Bronze Age jewelry workshop discovered

Bronze Age jewelry workshop discovered

Parts of a clay mold that was once used to produce bronze neck rings with circumferential grooves. © LWL/T. poggel

Around 3,000 years ago in Westphalia, where wind turbines are soon to turn, molten metal was apparently poured into special molds: in the course of excavation work to build wind turbines near Erwitte in the Soest district, archaeologists discovered traces of a jewelry workshop from the late Bronze Age. According to the finds, decorated neck and arm rings were made there.

As is so often the case, it was construction work in the current case that brought archaeologists to the scene. However, there were initially no concrete indications of possible finds: The archaeologists of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL) relied on their intuition when they started an investigation during the construction of several wind turbines near Erwitte. “The slight slope of the area, bordered by two draining streams, gave us hope that we would find something here,” explains LWL archaeologist Eva Cichy.

Medieval and Bronze Age traces

As it turned out, the experts had a good nose: On the two-hectare study area, traces of settlement actually came to light. First, the archaeologists identified structures that probably date from the Middle Ages: “These are four shallow, round charcoal pits, recognizable by the heat-reddened soil, which resemble the pit piles typical of Westphalia from the early to high Middle Ages,” explains LWL- Archaeologist Rashida Hussein-Oglu. These facilities, in which a pit was dug in the ground, filled with wood and covered with branches and brushwood, were used to produce charcoal, the experts explain.

But apparently there was activity on the area much earlier, as can be seen from the actual surprise find: In the filling of a discovered settlement pit, the team discovered eleven soft-burned red clay chunks. The archaeologist Bernhard Sicherl recognized the remains of casting molds in the initially inconspicuous pieces. “These are the traces of a foundry workshop from the Bronze Age. Scientific investigations have meanwhile also confirmed this dating,” explains Sicherl.

Molds for special jewelry rings

Accordingly, at the site in the time window from 1300 to 800 BC. Chr. More detailed investigations made it clear that the molds were used to produce special rings. “One of the molds made it possible to produce a circumferentially grooved neck ring, as is known from the late Bronze Age,” says Sicherl. An oval arm ring with an oval cross-section could probably be cast with a different mold. As Cichy reports, similar rings were found at the foot of the Raffenberg in Hagen and in a former body of water in Kamen. It is possible that these bracelets had a special meaning: “In both cases, the rings were not discovered in settlements, they were rather deposited as an offering in special places in the landscape,” says the archaeologist.

“A workshop for ring jewelery is unique in Westphalia,” says her colleague Bernhard Sicherl happily. However, one exciting question remains unanswered: How was the workplace integrated into the environment? Was it on the outskirts of a settlement and if so, where was it? Insights into these and other questions could perhaps provide further excavation results, writes the LWL. To what extent there will be corresponding investigations, however, apparently still has to be clarified.

Source: Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe

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