Southwest Germany's oldest gold artefact confirms cultural links with prehistoric Britain

Near the village of Reusten in the district of Tübingen in southwestern Germany, archaeologists have discovered the region's oldest gold object to date. It is a 3,800-year-old spiral ring of gold wire, which was discovered last autumn in a female grave from the early Bronze Age. Finds of precious metals from this period are very rare in Central Europe.

The gold probably comes from Cornwall in south-west Britain. Archaeologists say it is unusually early evidence of long-distance trade in luxury items. The research was led by Professor Raiko Krauss from the Institute of Prehistoric and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Tübingen and Dr. Jörg Bofinger from the State Office for Cultural Heritage Management of Baden-Württemberg, based in Esslingen.

During the excavation, the researchers discovered that the woman was buried in a fetal (crouched) position with a southward orientation. The only object found in the grave was a spiral ball made of gold flat wire, which lay at approximately hip level. It may have been a hair ornament. The radiocarbon dating of the bones determined the age of the grave to be between 1 850 and 1 700 BC, i.e. to the Early Bronze Age.

"The gold contains about 20 percent silver and less than two percent copper, and also bears traces of platinum and tin. This composition indicates a natural alloy typical of river gold. The trace element analysis corresponds to gold samples from deposits in Cornwall, specifically from the area around the River Carnon," the research team said in the publication Praehistorische Zeitschrift. This association with north-western Europe contrasts sharply with earlier European gold and precious metal finds, which came almost exclusively from deposits in south-eastern Europe. There is evidence that gold jewellery was being made as early as the fifth millennium BC.

The research team sees the discovery of gold from Tübingen as evidence that gold jewellery was being made in the first half of the second millennium BC. AD, the influence of Western cultures in Central Europe was growing, reinforced by trade in luxury goods. The woman's grave was located near a group of other Early Bronze Age graves and is apparently linked to a prehistoric settlement on the hilltop of nearby Kirchberg near Reusten.

Roman Němec
Sources. Thehistoryblog.com, degruyter.com, indiaeducationdiary.in,