treasure of Bothenheilingen (Kr. Langensalza). In: Annual publication for the prehistory of the Saxon-Thuringian countries. Volume 19, 1931, pp. 44-54 ( online ).
  • Ernst Sprockhoff : The Germanic full-grip swords of the younger Bronze Age (= Roman-Germanic research. Volume 9). De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1934.
  • Harry Wüstemann : The swords in East Germany (= prehistoric bronze finds. Department 4, Volume 15). Steiner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-515-08441-X .

Web links

Commons : Depot von Bothenheilingen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files