Großörner burial ground

Großörner burial ground
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location	Saxony-Anhalt , Germany
Location	Großörner; exit to Hettstedt
When	Late 5th to early 6th century ; ( Thuringian Empire )
Where	Großörner , Mansfelder Land / Saxony-Anhalt
displayed	State Museum for Prehistory (Halle) , collection

51.616666666667 11.49Coordinates: 51 ° 37 ′ 0 ″ N , 11 ° 29 ′ 24 ″ E

The old Thuringian grave field of Großörner , a small body grave field of a Germanic elite from the late migration period , was discovered in the Mansfeld region and examined by the Landesmuseum Halle . The burial ground is dated to the late fifth century and early sixth century AD. The excellent grave goods from two elite graves gave the opportunity to connect the buried with the Thuringian royal clan . The burials are divided into two separate grave groups, which are interpreted as one of the 'nobility' and one of dependents.

Find description

The 'nobility ' necropolis on the Thuringian territory , which dates to the late fifth and early sixth centuries, contains twenty body burials and five animal graves with a total of seven horses and five dogs. Two rich burials, robbed as early as the sixth century, are classified as first-rate elite graves .

Old Thuringian elite grave (finding 1)

The wooden burial chamber with a circumference of 4 by 4.5 meters and a depth of 1.40 meters still contained grave goods of the first order despite the ancient robbery. Finds such as gold brocade , a Ango , a boar spear , a wooden bucket, an octagonal gold fittings, set with Chrysopas and almandine , two gold sleeves, perhaps from a snaffle witness or two knife handles from the extraordinary wealth of the grave.

Old Thuringian elite grave (finding 19)

The boys' grave, a wooden burial chamber with a circumference of 2.80 by 3.06 meters and a depth of 2.70 meters, still contained extraordinary grave goods despite being robbed. A golden piston arm ring, silver buttons, a valuable horse snaffle of nomadic horseman origin suggest that the buried boy was a member of the old Thuringian royal family. Three riding horses and two hunting dogs were buried in two grave pits next to the boy's grave. Another grave with a horse and a dog was nearby.

Old Thuringian female grave of horseman nomadic provenance

A woman with an artificially deformed skull was lying in a grave of the second group of graves with few grave goods . The grave can be compared with the women's burial of Oßmannstedt in terms of the Hun time custom of skull deformation .

Horse bit of rider nomadic provenance

The horse snaffle is the most valuable of the migration period in Europe. It dates to the second half of the fifth century. Golden and silver ribbed sleeves on the iron side bars and almandines on the end buttons of the side bars as well as silver inlaid in the iron and silver strap clamps for the reins testify to the extraordinary wealth of the owner. From the Merovingian prince's grave of Krefeld-Gellep from Gelduba there is a similar bridle 'only' decorated with silver ribbed sleeves and almandine.

Piston arm ring

The piston arm ring represents the boy's grave to the elite graves of Tournai , Pouan , Wolfsheim , Fürst , Blučina , Apahida and Mezőbánd (in Hungary).

exhibition

The excellent grave finds from the Großörner cemetery are part of the collection of the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle.

Remarks

↑ Cf. Günter Behm-Blancke : Society and Art of the Germanic Peoples. The Thuringians and their world. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1973, p. 114 ff; see. Berthold Schmidt : The late migration period in Central Germany. Catalog (north and east part) . (= Publications of the State Museum of Prehistory, Hall 29). Berlin 1975, pp. 75-80, plate 177; see. Berthold Schmidt: Großörner . In: Joachim Herrmann et al. (Ed.): Archeology in the German Democratic Republic Volume 2. 1989, pp. 555–557.

literature

Heiko Steuer : Großörner. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 13, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1999, ISBN 3-11-016315-2 , pp. 85–86 ( paid for via GAO , De Gruyter Online).

Peter Donat : The aristocratic graves of Großörner and Stoß and the problem of quality group D Merovingian grave furnishings . In: Annual Journal for Middle German Prehistory 72. Halle an der Saale 1989, pp. 185–204.

Berthold Schmidt : Thuringian high nobility graves of the late migration period . In: Peter Grimm (Ed.): Varia Archaeologica . Offered to Wilhelm Unverzagt for his 70th birthday, writing . Prehistory and Early History Section 16. Berlin 1964, pp. 195–213.

Berthold Schmidt: The Thuringians . In: Bruno Krüger (Ed.): Die Germanen. History and culture of the Germanic tribes in Central Europe. A manual in two volumes . Berlin 1986, pp. 502-548.

Berthold Schmidt: The Kingdom of the Thuringians and its provinces . In: Wilfried Menghin , Tobias Springer , Egon Wamers (eds.): Germanen, Hunnen and Avars. Treasures of the Migration Period . Nuremberg 1987, pp. 471-512.

Berthold Schmidt: The Kingdom of the Thuringians and its incorporation into the Franconian Empire . In: The Franks. Pioneer of Europe . Mainz 1996, pp. 285-297.

Berthold Schmidt, Jan Bemmann : Body burials of the younger Roman Empire and the time of the Great Migration in Central Germany. Catalog . (= Publications of the State Museum for Prehistory, Hall 61). Halle an der Saale 2008.

[1] Cf. Günter Behm-Blancke : Society and Art of the Germanic Peoples. The Thuringians and their world. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1973, p. 114 ff; see. Berthold Schmidt : The late migration period in Central Germany. Catalog (north and east part) . (= Publications of the State Museum of Prehistory, Hall 29). Berlin 1975, pp. 75-80, plate 177; see. Berthold Schmidt: Großörner . In: Joachim Herrmann et al. (Ed.): Archeology in the German Democratic Republic Volume 2. 1989, pp. 555–557.