Helical ring

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The Wendelring , (also Wendelhalsring ), was in Northern and Central Europe since the Iron Age in use as a necklace for women. It has been known as jewelry for 2,700 years and has been so called since 1883. Excavations near Halle-Trotha and Nebra unearthed Iron Age spiral rings made of bronze .

Wendelring from Badelundaåsen Västmanland

description

Helical rings have been found from different eras and in different areas. During the Hallstatt period , e.g. B. in Oberhausen near Kirn , there were frequent grave goods . The ring from Erdbach (State Museum Wiesbaden) is better known . Another place of discovery is in West Prignitz in the royal grave of Seddin .

Temple rings on the headband of the girl's grave with stone setting, 12th century, Trepcza- Sanok am San, East Beskids

The spiral ring was worn around the neck. The wealthy women in particular wore it in the costume of the Hunsrück-Eifel culture. The woman also wore temple rings on her headband and bracelets. A. Pietzsch's investigations led to a breakthrough in the question of production in 1964. The peculiar decoration consists of the torsion of a profiled square ring bar as the initial shape. The majority of the rings were cold turned, with material fatigue counteracted by hammering and annealing. The direction of rotation is changed once or several times over the ring. The number of so-called turning points varies between one and about 20 and is related to the manufacture, the regional style and the chronological position of the rings. It took 20 to 60 hours from the blank to its final completion. The helical ring testifies to the craftsmanship and inventiveness of the bronze art of that time . Cross-shaped ring bodies that are alternately twisted like a braid are shown in cross section.

Since 1915 these have been juxtaposed with the "fake" helical rings, in which the twist was either gained during casting or imitated by deep notches or engraving in a round rod ring. Perhaps bronze artisans who did not master the difficult technique of making "real" rings came up with this solution. Significant wear on some rings suggests that they were worn all the time. Repair points show the great susceptibility to breakage.

At least since the elevation of Emperor Julian Apostatas in 360 AD, the torque coronation , in which the new emperor was lifted onto a shield and crowned with a spiral ring instead of a diadem, was part of the proclamation of the late ancient Roman emperors. In 518, the Goth Godilas gave the Eastern Roman Emperor Justin I, who was raised on a shield, a golden spiral ring as a symbol of power according to Germanic custom, before he was crowned with the diadem by the Patriarch John II. This practice is attested to in the Byzantine Middle Ages.

Coat of arms with spiral ring

Different localities have a spiral ring in their coat of arms , e.g. B. Bonefeld, Hecken im Hunsrück, Meissenheim and Oberhausen near Kirn. In heraldry , this is referred to as a common figure .

Trivia

In the Asterix band The Daughter of Vercingetorix , a helical ring is the main subject of the framework story ( Caesar wants Adrenaline's helical ring - as a symbol of Gallic resistance - and the girl herself to be brought into his power, with a renegade Gaulish chief helping him as a spy). The helical ring is shown for the first time on page 6 as a “choker for deserving warriors” and appears in the last picture of the comic on the bottom of the sea.

See also

literature

  • Wilhelm Enßlin : For the coronation of torques and elevation of the shield in the election of the emperor. In: Klio . Vol. 35, 1942, pp. 268-298, doi: 10.1524 / klio.1942.35.jg.268 .
  • Manuela Schwarz: prisoner of a piece of jewelry. In: Harald Meller (ed.): Beauty, Power and Death. 120 finds from 120 years of the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Accompanying volume for the special exhibition from December 11, 2001 to April 28, 2002 in the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle / Saale. State Office for Archeology u. a., Halle 2001, ISBN 3-910010-64-4 , p. 150 f.

Web links

  • Iron Age spiral neck ring. Friedrich Schiller University Jena, from the Prehistory and Early History Collection, Object of the Month July 2012