Gold treasure from Vettersfelde

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The gold treasure from Vettersfelde is a treasure find that was made by chance in 1882 near Vettersfelde , then the district of Guben , today Witaszkowo , Poland . The objects are exhibited in the Altes Museum in Berlin .

Two objects of treasure. Above: fish with a heart-eye pattern and ram's horn fin. Below: four circular plates with a mountain goat motif.

Find

The objects were found by a farmer on October 5, 1882 while digging drainage trenches with the help of a plow at the edge of a field. At first the farmer did not realize the importance of the broken glass, which was heavily soiled. Only when he returned two days later and the found objects had meanwhile been cleaned by rain did he discover some gold objects and weapons while digging further. An expert investigation of the place of discovery was initially not carried out, for these and other reasons it has therefore not been finally clarified whether it is a grave gift or a remnant of a settlement. The finds came into the possession of the resident landlord Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath , although it is unclear whether they were confiscated or voluntarily given by the farmer.

Digs

Contemporary recording with z. Objects that have partly disappeared in the meantime, such as the neck ring on the top left and the chaplet on the right of the fish

Immediately after the treasure was found, private individuals, including a local jeweler , carried out further excavations. You came across clay pots, a hearth and some distance away on pavement, but the inadequate work also destroyed possible approaches for an interpretation of the site. The location of the finds indicated that the individual objects had been kept in a ceramic vessel. After that there was a fire on site, which also resulted in fire damage to individual objects, e.g. the big fish. Initially, it was assumed that it came from a cremation , as this custom was known by the people who lived here in the early Iron Age . Against this, however, was the fact that no human remains had been found.

In 1920, Carl Schuchhardt , director of the prehistory department of the Berlin Ethnographic Museum , undertook the first proper digs. When digging search trenches, the remains of a post structure were found. Schuchhardt, who was therefore certain that he had come across a settlement, therefore spoke out against the fact that the Vettersfeld gold treasure could have been a grave object. The find was assigned to the Scythian culture as early as 1928. For a long time the actual situation had been forgotten. In 2001 the Polish Academy of Sciences rediscovered the site and examined it archaeologically, which confirmed the assumption that it was a settlement. From 2002 to 2004 excavations were then carried out. There were further post residues and traces of fire, as well as paving stones, pearl jewelry and ceramics from the early Iron Age.

The gold treasure

This treasure is made up of jewelry, utensils and weapons. A fish that stands out is 41 centimeters long and 608 grams. Some of the finds came to Berlin and belonged to a Scythian prince armor that was made around 500 BC. Dated. Other smaller objects from the find were sold and melted down.

The golden fish, which probably once adorned a shield, is decorated with animal motifs, e.g. B. between the fight of a panther and a boar , or a lion and a stag and is clearly a Greek work.

  • Bird with a ram's head

  • Animal fight scene

  • Fish with Triton

  • The golden fish

  • Drawing from 1911

The object is 41 cm long and is made of strong gold sheet. The body is divided into two picture strips. The land creatures in the upper half are contrasted by a school of different fish in the lower half, preceded by a male fish creature who grabs one of the fish by the tail. The tail fin of the fish is decorated with a bird with outspread wings and two ram heads. On the back of the object there are eyelets with which it could be attached as an ornament over leather loops, for example on a sign.

Phalera

The second larger object, a phalera consisting of four discs , was riveted to the breastplate of leather armor. You can also see a hunting scene in which predators chase their prey. In addition to these, you can see a dog, a bull and a billy goat. In addition to the possibility of attaching it to armor, it is alternatively assumed that both the fish fitting and the phalera could have decorated a quiver for a bow and arrow.

The male fish being in particular indicates the Greek origin of the finds. It is about Triton , as the "shepherd of the fish" a motif of the ancient Greek world of legends.

Further components are a sword hilt with wire decoration on which enamel was previously applied, a sword scabbard fitting, a 29 cm long blade, a gold-framed whetstone, a bangle with a snake head, a gold chain, a gold cylinder and a cuff as well as a pendant made of 23 carat gold. Other cataloged components have meanwhile been lost or stolen, including another pendant, a gold strip with a clover leaf at the end, which was probably part of a quiver , a gold-set stone wedge, a massive neck ring with a diameter of 21 cm and a chape with enamel decoration.

Sciti, tesoro di vettersfelde (oggi witaszkowo in polonia), 500 ac approx. Pugnale con fodero d'oro 01.JPG

interpretation

The find puzzled research for a long time. It was assumed that it was the grave goods of a Scythian prince who came to Brandenburg. In this region, however, there is evidence of the Billendorfer culture , which left further hoard finds in the area, all of which, like the Vettersfeld gold treasure, also date from the 5th century. The presence of Scythians in this area is otherwise proven by finds of three-winged arrowheads, which, however, were often used by other equestrian nomads . The archaeologist Adolf Furtwängler assumed that the Scythians were responsible for the end of the Lausitz culture , to which the Billendorfer culture also belonged. The find could thus have ended up in Vetternfelde as booty.

Whereabouts

The finds were sold by Prince Schönaich-Carolath on January 22, 1883 for 6,000 marks to the Antiquarium of the Royal Museum. It is not clear whether the real finder received the money or part of the amount. However, he had kept some pieces to himself or distributed them to his circle of friends - as a result, some found objects were melted down and are therefore lost. The remaining pieces are now in the collection of the Altes Museum in Berlin .

Replicas

In spring 2020, thieves stole replicas of the gold treasure in Göttingen , probably under the mistaken assumption that it was real gold. These so-called "galvanoplastic showpieces" were used by the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory at the University of Göttingen as visual material for students. The replicas, which date from the early 20th century, have a total value of over ten thousand euros.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Discovery of the gold find from Vettersfelde " on praehistorische-archaeologie.de
  2. ↑ a b Ellen Weski : Information sheet Antikenmuseum 1278 , Berlin 1976, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz
  3. ↑ Thieves steal gold treasure Hessische Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA-online), from January 27, 2020, accessed on August 27, 2020

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