Project Details
Projekt
The Bronze Age gold hoard of Gessel, Lower Saxony, and its context
Subject Area
Prehistory and World Archaeology
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 540523761
In 2011 a gold hoard was found at site Gessel 8 close to the city of Syke (distr. Diepholz, Lower Saxony). With 1.7 kg of gold the hoard is one of the largest assemblages of precious metal during the Bronze Age of Central Europe. However, only preliminary information has been published so far. Fortunately, the hoard was discovered during regular archaeological field work and subsequently excavated in the laboratory. Two radiocarbon dates indicate a deposition during the Bronze Age (1391–1216 BC). The comprehensive documentation of the prehistoric gold objects provide excellent conditions for an interdisciplinary research project which is devoted to the examination of the Gessel hoard itself and to an investigation of the natural and archaeological landscape of the deposition site. The research agenda for the hoard comprises typological analyses, macro- and microscopic studies as well as metallurgical investigations of gold objects from Gessel and contemporary sites. Based on a comprehensive analytical program the composition of gold in North-western Germany and the underlying networks of exchange will be addressed. The investigation of the deposition site and its landscape will start with evaluating the finds of the excavation of site Gessel 8 (location of gold hoard) and site Gessel 19 situated c. 380 m further east. At the latter a circular ditch which according to radiocarbon dates can probably be assigned to the Bronze Age and might be the remains of a destroyed burial mound. Geomagnetic surveys around the location of the gold hoard will be further extended. Promising anomalies will thus be examined by small-scale excavations to identify Bronze Age features. The entire sites dating to the Bronze Age of the vicinity of Gessel and the region will be collected in a database and consequently analysed with the help of GIS. New information on the Bronze Age environment and farming economy will be obtained by a survey on promising local archives and subsequent pollen analysis financed by the applicants. The combination of detailed studies of the objects, the archaeological landscape as well as an environmental analysis of the site and its area allows a broad contextualisation of this outstanding gold hoard of the Bronze Age. Our results will provide new information on the use of gold and the landscape of the Bronze Age in north-western Germany including possible ritual aspects. Together with the co-projerct of Göttingen University the European dimension of the Gessel hoard will be highlighted. It is planned to discuss our insights on a joint workshops and share our results with publications and an international conference.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Co-Investigator
Dr. Henning Haßmann
