2023-07-31 14:37:00
German archaeologists from the East German city of Brandenburg an der Havel in the federal state of Brandenburg shared the first data on the results of excavations at an ancient Slavic cemetery of the 10th century.
Children’s grave at the ancient Slavic cemetery in Brandenburg an der HavelPhoto: Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde/Stadt Brandenburg
As stated in the message of the city department for the protection of monuments, scientists have discovered numerous and diverse funerary gifts – for the first time in such a quantity during the excavation of old Slavic burials in the region. This testifies to the high social status of the people buried here. We are talking about eighteen graves. At least three of them are for children. The cemetery was found in preparation for construction work.
Slavs in Brandenburg
The Polabian Slavs began to settle in these places in the 6th century during the Great Migration of Nations – after the Germanic tribes were forced to leave these territories. The Slavs gradually moved westward along the rivers and numerous lakes, developing fertile lands that were well suited for cattle breeding and agriculture.
According to one version, the name of Brandenburg may come from the Slavic toponym Branny Bor – defensive or border forest. The Christianization of these lands began during the German advance to the east during the reign of the King of the East Franks, Henry I the Fowler (Heinrich der Vogeler) in the first half of the 10th century. The graves found in Brandenburg an der Havel date back approximately to this period.
The grave of a six-year-old girl. In the center right – the edge of the wooden bowl Photo: Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde/Stadt Brandenburg
How is the cemetery discovered now different from other local Slavic burials known to scientists? Firstly, it has a clearer structure – in contrast to the less ordered arrangement of graves in other places.
Secondly, burials were carried out without coffins, but a kind of burial chamber made of wood was equipped here, which is unusual for the region and period.
Burial gifts in Slavic graves
The greatest interest and surprise of scientists was caused by the found funeral gifts – almost in each of the graves. For example, tiny 2mm yellow glass beads and small fish vertebrae were recovered from two children’s graves and were used to make jewelry.
Most of the gifts were in the grave, presumably of a six-year-old girl. Four dozen glass beads, fish vertebrae, and even one bronze bead were found in this burial.
Archaeologists also found larger ones here – four-millimeter beads made of quartz, carnelian, dark brown glass and one bead of blue stone or blue glass. Among other gifts in this child’s grave were a wooden bowl, two earrings and a small ring, or rather, a fragment of a ring.
Carnelian bead Photo: Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde/Stadt Brandenburg Quartz, carnelian and glass beads Photo: Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde/Stadt Brandenburg Blue bead Photo: Untere Denkmalschutzbehörde/Stadt Brandenburg
Further research and hypotheses
For the most accurate and detailed documentation of the progress of excavations, sequential three-dimensional scanning of burials – photogrammetry – is carried out at the site. The obtained data are intended for processing using Structure from Motion technology algorithms and further research.
Scientists have not yet put forward suggestions in which of the local ancient Slavic settlements the people buried in these graves could live. One of them in the 8th-12th centuries was located on an island in the middle of the Havel River and was surrounded by a typical earthen rampart. The cemetery may also have something to do with the burial mounds of the 9th century, traces of which were discovered in the neighborhood as early as 1938.
However, it is possible that the burials date back to the Lutich uprising of 983 – the uprising of the Slavic tribes of the Lutich and Bodrich against the inclusion of lands east of the Elbe into the German kingdom.
See also:
#Archaeologists #explore #ancient #Slavic #graves #Germany