Nienbüttel urn burial ground

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The urn grave field of Nienbüttel is located near Gut Nienbüttel in the municipality of Natendorf in the district of Uelzen in Lower Saxony . The burial ground was occupied in the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age and the older Roman Empire (1st century BC to 2nd century AD). It served a Germanic population as a burial place with urns . At the beginning of the 20th century the cemetery was archaeologically examined by the prehistorian Gustav Schwantes ; Follow-up examinations were carried out in 2015 and 2016.

Site and excavations

The site is a slight hill that was originally covered by heather . The area had already been cultivated and used for agriculture in the 19th century. The burials were destroyed by plowing. In 1904 the owner of Gut Nienbüttel Georg Meyer became acquainted with Gustav Schwantes, who in 1897 uncovered the nearby urn grave field Jastorf and discovered the Jastorf culture . The landowner was able to determine the extent of the burial field based on his observations of broken vessels and finds in the field. After successful test excavations and an order for excavations by the director of the Provincial Museum in Hanover Jacobus Reimers, Gustav Schwantes carried out excavations at Gut Nienbüttel in 1904. It was found that the oldest burials took place on the highest point of the hill. The occupancy expanded from there down the slope. Schwantes broke off his excavations after the museum director's arrogant behavior. Schwantes had sent the finds to the Provincial Museum for examination, where, as it later turned out, they had not been properly handled. Schwantes carried out further excavations in 1908 and 1911. He considered the site to be the “richest urn cemetery in eastern Hanover”.

During inspections of the site in 2015, significant surface finds were found, which prompted further archaeological investigations in 2015 and 2016. They were carried out by the Universities of Rostock and Leipzig .

Finds

During his excavations, Gustav Schwantes found around 500 urn vessels made of ceramic as well as swords, lance tips, spurs, shield bosses and other grave goods. The finds also include an approximately 18 cm high bronze bucket, which is a Roman import item from the 1st century AD. The handle attach (attached vessel handle) with stylized grape leaves and two mule heads shows symbols of the Bacchus cult . Overall, the grave field is characterized by the high proportion of graves with weapons, including ritual laying down of weapons. The finds from the excavations came unprocessed into the storeroom of the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover. A scientific publication of the finds has not yet taken place.

Since 2014, the Institute for Prehistoric Archeology at the Free University of Berlin has been carrying out a project on urn burial grounds funded by the German Research Foundation. The aim of the project is to create a catalog based on the finds and the original excavation diary. It should contain statements on the dating of the grave sites, the sequence and intensity of occupation.

In the most recent excavations in 2016, another 170 finds were recovered. From this it can be concluded that Gustav Schwantes did not cover the entire cemetery during his excavations at the beginning of the 20th century. According to recent studies, the buried are male warriors. Noticeable were the lance tips that stuck in the ground next to the urns with the tip pointing downwards. The once existing lance shafts could have served as grave markers.

rating

A special feature of the urn grave field of Nienbüttel, which has been used over a period of around 250 years, is the numerous warrior burials and the rich finds, including imported bronze vessels. The prehistorian Willi Wegewitz counted it among the most important Longobard burial grounds in the area of ​​the lower Elbe . While the older excavations suggest around 500 graves, the Uelzen district archeology assumes that up to 2000 people are buried on the basis of the latest investigations.

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