Copper hoard from Lüstringen

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The copper hoard of Lüstringen, consisting of three lunulae and an ax
Edge decorations on a lunula

The Lüstringen copper hoard is a depot find with copper objects , consisting of three lunulae and an early ax . The after-school care center was discovered in mid-2016 when a rainwater retention basin was being built in the Osnabrück district of Voxtrup , south of Lüstringen . Archaeologists attribute the approximately 5000 year old complex of finds to the funnel beaker culture in the Neolithic . The finds are among the oldest metal products in northern Germany .

Reference

The site is located within the rain retention basin created in 2016

The after-school care center was found on the eastern outskirts of Osnabrück on an agricultural area east of Sandforter Strasse near a Deutsche Bahn substation . This is an area on the edge of the Haseniederung between the Osnabrück – Hanover railway in the north and the Hase river in the south, which is followed by a lowland moor to the south . Although the area is immediately south of the main settlement of Lüstringen, it officially belongs to the Voxtrup district.

The plans for the construction of the rain retention basin in the area of ​​the later site had been in place since 2006. The City and District Archeology of Osnabrück had been informed of the construction project since 2012. The basin was intended to be excavated on an arable land with ash soil . This type of soil, which is widespread in the Osnabrück region, is usually checked for soil finds prior to construction work, as prehistoric sites are not superficially recognizable in Eschflur . Knowing the location in a lowland area, the archaeologists predicted a low probability of finding historical remains, as they did not expect any settlement structures in the damp terrain. Therefore, a preliminary archaeological investigation was not carried out, the costs of which would have been borne by the building owner in the form of the Osnabrück municipal utilities in accordance with the polluter-pays principle anchored in the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act .

Find

discovery

The construction work for the construction of the planned rainwater retention basin in Voxtrup began at the beginning of June 2016 after a construction company had been commissioned by the Osnabrück public utility to do so in May 2016. While observing the construction site with a metal detector , a probe user came across the finds on June 22nd, 2016 while accompanying the removal of the topsoil during the construction work . They were just below the surface in the medieval ash floor. The probe reported the find immediately to the city and district archeology of Osnabrück, on whose behalf he was volunteering. He was trained by the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation and had a permit for this type of prospecting . Archaeologists immediately salvaged the hoard as a block salvage , as they suspected further fragments of the finds in the ground. Immediately after finding one led excavation companies in the construction area on 5000 m² an excavation by. It produced further findings from prehistoric times, such as corpse burn camps from the younger Bronze Age and traces of settlement from the pre-Roman Iron Age .

The archaeologists first had the approximately 500 kilogram earth block with a size of 75 × 100 cm x- rayed using computed tomography . With the help of a 3D visualization that was then produced , the position in which the found parts were in the ground could be reconstructed. In the X-ray image, the pit that was dug when laying down could also be seen. It was only after the non-invasive examinations that the finds were exposed from the earth block. This was done under laboratory conditions in the restoration workshop of the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation in Hanover.

description

The hoard includes a copper pommel hammer ax , the main area of ​​distribution of which was in eastern and south-eastern Europe, as well as three lunulae , which are more familiar from western Europe. Lunalae are very rare finds in Germany. The three lunulae that were found are elaborately decorated, including a large zigzag band. They have holes through them, so the researchers assume that fabric was sewn onto them and that they served as neck or breast jewelry. An idea of ​​how it was carried can be found on the statue menhir in Schafstädt . The artifacts were slightly deformed due to their near-surface storage in the ground. Since they were not buried deep, during the cultivation of the fields in the Middle Ages there was damage from earth movements.

  • Copper ax

  • Two lunules

  • A lunula in two parts

  • Detail: border decoration

Age and origin

The Archäometallurg Robert Lehmann in the first presentation of the finds

In the beginning, the researchers assumed the archaeological context was between 2000 and 2500 BC. From the finds and assigned them to the time of the individual grave culture . According to the Osnabrück archaeologist Bodo Zehm , the metals were not produced in the area where they were found because the corresponding raw materials and processing knowledge were not yet available there. The researcher assumed that the lunulae come from the Carpathian Basin or even further away from the Middle East and were manufactured using a manufacturing process developed there. High-quality copper jewelry was made there 8000 years ago and came to northern Central Europe via trade connections .

Archaeometallurgical investigations dated the Lunalae to the time between about 3300 and 3000 BC. And suggest an origin from the Eastern Alpine region. The pommel hammer ax was dated around 4000 BC. BC dated with an origin from the south-east European area. This means that the finds can be attributed to the time of the funnel beaker culture.

According to research by the chemist Robert Lehmann from the Archaeometry Working Group at Leibniz University Hanover , the objects are made of copper with sometimes high levels of arsenic and bismuth . The high arsenic content made it easier to process during melting and casting, and it made the metal appear very bright. Whether the additives are natural or whether they are alloys is still being investigated. The decorations and the processing of the lunulae by casting and forging testify to a high level of metalworking knowledge.

presentation

The copper hoard in the first exhibition

The discovery was first presented to the public on December 15, 2016 in the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum with a preliminary analysis of the scientific research. This took place as the opening of the exhibition Der Kupferschatz von Osnabrück , in which the ensemble of finds was shown for a month. This first museum presentation took place in an unrestored condition, just as the original finds had been removed from the ground half a year earlier. A 15-minute documentary film was made on the story of the discovery of the hoard . Among other things, it shows the search with the metal detector, the excavation work and the clearing of the finds in the restoration workshop of the State Monuments Office in Hanover.

According to the treasure shelf laid down in the Lower Saxony Monument Protection Act , the ensemble of finds is owned by the State of Lower Saxony. Since significant finds are usually exhibited in state museums, the after-school care center is to be moved to the State Museum for Nature and Man in Oldenburg after further investigations and restorations . The Osnabrück state parliament member Burkhard Jasper ( CDU ), on the other hand, calls for the finds to remain in Osnabrück in order to show them in the context of local archeology.

From September 21, 2018 to January 6, 2019, the copper hoard in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin was part of the exhibition Moving Times. Archeology shown in Germany , which took place on the occasion of the European Cultural Heritage Year 2018.

Landtag request

In September 2016, Burkhard Jasper, member of the state parliament from Osnabrück, made a small request to the Lower Saxony state government about the hoard . Based on a newspaper article in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of July 27, 2016, the question entitled “Would the found objects in the city of Osnabrück have almost been lost at an age of around 4500 years?” Contains five questions about the circumstances of the find as well as information about the Public and a permanent presentation of the finds in Osnabrück. The MP asked, among other things, why the Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation was not informed about the construction project and why no more detailed archaeological investigation of the Eschboden site was carried out in advance of the construction work. The then Lower Saxony Minister for Science and Culture Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić ( Alliance 90 / The Greens ) replied on behalf of the state government that the Osnabrück city and district archeology was originally responsible as the lower monument authority . According to the ministry, the location in a lowland area made the likelihood of archaeological finds seem low. The place of discovery is a special site outside of the settlement structure, where the objects were intentionally deposited. That means that the hoard was not to be expected.

meaning

No comparable find complex has yet been discovered in Germany. Researchers attribute a supra-regional to national importance to the copper treasure from Osnabrück, which was recovered under scientific conditions. Because of the largely metal-free Neolithic Age in Northern Germany, they suspect that the objects came from far away. The find makes an important contribution to the discussion about early metallurgy , as well as the formation of elites in the late Neolithic. For the people living at that time, the metal jewelry should have represented a very high value. The special importance of the lunulae lies in their age and the fact that they are made of copper. The previously known lunulae are made of gold or, in rare cases, bronze and date from the Bronze Age .

As with other early hoard finds, the motive for placing the items is not known. Because of the rarity of metals, they were prestige objects at the time. The burying of valuable property is an archaeologically verifiable ritual that usually has a cultic background. The archaeologists also suspect this motif in the Osnabrück copper treasure. The association of the lunulae speaks for this with a pommel hammer ax, which was otherwise only found in landfills in connection with a consecration . In addition, there is a shelf in an exposed landscape to underline the cultic character. This is the case with the copper treasure, as the site is near an old long-distance path , the route of which crosses the Hase river valley with a ford . This is indicated by the name of today's Sandforter Straße (sandy ford). The long-distance path, which was important until the Middle Ages, is lined with megaliths - as well as large stone graves and burial mounds .

The then President of the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments, Stefan Winghart , considered a cultural and sociological connection between the copper treasure and these Stone Age structures (such as the Teufelssteinen about one kilometer from the site and the Gretescher stones about 500 meters away ) to be very likely.

literature

Web links

Commons : Kupferschatz von Osnabrück  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interactive map of Osnabrück with district boundaries, City of Osnabrück - Geodata Specialist, geo.osnabrueck.de
  2. ↑ Ulrich Eckseler: Probe saves valuable pieces in Osnabrück in: Grafschafter Nachrichten of July 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ New rain retention basin on Sandforter Straße in Osnabrück ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Stadtwerke Osnabrück on June 2, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadtwerke-osnabrueck.de
  4. ↑ New construction of a rainwater retention basin in Osnabrück at Hofschröer.de.
  5. ↑ Osnabrücker Kupferschatz older than previously assumed in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of October 24, 2017.
  6. ^ A b Anne Reinert: "The copper treasure of Osnabrück": Find from the Neolithic in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of December 27, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b Museum shows copper treasure from the Stone Age at ndr.de from December 15, 2016
  8. ↑ The Osnabrück Copper Treasure at the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum
  9. ↑ Latest studies: Osnabrück copper treasure older than previously assumed by osnabrueck.de from October 27, 2017
  10. ↑ See literature: Haßmann, Fries, Zehm: Copper from the Stone Age. A hoard found in Osnabrück-Lüstringen
  11. ↑ Sebastian Philipp: Bronze Age finds are exhibited in Osnabrück in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on December 9, 2016.
  12. ↑ Sebastian Philipp: Finds from the Bronze Age: Jasper calls for permanent exhibition in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung from September 28, 2016.
  13. ↑ The Lüstring copper treasure travels to Berlin at focus.de on September 11, 2018
  14. ↑ Would the found objects in the city of Osnabrück almost have been lost at around 4500 years old? Small question for a written answer with answer from the state government - printed matter 17/6428 -. Inquiry from MP Burkhard Jasper (CDU) to the state government, received on September 2, 2016, response from the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture on behalf of the state government of September 24, 2016 (PDF, 44 KB).
  15. ^ Find in Osnabrück: Jewelery from the Neolithic Age in: Grafschafter Nachrichten of 23 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Latest studies: Osnabrück copper treasure older than previously assumed in focus.de from October 23, 2017
  17. ↑ Ulrich Eckseler: Osnabrücker Probe rescues valuable jewelry in: Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung of July 27, 2016.

Coordinates: 52 ° 15 ′ 55.5 ″  N , 8 ° 7 ′ 15.8 ″  E