Westheim burial ground
Coordinates: 49 ° 0 ′ 11 ″ N , 10 ° 39 ′ 41 ″ E
| Westheim burial ground | ||
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| location | Bavaria , Germany | |
| Location |
Westheim in the Holderheckle field area |
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| When | around 530 AD to the second half of the 7th century | |
| Where | Westheim , Middle Franconia / Bavaria | |
| displayed | Permanent exhibition of the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg | |
The cemetery of Westheim is a large grave complex from the early Merovingian period near the Middle Franconian town of Westheim in Bavaria . In addition to its unusually large extent, it is important as the earliest known evidence of the Franks in Middle Franconia.
location
The grave field is located in the "Holderheckle" field around 450 meters northwest of the parish church on a slope that slopes south towards the settlement.
Find description
The grave field originally consisted of 261 graves of men, women and children as well as two horse burials. The graves are mostly laid out in a west-east direction, simple burials, which were originally partially marked by stones or wooden stakes. Presumably it is the cemetery of a simple settlement in which no nobles or other prominent persons were buried.
In addition to numerous everyday objects such as ceramics, buckles made of bronze and iron, fibulae, scissors, small iron knives, spindle whorls , bone combs and pearl necklaces, there are also several spaths , saxes , lance tips and shield humps . Coins were found in two graves that had been placed in the mouths of the buried as obolus . A rosette brooch with decorations from Almadin , a pair of silver shoe buckles, a pearl necklace with bracteate pendants and a glass tumbler are considered to be highlighted finds .
On the basis of the finds, graves can be assigned to different population groups. Most of the graves from the early burial phase were poor. Their furnishings are largely limited to ceramic pieces, some very roughly made, some with decorations that are attributed to the Elbe-Germanic - Thuringian tradition, but these are also rather poorly processed, as well as a few pieces of jewelry. These are assigned to a Juthung - Alamannic culture, which has been proven in the region since the 4th century AD. A group that followed, but still located in the 6th century, is characterized by finds of early Franconian weapons such as Ango and Franziska and contains a few high-quality and heavily decorated everyday objects as well as typical Franconian ceramics based on Roman models. In the third group of graves from the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD, ceramics in a fundamentally Franconian style, but with apparently locally created remodels, come to light.
history
The burial ground probably did not belong to today's place Westheim. This was first mentioned in 899 AD and is located an unusually long distance from the burial site. Rather, the cemetery was assigned to a settlement on the hill above the Bruckbach . There the Roman roads Geilsheim - Hüssingen and Gunzenhausen - Nördlingen crossed . The first burials took place no later than 530 AD, the last in the second half of the 7th century. At this point in time, the associated settlement also seems to have been abandoned.
The finds are interpreted to mean that the cemetery was initially used by the local Elbe-Germanic-Alemannic population. At this point in time, the Elbe Germans had been in decline against the expanding Franks since the Battle of Zülpich in AD 496. It is possible that the region came under the influence of the Thuringians during this time, who also expanded their sphere of influence to the detriment of the Alemanni. However, the Thuringians were also defeated by the Franks in 531 AD in the Battle of the Unstrut . Around this point in time, the Elbe-Germanic-Alamannic settlement near Westheim apparently received a Frankish ruling class who brought handicrafts from their heartland. Finally, around the transition to the 7th century, there was an assimilation of the upper and lower classes.
Around 1900, the expansion of a neighboring quarry led to the destruction of at least 16 graves. As a result of this development, the Limes researcher Heinrich Eidam and Pastor Wilhelm Hornung undertook the first scientific excavation on the area from 1902 to 1904. On this occasion, the contents of 24 graves from the 6th century were transferred to the Gunzenhausen Archaeological Museum . There were no more lost finds due to the quarry operation.
Because of plans for a bypass that would have led over parts of the burial ground, another excavation campaign followed from 1979 to 1985 by employees of the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg on behalf of the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and under the direction of Wilfried Menghin . 15 graves and several otherwise empty graves with skeletal parts were discovered. The latter were evidently the remains of older excavations.
In 1981, researchers at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg recorded an area of around 600 square meters of the burial ground and took the inventory of three graves.
literature
- Ursula Ellwart: The Alemannic burial ground of Westheim near Gunzenhausen (Mfr.). In: Germanisches Nationalmuseum: monthly gazette for museums and exhibitions in Nuremberg. No. 12, March 1982, page 94.
- Robert Reiss: The Merovingian period cemetery of Westheim (Weissenburg-Gunzenhausen district). Research on the early medieval regional history in southwestern Middle Franconia = scientific supplements to the display of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Volume 10 (1994)
- Tobias Springer: The Merovingian period cemetery in Westheim. A burial site from the 6th and 7th centuries AD in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district. In: Germanisches Nationalmuseum: monthly gazette for museums and exhibitions in Nuremberg. No. 204, 2001, pages 7-9.