Sögel-Wohlde-Circle
The Sögel-Wohlde-Kreis is an early Bronze Age (around 1600-1000 BC) cultural group, which was named after the places Sögel in the Emsland district and Dohnsen - Wohlde in the Celle district , both in Lower Saxony . The archaeological finds assigned to this group can be found from the Netherlands to northern France , northern Germany and Hesse.
The German prehistorian Friedrich Laux introduced the term Sögel-Wohlde-Kreis to the specialist literature in 1971. The Sögel-Wohlde-Kreis was a grave-customs group, for which certain weapons additions in men's graves are typical. The phenomenon, initially called the "Sögeler Kulturkreis", was described by the archaeologist Ernst Sprockhoff in the 1920s . He published his research results in an article in the Prehistoric Journal from 1927.
The characteristic burial mound groups of Bockholte and Wehm (municipality of Werlte), Sögel, Spahn, Vrees and Werpeloh (municipality of Spahnharrenstätte), which are part of the Sögeler group, are located on the Hümmling . The burial mounds built from heather plagues were usually raised over a tree coffin burial . Stones were often set around the coffin and the foot of the hill.
Short swords
Typical grave goods in men's graves in the Sögel-Wohlde district are bronze short swords and edge hatchets, more rarely Sögel daggers . The two short swords, after which the Sögel type was first described, were discovered in 1898 when the new path from Spahn to Werpeloh was being built . As has been proven over a large area, there is a connection between the short swords of the cultural area and swords from eastern Hungary at about the same time , as evidenced by type, shape and decoration. Characteristics of the Sögel type are the round staple plate and a striking decoration with groups of lines, dotted lines and bow garlands. In contrast to the Sögel sword, the short sword of the Wohlde type was provided with a trapezoidal stapling plate. This type of sword was first described in 1937. The short swords of the Wohlde type are derived from Hungarian short swords with a trapezoid grip plate. But they are also mixed with features of the Sögel type (Toppenstedt, Harburg district).
Perhaps the swords were made by craftsmen from the Moravian-Hungarian region. Small clay nozzles found in settlements and graves indicate this. The clay nozzles, as the mouthpieces of the bellows, are evidence of the existence of melting furnaces in the early Bronze Age of northwest Germany. The scattering of their finds extends from Hungary via central Germany to northwestern Europe, via southern Germany to northern Italy and in eastern Europe to Kalinovka, north of Volgograd. The grave of a bronze caster was excavated near Kalinovka, which contained handicraft equipment. The bronze casting is also documented. One already knew the casting in one or two shell form or in a lost form (lost wax process).
From Flint are arrowheads and impact stones . The fire cutlery included, in addition to the rod-shaped flint and a pyrite bulb , a flammable tinder sponge, which was not preserved. Pyrite bulbs were found in a grave near Langendamm (Nienburg district). Whetstones for sharpening lay in two of Sögel's graves. In the grave of Bargloy (City of Wildeshausen) nine arrowheads, mostly heart-shaped, made of gray, brown, white and red flint, 2.4 to 4.6 centimeters in length, were found. The red arrowhead is particularly interesting because Heligoland flint occurs only on the island of Helgoland .
The Sögel-Wohlde-Kreis ended with the appearance of western heel axes and rapier swords, which mark the beginning of the older Bronze Age in Lower Saxony.
literature
- Friedrich Laux : The axes and hatchets in Lower Saxony. Volume 1: Flat, skirt and heel axes (= prehistoric bronze finds. PBF. 9th division, vol. 23). Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07177-6 .
- Ingo Bartels: The Sögel Wohlde daggers and short swords in West Germany. Münster 1986 (Münster, university, master's thesis).