Beuchte runic fibula

Beuchte's coat of arms with the runic fibula

The Beuchte rune primer comes from the originally larger cemetery of Werlaburgdorf in Beuchte, a district of Schladen-Werla in Lower Saxony .

Between 1955 and 1960 , Franz Niquet (1910–1986) found nine body burials and two incendiary graves, probably dating from the Imperial era, in the Lehmkuhle, not far from the Obere Schierksmühle, near Beuchte . They held two or three adults and six teenagers or children.

Among the burials, the 2.7 m deep women's grave contained the richest finds, including five keys, a hairpin and a clay pot. As grave goods Beuchter found Rune Primer is a gilt silver bow brooch . The scratches and runes on the back are unique in Lower Saxony and are one of the oldest documents in the history of writing in northern Germany. On the fibula there is the inscription, which has no signs of wear and which was possibly only incised after the wearer's death: "Buirso" (probably the name of the rune master) and the Futhark series from f to r (extended by z and j). The first eight characters in the Futhark series are known as the “alphabet” spell or “magic formula”.

The man, who was buried on a death bed at a depth of 2.9 m in a 0.75 × 2.5 m wooden chamber, had been given a shield, his lance, a spit and a comb and given him a solidus of Anastasios I. (AD 491-518) placed in the mouth. Outstanding additions were also found from the other graves, including silver bow brooches from grave 3 and grave 5. In addition to several clay vessels, a large cut rock crystal pendant is worth mentioning.

The grave field of Beuchte can probably be dated to the 2nd quarter of the 6th century due to the grave goods. Grave building, additions and burial on death beds in three graves reveal connections to Northern Thuringia.

The fibula and other finds from the excavation are in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum .

See also

• Meldorf fibula , also Meldorf rune fibula
• Bow brooch from Freilaubersheim , also rune brooch from Freilaubersheim
• Bow brooch from Nordendorf
• Disc brooch from Osthofen

literature

• Wolfgang Krause and Franz Niquet : The rune primer from Beuchte, Kr. Goslar, with contributions by Gerhard Heberer and Wilhelm Völksen . Nachrichten Akademie der Wissenschaften Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class 1956, No. 5, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1956, pp. 81–124.
• Oscar Almgren : Studies on Northern European fibula forms of the first centuries AD . 2nd Edition. Leipzig 1923.

Web links

• Brief description of the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum with picture

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Inventory number BLM-UFG 1955: 60/1