Prince's grave of Helmsdorf

Prince's grave of Helmsdorf
	p1
	Drawing of the burial mound during the demolition in 1906/07
	p4
When	around 1840 BC BC, Early Bronze Age
Where	Gerbstedt , OT Augsdorf in Saxony-Anhalt , Germany

51.601949 11.589006Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 7 " N , 11 ° 35 ′ 20.4" E

The prince grave of Helmsdorf was a around 1840 BC. A burial mound of the early Bronze Age Aunjetitz culture (2300–1550 BC) between Augsdorf and Helmsdorf , today districts of Gerbstedt in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz ( Saxony-Anhalt ). It was on a burial ground of the late Neolithic Corded Ware culture was built (2800-2050 v. Chr.). Fragments found indicate that the hill was used during the Roman Empire (60/30 BC – 375 AD) and in Slavic times. A subsequent burial within the hill dates from the Merovingian period (5th century - 751). In the Middle Ages and / or modern times , the burial mound was used as a place of execution ; it was therefore also known as the Great Gallows Hill . Because of the threat posed by mining, an archaeological investigation was carried out between 1906 and 1907 under the direction of Hermann Großler . Then the mound was completely removed. The waste dump of the Otto-Brosowski-Schacht now rises at its former location . The finds made during the excavation are now in the regional history collections in Lutherstadt Eisleben .

In addition to the Bornhöck near Raßnitz and the prince grave of Leubingen , the prince grave of Helmsdorf is one of the most important burial places of the Aunjetitz culture in central Germany .

location

At the site of the prince's grave, the waste dump of the Otto Brosowski shaft rises today

The grave was located quite close to the border between Augsdorf and Helmsdorf, about 1.5 km from the former and 2 km from the latter. Although it was still in the Augsdorf area, the term Prince Grave of Helmsdorf has become generally accepted in the research literature . To the north of this burial mound, also known as the Great Gallows Hill , there was originally another elevation called the Small Gallows Hill. This was probably another burial mound. The survey was dismantled at the latest in the 1860s without prior investigation and grave goods allegedly found are missing. During a subsequent excavation in 1961, a ceramic burial was found at this point.

Research history

The Großer Galgenhügel had already been noticed by Großler in the 1870s as a possible burial mound. He had been hoping for an excavation for a long time, but could not initially be carried out for cost reasons. It only became possible when the hill was to be completely removed in the course of connecting two shafts with a railroad track. Work began on November 16, 1906, and on November 24, Larger was able to begin a scientific investigation.

description

The hill

Cross section through the hill

The shape of the hill was almost circular. Its diameter was 33 m from north to south and 34.5 m from east to west. In the west it was 1.56 m higher than in the east. Its height could be determined at 6.82 m, its volume at 2031.7 m³. It was almost the same size as the princely grave of Leubingen in Thuringia .

The corded ceramic burials

Sketches of ceramic burials from the mound, as well as vessels from a stone box (1–3) and from a grave outside the mound (4–5

Seven burials, most of which were made of ceramic cord, were discovered beneath the Bronze Age mound. The first was directly under the burial chamber. The dead man was buried in a very crooked, recumbent stool position. The length of the leg bones suggests a tall body. The skull was badly preserved. A faceted ax made of hornblende slate and a handle pot decorated with cord were found among grave goods .

40 cm below this burial was a second, much poorer preserved skeleton. Between the two burials was a ceramic vessel, probably a bowl or Kumme .

A third burial was discovered under these two burials, directly on the ground. A shallow pit had been laid out with slabs of red sandstone. A skeleton lay on it in a stool position, which was covered with white sandstone slabs. Since no grave goods were found, the exact date of this burial is not certain.

After the actual excavation was completed, several more burials were discovered in May 1907. Two of them were stone boxes located 11 and 13 meters from the center of the hill and erected on the ground. Both boxes were trapezoidal and made of sandstone slabs. The western one was oriented west-northwest-east-southeast and had a length of 1 m. Only remnants of the thighbones remained from the burial. Grave goods were not found. Due to the small size of the box, it may have been a children's funeral.

The eastern box was oriented northwest-southeast and was also 1 m long. Here, too, there was a child burial, which was confirmed by the somewhat more numerous bone material preserved. On the west wall were some fragments of bones, including two from the skull. Presumably the deceased was buried as a seated stool on the west wall, facing east. The only burial object found was a small vessel decorated with string.

South of the two boxes and about 40–50 cm deeper, the workers came across a north-south oriented pile of stones, which turned out to be the cover of another grave. This consisted of a pit filled with soil containing a lot of charcoal. At the north end was a surviving human skull, perhaps also from a child. To the south of it stood two ceramic vessels, one of which (a bowl) contained corpse burn. The second vessel was a cup that had no contents. Larger assigned the vessels to the Bernburg culture .

The remains of another skeleton were discovered only a little to the east of the cairn and another 15-20 cm deeper. This dead man, too, was apparently buried in a sitting stool position with his face facing east. The bones were very badly preserved. Grave goods were not found.

Two more graves of the Cord Ceramic Culture were uncovered in the vicinity of the hill.

The bronze age princely grave

The stone mantle

The stone mantle surrounding the burial chamber had a length of 13.5 m and a height of 3.45 m. At its edge, stones about 100 cm long and 30-40 cm thick were piled up without the use of mortar to form a surrounding wall 80-100 cm high. The inner area consisted of randomly arranged smaller blocks and plates with diameters between 50 and 70 cm. Some stones were field stones made of granite , porphyry and coal sandstone , others consisted of white and red sandstone that came from nearby deposits at Polleben and Gerbstedt .

The burial chamber

Drawing of the burial chamber

The burial chamber was built on a thin layer of very ashy earth. The north-south oriented chamber had a total length of 6.8 m, a width of 5.0 m and a height between 1.6 and 1.7 m. It consisted of oak planks placed in pairs at an angle . On the southern narrow side, two support struts and a sandstone slab leaning against the wooden wall were also found. The oak planks were beveled at the top so that they fit together exactly and no ridge beam was required. At the lower ends they were wedged by stone slabs. To protect them from moisture, they were grouted with sandy loam and then covered with reeds . To divert the pressure of the stone and earth masses, ten pairs of approximately 30 cm thick oak planks were placed on the long sides of this inner wooden structure, which were also wedged in the floor with stone slabs and grouted with clay in the lower area and with small stones in the upper area . At the point above the buried person's head, a thick fork of branches was also installed. At the northern and southern ends of the chamber, two 40 cm thick oak trunks were set vertically into the ground.

The floor of the chamber was covered with reeds over a length of 1.4 m in the southern area, whereas in the north it was paved with white sandstone slabs over a length of 2.5 m, which were grouted with gypsum mortar. A layer of reeds was also found under the plates.

The chest of the dead

Drawing of the dead drawer

The buried person lay in a bed-shaped death drawer made of oak. It had a length of 2.05 m and a width of 0.98 m. It stood on a platform made of sandstone slabs and was 1.4 m from the south and 0.3 m from the north end of the chamber. A single sheet of oak formed the bottom of the ark. The long sides were placed against each other at the same angle as the roof planks. On the narrow sides, two hewn boards, 30 cm high and 4.2 cm thick, were pegged into the base plate. The boards on the long sides were 22 cm high and 6-7 cm thick. They were mortised with the narrow sides, but not with the base plate. At the south end they protruded 14 cm over the narrow side and were rounded off in a semicircle. In the north they just ended and only protruded slightly.

The skeleton was relatively poorly preserved and the bones were discolored gray-brown. The skull was almost completely gone, but the spine was still quite well preserved. The dead man had been buried in a recumbent stool position with his knees slightly drawn up and his face facing east. The age of death could not be determined exactly, it was only established that the buried person had died in adulthood.

Grave goods

Ceramic vessel and gold jewelry

Several grave goods were found in the chest in the chest area of the deceased. These included a diorite - ax , a Flachbeil of bronze and two poorly preserved bronze daggers . A material analysis showed a relatively high tin content of 12.53 percent in one of the daggers and 11.69 percent in the flat ax. There were also six gold ornaments on the dead man's chest: a solid arm ring, two hanging spirals, a spiral scroll and two needles. In addition, the dead pendant seems to have had copper or bronze beads, of which only remnants could be found. Outside the ark, the shards of a large ceramic vessel were discovered in the southeast corner of the burial chamber.

The grave of the Merovingian period

Skull from the Merovingian burial

At a depth of 0.7 m below the summit, a south-north oriented skeleton was discovered in a stretched supine position. The face looked west. The skull was well preserved and showed signs of dolichocephaly . The buried person had already died as a teenager. The only grave goods found behind the neck of the skeleton were a ceramic vessel and a bronze ring. The vessel was double-conical with a tubular neck and had several horizontal strips as the only decoration. The bronze ring was 10.5 cm in diameter and weighed 230 g. With some uncertainty the burial of Großerler was assigned to the Merovingian period (5th century – 751).

The hill in the Roman Empire and in the early Middle Ages

In the eastern area of the mound, near the Merovingian grave, several shards were found just below the surface, which can be classified in the Roman imperial and Slavic times. The vessels from the imperial period included a foot bowl and a barrel-shaped mug.

The hill in the Middle Ages and modern times

In the first days of the demolition of the hill, before Großerler's arrival, foundation stones of the eponymous gallows were found. Nearby lay four human skeletons that were laid crosswise in pairs. Furthermore, the remains of a horse skeleton were discovered.

Dating

Dendrochronologically , the Bronze Age grave could be dated to 1840 ± 10 BC. To be dated.

literature

Bernd Becker et al .: Dendrochronological dating of oaks from the Early Bronze Age barrows near Helmsdorf and Leubingen (Aunjetitz culture) and from Bronze Age river oaks near Merseburg. In: Annual journal for Central German Prehistory. Volume 72, 1989, pp. 299-312 ( online ).
Ulrike Binding : Helmsdorf, Ldkr. Mansfelder Land. In: Siegfried Fröhlich (Ed.): From the prehistory of Saxony-Anhalt. State Museum for Prehistory Halle (Saale), Halle (Saale) 1995, ISBN 3-910010-13-X , No. 16.
Juliane Filipp, Martin Freudenreich: Dieskau and Helmsdorf - Two Early Bronze Age Microregions in Comparison. In: Harald Meller et al. (Ed.): Poor and rich - on the distribution of resources in prehistoric societies. 8th Central German Archaeological Day from October 22nd to 24th, 2015 in Halle (Saale) (= conferences of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Volume 14 / I). State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology Saxony-Anhalt Halle 2016, ISBN 978-3-944507-45-3 , pp. 407-425 ( online ).
Ines Götze: The Ark of the Prince's Grave of Helmsdorf. Investigation and evaluation of the old restorations, creation of a concept for conservation and presentation. Diploma thesis, Erfurt 2009.
Hermann Großler : The vessels adorned with string in the collection of the Mansfeld History and Antiquity Association in Eisleben. In: Mansfelder Blätter. Volume 20, 1906, pp. 227-228 ( online ).
Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). In: Annual publication for the prehistory of the Saxon-Thuringian countries. Volume 6, 1907, pp. 1-87 ( online ).
Waldemar Matthias : Catalogs on Central German Cord Ceramics. Volume 4. South Harz-Unstrut area. Ulrich Fischer dedicated to the leading specialist in the field of string ceramics research on the occasion of his 60th birthday on July 3, 1957 in a collegial bond (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Volume 28). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974, pp. 34–36.
Andreas Sattler : The graves of the Aunjetitz culture in the Saale region. On the ritual of the dead based on the older findings (= university research on prehistoric archeology. Volume 267). Habelt, Bonn 2015, ISBN 978-3-7749-3941-7 , p. 118.
Bernd Zich : The princely graves of Leubingen and Helmsdorf. In: Harald Meller (ed.): The forged sky. The wide world in the heart of Europe 3600 years ago. Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-8062-1907-4 , pp. 156-159.

Web links

Commons : Fürstengrab von Helmsdorf - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Augsdorf-online.de: Monument protection
Museum Digital: Gold jewelry from the Helmsdorf prince grave , inventory of the prince grave hill of Helmsdorf, Ldkr. Mansfeld-Südharz
Archeology online: chief graves of the Aunjetitz culture (2200 - 1800 BC)

Individual evidence

↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 1.
↑ Waldemar Matthias: Catalogs on Central German Cord Ceramics. Volume 4. South Harz-Unstrut area. Ulrich Fischer dedicated to the leading specialist in the field of string ceramics research on the occasion of his 60th birthday on July 3, 1957 in a collegial bond (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Volume 28). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974, pp. 36–37.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 1-4.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 3-4.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 40-43.
^ ^A ^b Hermann Großler: The princely grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 43.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 69-71.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 71-72.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 73-75.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 75.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 85-87.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 10-11.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 13-17.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 17.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 19-21.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 22-23.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 22-26.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 27-32.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 28.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 19, 36-38.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 6-7.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 7-9.
↑ Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 3.
↑ Bernd Becker et al .: Dendrochronological dating of oaks from the Early Bronze Age barrows near Helmsdorf and Leubingen (Aunjetitz culture) and from Bronze Age river oaks near Merseburg. In: Annual journal for Central German Prehistory. Volume 72, 1989, p. 304 ( online ).

[1] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 1.

[2] Waldemar Matthias: Catalogs on Central German Cord Ceramics. Volume 4. South Harz-Unstrut area. Ulrich Fischer dedicated to the leading specialist in the field of string ceramics research on the occasion of his 60th birthday on July 3, 1957 in a collegial bond (= publications of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Volume 28). Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1974, pp. 36–37.

[3] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 1-4.

[4] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 3-4.

[5] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 40-43.

[Größler43-6] A ^b Hermann Großler: The princely grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 43.

[7] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 69-71.

[8] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 71-72.

[9] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 73-75.

[10] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 75.

[11] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 85-87.

[12] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 10-11.

[13] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 13-17.

[14] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 17.

[15] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 19-21.

[16] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 22-23.

[17] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 22-26.

[18] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 27-32.

[19] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 28.

[20] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 19, 36-38.

[21] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 6-7.

[22] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, pp. 7-9.

[23] Hermann Großler: The prince's grave in the great gallows hill on Paulsschachte near Helmsdorf (in the Mansfeld lake district). 1907, p. 3.

[24] Bernd Becker et al .: Dendrochronological dating of oaks from the Early Bronze Age barrows near Helmsdorf and Leubingen (Aunjetitz culture) and from Bronze Age river oaks near Merseburg. In: Annual journal for Central German Prehistory. Volume 72, 1989, p. 304 ( online ).