Warriors from Kelheim

The gigantic 1.95 m tall warrior from Kelheim with sword and shield hump, arrowheads and vessel for the food

A corpse from the Merovingian period , which was discovered on September 14, 1914 in grave 42 of the Bavarian row grave field of Kelheim-Gmünd on the Altmühlflur east of Kelheim , is called a warrior of Kelheim . The remains of the 1.95 m tall man, who died between the ages of 40 and 50, were dated to the second half of the 6th century. The human remains and the additions are now in the Archaeological Museum in Kelheim .

The grave goods allow statements about his social position, because the double-edged long sword , a spathe , which was placed at an angle on the deceased's thighs, identifies him as a member of the aristocratic, aristocratic upper class. There was also a shield boss with bronze-plated disc-head rivets, a lance, a bow and five arrows. Between the feet of the corpse there was a vessel for the food on the way, a stamped bag cup.

As a deep injury to the lower end of the left shin bone, four to five centimeters long, proved, the man died a violent death. It is unclear whether this happened through bleeding to death because the anterior tibial artery running there was severed, or through an infection and inflammation with sepsis .

The shield boss

literature

Friedbert Ficker : Problems of palaeomedicine using the example of the Merovingian warrior from Kelheim . In: Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin. Volume 92, 2007, pp. 71-87 ( PDF; 7.48 MB ).
Revised and expanded form of: The Merovingian Warrior from Kelheim and the medicine of the past . In: Naturheilpraxis. Volume 59, 2006, pp. 867-870 ( online ).

Web links

The Bavarians and the early Middle Ages 6th to 10th centuries AD (website of the Kelheim Archaeological Museum)

Remarks

↑ Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseums. 1971/1972, p. 15.
^ Petra Neumann-Eisele, Bernd Sorcan: Stone, bronze, iron. The prehistory and early history department of the Archaeological Museum of the City of Kelheim . Archaeological Museum, Kelheim 2004, ISBN 3-000-13417-4 , p. 93.

personal data
SURNAME	Warriors from Kelheim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Merovingian nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH	6th century
DATE OF DEATH	6th century

[1] Anzeiger des Germanisches Nationalmuseums. 1971/1972, p. 15.

[2] Petra Neumann-Eisele, Bernd Sorcan: Stone, bronze, iron. The prehistory and early history department of the Archaeological Museum of the City of Kelheim . Archaeological Museum, Kelheim 2004, ISBN 3-000-13417-4 , p. 93.