The Hiddensee treasure is a hoard of Viking gold artifacts found in 1873 on the German island of Hiddensee in the Baltic Sea by chance, during rebuilding after significant flooding in 1872 and 1873. [1]
The treasure consists of 16 pendants, a brooch, and a neck ring, all of gold weighing a total of 600 grams (1.3 lb). It is the largest discovery of Viking gold artifacts in Germany.
The jewelry dates from the late Viking Age, c. 10th century. The pendants include both Norse pagan and Christian symbols –Thor's hammer of Mjölnir and the cross. It is possible that the jewelry originally belonged to the family of the Danish King Harald Bluetooth. [1] [2]
A replica of the Hiddensee treasure can be seen today in the Hiddensee Local History Museum. The original is kept in the Stralsund Museum of Cultural History and will be on display there from December 2015[ needs update ]. [2]
Jewellery consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers for example. For many centuries metal such as gold often combined with gemstones, has been the normal material for jewellery, but other materials such as glass, shells and other plant materials may be used.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ; also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an area of 23,213 km2 (8,963 sq mi), making it the sixth largest German state in area; and it is 16th in population density. Schwerin is the state capital and Rostock is the largest city. Other major cities include Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar, and Güstrow. It was named after the two regions of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern, and its name means the "nearer part of Pomerania", with the rest now lying in Poland.
Stralsund, officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund, is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg and Greifswald, and the second-largest city in the Pomeranian part of the state. It is located on the southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the Pomeranian mainland.
Rügen is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Jomsborg or Jómsborg was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants were known as Jomsvikings. Jomsborg's exact location, or its existence, has not yet been established, though it is often maintained that Jomsborg was located on the eastern outlet of the Oder river. Historian Lauritz Weibull dismissed Jomsborg as a legend.
Hiddensee is a car-free island in the Baltic Sea, located west of Germany's largest island, Rügen, on the German coast.
A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by metal detector hobbyists, members of the public, and archaeologists.
Below are notable events in archaeology that occurred in 1873.
The Apahida necropolis is an archeological site in Apahida, Romania. Two graves have been discovered here, and a third one may have existed. One of the graves was discovered in 1889, and its artifacts are in Budapest. The second was unearthed in 1968, 300 m from the first, during an excavation for the installation of concrete poles. Its grave goods are now on display in the National Museum of Romanian History. The second grave dates to c. 475 and was presumed to be the tomb of a Gepid king, based on the inscription on a gold ring called Omharus. However, all attempts to link the name with a Gepid king or prince yielded no results, and currently the most common assumption is that the ring and other objects in the tomb belong to someone from the Western or Eastern Roman Empire.
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The Quimbaya (/kɪmbaɪa/) were a small indigenous group in present-day Colombia noted for their gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in tumbaga alloy, with 30% copper, which colours the pieces.
Hercules' Club is a Roman Empire and Migration-era artefact type.
The Ethnological Museum of Berlin is one of the Berlin State Museums, the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in the Humboldt Forum in Mitte, along with the Museum of Asian Art. The museum holds more than 500,000 objects and is one of the largest and most important collections of works of art and culture from outside Europe in the world. Its highlights include important objects from the Sepik River, Hawaii, the Kingdom of Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, China, the Pacific Coast of North America, Mesoamerica, the Andes, as well as one of the first ethnomusicology collections of sound recordings.
Fast Reliable Seaways(FRS GmbH & Co KG) commonly known as FRS is a German transportation company specializing in passenger ferry and freight transportation. It originally started as a regional passenger ferry operator founded in 1866. Since then, it has expanded in recent years to an international business group and became one of Europe's leading ferry operators. FRS provides conventional ferries, as well as high speed ferries. With 70 vessels and approximately 2,000 employees worldwide, FRS transports 7.9 million passengers and 2.1 million vehicles per year. The company group has its headquarters in Northern Germany, Flensburg and comprises 17 subsidiaries located in Europe, North Africa, Middle East and North America. Focusing on national and international ferry and catamaran operations, FRS also specializes in Offshore Logistics, Port Management, Crewing and Maritime Consulting.
Vorpommern-Rügen is a district in the north of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by the Baltic Sea and the districts Vorpommern-Greifswald, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and Rostock. The district seat is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund.
Andrea Cagnetti, known in the artistic world as Akelo, is an Italian goldsmith, designer, and sculptor. He is known for his research of the ancient techniques used in metalworking.
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