Wulfsen horse burial

Last updated
Wulfsen horse burial
Pferdebestattung von Wulfsen (in German)
Pferdebestattung Wulfsen.jpg
The horse grave of Wulfsen shown in situ
Germany adm location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Germany
Location Wulfsen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Region Old Saxony
Coordinates 53°18′23″N10°09′30″E / 53.30639°N 10.15833°E / 53.30639; 10.15833 Coordinates: 53°18′23″N10°09′30″E / 53.30639°N 10.15833°E / 53.30639; 10.15833
TypeGrave
Length230 cm (91 in)
Width240 cm (94 in)
History
Founded700 to 800 AD
Periods Early Middle Ages
Cultures Saxon
Site notes
Excavation dates1974
Presentation of the burial site model in the permanent collection. Shown in 2008. Pferdebestattung Wulfsen Vitrine.jpg
Presentation of the burial site model in the permanent collection. Shown in 2008.

The Wulfsen horse burial is an early medieval horse burial, consisting of three horses, that was discovered in 1974 in a Saxon grave field in the village of Wulfsen, in the German district of Harburg. The find was rescued as a varnish profile, which is on display in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg. [1] [2]

Contents

Discovery

The archaeological site was located on the northeastern escarpment of a sand pit near Wulfsen. In summer of 1974 a fossil collector observed a discoloration of the soil, which he considered of archaeological interest. He reported his observation to the Museum of the Principality of Lüneburg, which forwarded the message to the Helms-Museum in Hamburg-Harburg being the archaeological authority for the region. An excavation was conducted on the already disturbed burial site, which unearthed 35 human burials and the horse burial, containing the three horses. Due to the sandy soil, preservation of the burials was relatively poor. In total 26 older burials, oriented in north-south direction and nine younger burials oriented in east-west direction were excavated. Except for two arrowheads in a young person's grave, no other grave goods were observed. [3]

Horse burial

The three horses were buried in a steep-walled pit of 230 centimetres (91 in) by 240 centimetres (94 in). The bodies of the animals were fully decomposed, only bones and teeth remaining, but the bones were very brittle and fragile. Offerings or grave goods such as bridles were not detected. All the horses were lying on their left side, orientated in south–north direction. Their heads were placed in an upright posture on an elevated part of the pit. The middle horse was lying with its abdomen in a ventral position. The legs of the middle and eastern animal were sharply flexed. The legs of the western horse were lying in a half-extended position; it occupied about half of the pit's space. By use of a working platform, the bones were carefully exposed and soaked with cold glue, the pit was then laminated with lacquer and crêpe paper. The single bones were further secured with wires and pins. Then the pit was filled with a construction foam, secured in a wooden crate and recovered as a block. The entire object consists of a prepared sand layer of about 3 millimetres (0.12 in) to 4 millimetres (0.16 in) millimeters thickness with the embedded bone. [3] The poor preservation of the bones complicated zoological investigations. The western horse was likely a mare, the others stallions. Their withers has been between 130 centimetres (51 in) and 140 centimetres (55 in), which is relatively small compared to today's standards, but was average for those days. The ages of the animals have been determined between five and seven years. [4]

Interpretation

The excavation of the Wulfsen horse burial as a LEGO miniature Lego Wulfsen horse burial.jpg
The excavation of the Wulfsen horse burial as a LEGO miniature

Based on evidence such as mortuary practice, the geographical orientation of remains and their grave goods, the burial was dated to 700–800 AD. [3] The younger burials especially are dated to a period shortly before the wide Christianization of the region, which resulted in fundamental changes of burial practices. The horse burial could not be clearly assigned to one of the warrior's graves, therefore it is unclear whether was an individual burial of the animals or it was an addition to one of the human interments. Funerals of animals, especially of individual horses are well known from many grave fields of the Early Middle Ages. [3] Similar burial sites have been found in Suffolk, England. [5] Triple horse burials, for example, were discovered near Griefstedt (Sömmerda (district)) in Thuringia and Beckum (Warendorf (district)) in North Rhine-Westphalia, but for north-eastern Lower-Saxony it is unprecedented. [3]

A LEGO miniature of the excavation of Wulfsen horse burial was built in 2013 for the special exhibition LEGO Zeitreise (LEGO time travel) of Archäologische Museum Hamburg.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Sutton Hoo Archaeological site near Woodbridge, Suffolk

Sutton Hoo near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England, is the site of two early medieval cemeteries that date from the 6th to 7th centuries. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1939. One cemetery had an undisturbed ship burial with a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts; most of these objects are now held by the British Museum. Scholars believe Rædwald of East Anglia the most likely person to be buried in the ship. The site is important in understanding the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and the early Anglo-Saxon period, as it illuminates a period that lacks historical documentation.

Cro-Magnon rock shelter Cave and archaeological site in France

Cro-Magnon is an Aurignacian site, located in a rock shelter at Les Eyzies, a hamlet in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, southwestern France. Abri de Cro-Magnon is part of the UNESCO World Heritage of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.

Lusatian culture

The Lusatian culture existed in the later Bronze Age and early Iron Age in most of what is now Poland and parts of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, eastern Germany and western Ukraine. It covers the Periods Montelius III to V of the Northern European chronological scheme.

The Arras culture is an archaeological culture of the Middle Iron Age in East Yorkshire, England. It takes its name from the cemetery site of Arras, at Arras Farm, (53.86°N 0.59°W) near Market Weighton, which was discovered in the 19th century. The site spans three fields, bisected by the main east-west road between Market Weighton and Beverley, and is arable farmland; little to no remains are visible above ground. The extent of the Arras culture is loosely associated with the Parisi tribe of pre-Roman Britain.

Prehistory of Siberia

The Prehistory of Siberia is marked by several archaeologically distinct cultures. In the Chalcolithic, the cultures of western and southern Siberia were pastoralists, while the eastern taiga and the tundra were dominated by hunter-gatherers until the late Middle Ages and even beyond. Substantial changes in society, economics and art indicate the development of nomadism in the Central Asian steppes in the first millennium BC.

La Chapelle-aux-Saints Commune in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

La Chapelle-aux-Saints is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France.

Archäologisches Museum Hamburg Archaeology and history museum in Hamburg, Germany

The Archäologisches Museum Hamburg is an archaeological museum in the Harburg borough of Hamburg, Germany. It houses the archaeological finds of the city of Hamburg and the neighbouring counties to the south of the city. It focuses on northern German prehistory and early history as well as the history of the former city of Harburg. The museum is also home to the cultural heritage landmarks commission of the city of Hamburg and the adjacent district of Harburg in Lower-Saxony and thus supervises all archaeological undertakings in the region.

Joachim Werner was a German archaeologist who was especially concerned with the archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in Germany. The majority of German professorships with particular focus on the field of the Early Middle Ages were in the second half of the 20th century occupied by his academic pupils.

Slab Grave culture

The Slab Grave culture is an archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Mongols. According to various sources, it is dated from 1,300 to 300 BC. The Slab Grave Culture became an eastern wing of a huge nomadic Eurasian world which at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC produced a civilization known as Scythian-Siberian. The anthropological type of the population is predominantly Mongoloid, the western newcomers from the area of Tuva and north-western Mongolia were Caucasoids.

Horse burial

Horse burial is the practice of burying a horse as part of the ritual of human burial, and is found among many Indo-European peoples and others, including Chinese and Turkic peoples. The act indicates the high value placed on horses in the particular cultures and provides evidence of the migration of peoples with a horse culture. Human burials that contain other livestock are rare; in Britain, for example, 31 horse burials have been discovered but only one cow burial, unique in Europe. This process of horse burial is part of a wider tradition of horse sacrifice. An associated ritual is that of chariot burial, in which an entire chariot, with or without a horse, is buried with a dead person.

Wittmoor bog trackway

The Wittmoor bog trackway is the name given to each of two historic corduroy roads, trackway No. I being discovered in 1898 and trackway No. II in 1904 in the Wittmoor bog in northern Hamburg, Germany. The trackways date to the 4th and 7th century AD, both linked the eastern and western shores of the formerly inaccessible, swampy bog. A part of the older trackway No. II dating to the period of the Roman Empire is on display at the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

Duvensee paddle Mesolithic paddle found in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

The Duvensee paddles is the preserved part of a Mesolithic spade paddle, which was found during archaeological excavations of a Mesolithic dwelling area at Duvensee near Klinkrade Schleswig-Holstein, Germany in 1926. After a paddle from Star Carr in England, the Duvensee paddle is the second oldest known paddle and is considered among the earliest evidence for the use of water transport in the Mesolithic. The find is in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

Daensen folding chair

The Daensen folding chair consists of the metallic remains of a folding chair which were discovered in 1899 in sand from a Bronze Age tumulus near Daensen, a part of Buxtehude, Lower Saxony, Germany. The chair is the southernmost and most richly decorated example of the eighteen known folding chairs of the Nordic Bronze Age in Northern Europe. The fittings, along with a reconstruction, are in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

<i>Tangendorf disc brooch</i>

The Tangendorf disc brooch is an Iron Age fibula from the 3rd century AD, which was dug up in 1930 from the sand of a Bronze Age tumulus near Tangendorf, Toppenstedt, Harburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The front of the elaborately crafted garment fibula is decorated with a rear-facing four-legged animal, probably a dog or a deer. It is one of Harburg's most important finds from the period of the Roman Empire, and is in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

Ovelgönne bread roll

The Ovelgönne bread roll is the remaining part of a bread roll originating from the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, which was found in 1952 during archaeological excavations in a loam mine in the Buxtehude district Ovelgönne in Lower Saxony, Germany. The piece of bread is the oldest surviving viennoiserie and formed bakery product from Europe. The find, along with a reconstruction, are in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial

The Metzendorf-Woxdorf head of burial is the Neolithic burial of a single human skull that was found in 1958 in the Seevetal district of Woxdorf, in Harburg, in Lower Saxony. The find is currently the only one of its kind of the Single Grave Culture in Germany and is in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

<i>Maschen disc brooch</i>

The Maschen disc brooch is an Early Medieval fibula, which was found in 1958 during archaeological excavations of the late Saxon grave field near Maschen, in the Lower Saxony district of Harburg, Germany. On its face side, the fibula shows an unidentified saint with a halo. It was found in a woman's grave of the beginning of the Christianization of northern Germany, and is in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological Museum Hamburg in Harburg, Hamburg.

Necropolis of Soderstorf

The Necropolis of Soderstorf is a prehistoric cemetery in the valley of the Luhe river valley near Soderstorf in the Lüneburg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. The site was used for more than 2000 years. It includes a megalithic tomb, a tumulus tomb, a stone circle, paving stones, funerary urns and a flat grave.

Anker Site Archaeological site in Illinois, United States

The Anker Site (11Ck-21) is located on the Little Calumet River near Chicago, Illinois. It is classified as a late Prehistoric site with Upper Mississippian Huber affiliation.

Gentleman Farm Site Archaeological site in Illinois, United States

The Gentleman Farm Site is located in LaSalle County, Illinois, on the Illinois River. It is a multi-component site with the main occupation being a Langford Tradition component of Upper Mississippian affiliation.

References

  1. Topic Death, Show case no. 116.
  2. Articus, Rüdiger; Brandt, Jochen; Först, Elke; Krause, Yvonne; Merkel, Michael; Mertens, Kathrin; Weiss, Rainer-Maria (2013). Archaeological Museum Hamburg Helms-Museum: A short guide to the Tour of the Times. Archaeological Museum Hamburg publication. 103. Hamburg. p. 158. ISBN   978-3-931429-24-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Ahrens, Claus (1975). "Ein neues spätsächsisches Gräberfeld mit Dreifach-Pferdebestattung bei Wulfsen, Kreis Harburg". Hammaburg N.F. (in German). 2: 119–124. ISSN   0173-0886.
  4. Reichenstein, Hans (1975). "Bemerkungen zu der Pferdebestattung von Wulfsen aus zoologisch-haustierkundlicher Sicht". Hammaburg N.F. (in German). 2: 125–126. ISSN   0173-0886.
  5. "Anglo Saxon Horseman's Grave in Suffolk". Angelcynn Re-Enactment Society. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
This article has been translated in part from the German Wikipedia equivalent.