Cemetery of Validlingen

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Coordinates: 48 ° 38 ′ 54.5 ″  N , 8 ° 46 ′ 54.8 ″  E

Cemetery of Validlingen
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location Baden-Wuerttemberg , Germany
Location Validlingen
Cemetery of Validlingen (Baden-Württemberg)
Cemetery of Validlingen
When AD 460-510
Where Validlingen , Calw district , Baden-Württemberg
displayed Permanent collection "LegendäreMeisterWerke" in the old castle, permanent exhibition, archaeological collections, State Museum Württemberg in Stuttgart

The Alemannic grave field of Validlingen from the Merovingian period is located in the east of the town of Validlingen , a district of Wildberg in the Calw district in Baden-Württemberg . It was destroyed largely unnoticed between 1894 and 1905. There are only two closed grave inventories - Alemannic male graves u. a. with gold grip spatha - documented, otherwise there are only individual finds of destroyed graves. On the basis of the available finds, the cemetery is definitely assigned to the Alemanni and dated to the second half of the 5th century.

Find description

The burial ground was almost completely destroyed during the tuff removal and road construction between 1894 and 1905. Despite these sources, it can be said that between 460 and 510 an Alemannic group with a supraregional sphere of activity buried their dead here. The site is significant due to the rich furnishing of the two closed men's graves with gold handle spathas . The men's grave from 1901 also contained a spangenhelm . For Joachim Werner , these elite graves, together with the finds from Flonheim grave 5, characterize his group I "Level Flonheim-Validlingen".

Outstanding women's graves are evidenced by a pair of bow brooches, a custom-made product with almandin inlays.

interpretation

After 510 the occupancy of the grave field either ceases, as in several other Alemannic cemeteries of the Hemmingen type , or at least thins out a lot, as in Basel-Kleinhüningen or Pleidelsheim . Finds are only available again from the middle of the 6th century. Outstanding graves can no longer be found, however. The demolition of the Alamannic cemeteries and settlements - archaeologically documented for the hilltop settlement on the Round Mountain near Urach - is attributed to the victory of the Franks over the Alamannes and their incorporation into the Franconian Empire.

Like many Alemanni cemeteries in the second half of the 5th century, the grave field in Validlingen clearly shows influences from the Elbe Germanic and central Danube region, which, according to Dieter Quast , may be caused by immigration from these regions. The helmet grave from 1901 testifies to the connections between the Alemannic elite and the late Roman Mediterranean region.

The helmet grave

The equipment of the so-called helmet grave, found in Validlingen in 1901, identifies it as an elite grave of the Alemanni. In addition to a gold grip spatha, the dead man was equipped with an iron helmet with gilded copper clasps. In addition, the deceased had a pompous belt with a belt buckle made of meerschaum and a pocket closure in the style of cloisonné work from the Childerich grave . There was also an iron shield, a throwing ax, a lance and a Franconian glass bowl. A pendant made of rock crystal is also part of the valuable grave inventory. The iron spathe with the gold handle was about 90 cm long and 6 cm wide, the gold-plated spade helmet without cheek flaps was 17.7 cm high and had a hat size of 59 cm. The sword, as well as the helmet and the belt, may come from Byzantine workshops and may have been acquired by their owner during a period of service in the Roman military.

The gold handle spathas

The men's graves of 1889 and 1901 each contained a gold-hilted Alemannic type, a double-edged sword , the hilt of which is covered with gold sheet and which occurs mainly east of the Rhine in Alemannic areas of the late 5th and early 6th centuries. In contrast to the Franconian gold-hilt spathas, the two Alemannic pomp swords from Validlingen do not have any cloisonné decoration, as appropriate to their type .

exhibition

The valuable grave find from the Merovingian era from Validlingen - the Spangenhelm and the gold grip spathas of the Alemannic elite - are part of the archaeological collections of the Württemberg State Museum and are exhibited in the "Legendary Master Works" collection in the Old Castle. The grave goods also include a throwing ax as well as a lance and a shield as well as a belt pouch from the past with splendid fittings made of gold and almandine, a belt with a meerschaum buckle with gold, almandine and glass inlay, another buckle made of magnesite with a gold-plated bronze thorn and almandine inlay and a small glass bowl. Grave finds from the Merovingian period from Validlingen were shown in the special exhibition “The Alamanni” from December 11, 2001 to April 28, 2002 in the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart.

Web links

literature

  • Dieter Quast :  Validlingen. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 13, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016315-2 , pp. 153-154. (on-line)
  • Landesmuseum Württemberg (Hrsg.): LegendäreMeisterWerke. Cultural history (s) from Württemberg. Accompanying volume for the permanent exhibition . Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart 2012, pp. 122–221.
  • Heike Schröder (Red.): Art in the Old Castle . State Museum Württemberg. Stuttgart 1998, p. 68
  • Horst-Wolfgang Böhme : The Frankish King Childerich between Attila and Aëtius. To the golden grip spathes of the migration period . In: Festschrift Otto-Herman Frey. 1994, pp. 69-110.
  • Ursula Koch : Defeated, robbed. expelled. The consequences of the defeats of 496/497 and 506 . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 191–201.
  • Reto Marti: The early medieval burial ground of Saint-Sulpice . In: (VD). 1990.
  • Max Martin : Comments on the chronological structure of the early Merovingian period. In: Germania 67. 1989, pp. 121-141 ( online ).
  • Wilfried Menghin : Swords of the gold grip spath horizon in the Museum for Pre- and Early History Berlin . In: Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 26/27, 1994/95, pp. 140-191.
  • Dieter Quast: The Merovingian Grave Finds from Validlingen (City of Wildberg, Kr.Calw) , 1993.
  • Dieter Quast: Jewelry stone and glass buckles from the 5th and early 6th centuries from the eastern Mediterranean and the "Sasanid area" . In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 26. 1996, pp. 333–345.
  • Dieter Quast: From the individual grave to the cemetery. Row grave practice begins in the 5th century . In: K. Fuchs: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 171–190.
  • Dieter Quast: Goldgriffspathen - hill settlements - Danube country influences. Changes in the archaeological source material of the Alamannia in the 5th century and their interpretation . In: Actes des XVIIIe Journées internationales d'Arch. mérovingienne, Saint-Germain-en-Laye 1997, Antiqu. National (in press).
  • Heiko Steuer : Rule from on high . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 149–162.
  • Joachim Werner : Coin-dated Austrasian grave finds . In: Germanic Monuments of the Migration Period Volume 3. Berlin / Leipzig 1935.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cf. Dieter Quast : The Merovingian Age Grave Finds from Validlingen . 1993.
  2. ↑ See Hermann Ament et al.:  Franken. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 9, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1995, ISBN 3-11-014642-8 , pp. 373-461 .; see. Torsten Capelle u. a .:  Prince's graves. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 10, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-015102-2 , pp. 168-220.
  3. ↑ See Joachim Werner : Coin-dated Austrasian grave finds . In: Germanic Monuments of the Migration Period Volume 3. Berlin / Leipzig 1935, pp. 30 ff.
  4. ↑ Cf. Dieter Quast: The Merovingian Age Grave Finds from Validlingen . 1993, p. 1, p. 9; see. Reto Marti: The early medieval burial ground of Saint-Sulpice . In: (VD). 1990, p. 44 ff.
  5. ↑ Cf. Dieter Quast:  Hemmingen. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 14, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016423-X , p. 378.
  6. ↑ See Ursula Koch: Defeated, robbed. expelled. The consequences of the defeats of 496/497 and 506 . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, p. 191–201, p. 191 with note 5.
  7. ↑ Dieter Quast: The Merovingian Age Grave Finds from Validlingen . 1993, p. 104.
  8. ↑ On the chronology cf. Max Martin : Comments on the chronological structure of the early Merovingian period. In: Germania 67. 1989, pp. 121-141; critical cf. Wilfried Menghin : Swords of the gold grip spath horizon in the Museum for Pre- and Early History Berlin . In: Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 26/27, 1994/95, pp. 140-191.
  9. ↑ See Ursula Koch: Defeated, robbed. expelled. The consequences of the defeats of 496/497 and 506 . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 191–201; critical cf. Heiko Steuer: Rule from on high . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 149–162, pp. 160–161.
  10. ↑ Cf. Dieter Quast: From the individual grave to the cemetery. Row grave practice begins in the 5th century . In: The Alamanni . Exhibition catalog Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 171–190.
  11. ↑ Dieter Quast: The Merovingian Age Grave Finds from Validlingen . 1993, p. 104; see. Horst-Wolfgang Böhme : The Frankish King Childerich between Attila and Aëtius. To the golden grip spathes of the migration period . In: Festschrift Otto-Herman Frey . 1994, pp. 81-82, pp. 106-107; Dieter Quast: Jewelry stone and glass buckles from the 5th and early 6th centuries from the eastern Mediterranean and the "Sasanid area" . In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 26. 1996, p. 340; see. Dieter Quast: Goldgriffspathen - hill settlements - Danube country influences. Changes in the archaeological source material of the Alamannia in the 5th century and their interpretation . In: Actes des XVIIIe Journées internationales d'Arch. mérovingienne . Saint-Germain-en-Laye 1997, Antiqu. National.
  12. ↑ On the 'Baldenheimer Spangenhelm' cf. Peter F. Stary et al. a .:  helmet. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 14, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016423-X , pp. 317–338.
  13. ↑ See Kurt Böhner u. a .:  Childerich von Tournai. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 4, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-006513-4 , pp. 440-460.
  14. ↑ a b c See Alemannic helmet grave with gold grip spatha, State Museum Württemberg, Archaeological Collections
  15. ↑ See Hermann Ament:  Goldgriffspatha. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 12, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-016227-X , pp. 333-335.
  16. ^ Hermann Ament:  Goldgriffspatha. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 12, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-016227-X , p. 333.