Gold rings from Peenemünde

Viking gold treasure from Peenemünder Haken from 1905/1908

The gold rings of Peenemünde , also known as the Peenemünde gold treasure , were discovered in 1905 and 1908 on the northern tip of the island of Usedom . The find consists of a total of seven complete gold rings and one half ring that is torn through below the center piece. The rings are dated between 1000 and 1100 and assigned to the goldsmith's work of the Vikings .

All rings are made of solid gold wire with an approximately circular cross-section, which tapers towards the ends. Four of the rings are made of one wire, the other three and the half ring are made of two gold wires twisted into each other. Six of the rings are closed with a diamond-shaped connection. A solid ring has a closure in the form of a pierced ball, into the opening of which the other end fits. Two of the winding rings are additionally wrapped with a fine gold wire consisting of two threads. Remnants of a fine wire are also on the half ring. The complete rings individually weigh between 39.5 and 67 grams. The total mass of the find is 390.1 grams.

The half, one solid and one twisted ring were discovered on April 16, 1905 by a forest worker during reforestation work in the Peenemünde forest . The area in the northern part of the island of Usedom belonged to the city of Wolgast , which commissioned the forester Schönherr, who had reported the find, to carry out further excavations. These only took place three years later. On January 28 and 29, 1908, the remaining five rings were found in the same place. The city of Wolgast gave the find to the Pomeranian State Museum in Stettin . Later the rings came to the Kulturhistorisches Museum Stralsund , where they are still located. Replicas can be seen in the historical-technical museum Peenemünde and in the city history museum of Wolgast .

literature

Michaela H. Riebau: The gold rings from Peenemünde. In: Günter Mangelsdorf (ed.): The island of Usedom in Slavic-Early German times. ( Greifswalder Mitteilungen 1) Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-631-49302-9 , pp. 91-103.
A. Stubenrauch: The Nordic gold rings from Peenemünde. In: Society for Pomeranian history and antiquity (ed.): Monthly sheets. Volume 23, No. 2/1909, Stettin 1909, pp. 17-20.

Individual evidence

↑ Klaus Felgentreu: Past and present - Peenemünder Goldschatz comes to the HTI. In: Info sheet 02/08 Förderverein Peenemünde e. V. 2008, p. 5 , accessed on May 1, 2017 .

[1] Klaus Felgentreu: Past and present - Peenemünder Goldschatz comes to the HTI. In: Info sheet 02/08 Förderverein Peenemünde e. V. 2008, p. 5 , accessed on May 1, 2017 .