Project Details
Projekt
FOR 550: Departing for New Horizons. Finds from Nebra and Saxony-Anhalt and their Importance for the European Bronze Age
Subject Area
Humanities
Geosciences
Materials Science and Engineering
Geosciences
Materials Science and Engineering
Term
from 2004 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5471121
The Research Unit focuses on the unique finds from Nebra within their Early Bronze Age context. Our research objectives are as complex as the finds themselves. We ask questions about human lives, the economy and religion that characterised Central Europes Early Bronze Age. Our group consists of researchers from the universities of Halle, Jena, Tübingen, Bochum and Saarbrücken, and from the heritage management service of Saxony-Anhalt.
We have divided the project into nine archaeological parts (three of which are financed by the DFG) and four other independent natural science projects. The archaeological projects deal with hilltop and circular enclosures in southern Saxony-Anhalt, while the projects in the natural sciences focus primarily on the production technology used to manufacture the Nebra artifacts and on the origins of the copper and gold used. The university of Bochum finances an archaeo-astronomy project on the importance of astronomical knowledge in the Early Bronze Age.
Geographically, the studies cover a micro-region (the Mittelberg and the adjacent Unstrut valley), a macro-region (Metal group of the Aunjetitz-culture) and a meta-region (Europe). One objective is to use systematic supra-regional comparisons to outline the particular role Central Germany played in the European Early Bronze Age. The finds from Nebra and a multitude of other finds from the macro-region show that trade relations were far-reaching and organised, not merely sporadic. Central Germanys strategic geographic location only answers some of the questions as to why the area was so influenced by the Nordic and Atlantic region as well as by the Carpathian Basin. Central Germany was not only a receiver and communicator, but an initiator.
Favourable geo-morphological and ecological conditions - such as the existence of key raw materials such as copper ore in the eastern part of the Harz mountains, the Mansfeld region or the Thuringian Basin and salt in the region of Halle - played an important role. The sky disk itself documents the spiritual-religious influences stemming from the Eastern Mediterranean. The Research Unit offers a rare possibility - the chance to conceptualise in a fully realised manner the world view held by people living in the Central European Early Bronze Age. It will touch on all key areas (trade, economics, society, technology, knowledge, religion as well as environment) and will seek to elucidate how each functioned with reciprocal interdependence.
We have divided the project into nine archaeological parts (three of which are financed by the DFG) and four other independent natural science projects. The archaeological projects deal with hilltop and circular enclosures in southern Saxony-Anhalt, while the projects in the natural sciences focus primarily on the production technology used to manufacture the Nebra artifacts and on the origins of the copper and gold used. The university of Bochum finances an archaeo-astronomy project on the importance of astronomical knowledge in the Early Bronze Age.
Geographically, the studies cover a micro-region (the Mittelberg and the adjacent Unstrut valley), a macro-region (Metal group of the Aunjetitz-culture) and a meta-region (Europe). One objective is to use systematic supra-regional comparisons to outline the particular role Central Germany played in the European Early Bronze Age. The finds from Nebra and a multitude of other finds from the macro-region show that trade relations were far-reaching and organised, not merely sporadic. Central Germanys strategic geographic location only answers some of the questions as to why the area was so influenced by the Nordic and Atlantic region as well as by the Carpathian Basin. Central Germany was not only a receiver and communicator, but an initiator.
Favourable geo-morphological and ecological conditions - such as the existence of key raw materials such as copper ore in the eastern part of the Harz mountains, the Mansfeld region or the Thuringian Basin and salt in the region of Halle - played an important role. The sky disk itself documents the spiritual-religious influences stemming from the Eastern Mediterranean. The Research Unit offers a rare possibility - the chance to conceptualise in a fully realised manner the world view held by people living in the Central European Early Bronze Age. It will touch on all key areas (trade, economics, society, technology, knowledge, religion as well as environment) and will seek to elucidate how each functioned with reciprocal interdependence.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Projects
- Archäometallurgische isotopengeochemische Untersuchungen frühbronzezeitlicher Bronzegegenstände aus Mitteleuropa (Applicant Pernicka, Ernst )
- Archäometallurgische und metallographische Untersuchungen frühbronzezeitlicher Bronzegegenstände aus Mitteldeutschland (NW2). (Applicant Pernicka, Ernst )
- Der Aufbruch zu neuen Horizonten. Die Funde von Nebra, Sachsen-Anhalt, und ihre Bedeutung für die Bronzezeit Europas. (Applicant Bertemes, Francois )
- Die bronzezeitlichen Kreisgrabenanlagen der Makroregion um Nebra (A2/2). (Applicant Bertemes, Francois )
- Die frühbronzezeitliche Besiedlung der Makroregion um Nebra (A5). (Applicant Bertemes, Francois )
- Die Höhensiedlungen der Mikro- und Makroregion - ökonomische, politisch-soziale, administrative und kultische Zentralorte (A3). (Applicant Ettel, Peter )
- Geochemische und archäometallurgische Untersuchungen zur prähistorischen Buntmetallgewinnung in Europa (NW3) (Applicants Borg, Gregor ; Pernicka, Ernst )
- Geochemische und lagerstättenkundliche Charakterisierung West- und Südost-Euroäpischer Goldvorkommen (NW4). (Applicant Borg, Gregor )
- Kontinuitäten und Wechselwirkungen des Bestattungsverhaltens in Gräberfeldern und Siedlungen des 3. bis 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. im südlichen Sachsen-Anhalt und angrenzenden Gebieten anhand der Funde seit 1990 (Applicant Metzner-Nebelsick, Carola )
- Untersuchung (früh)bronzezeitlicher Metallurgie mit labor-experimentalarchäologischen Methoden und Methoden der präparativen Archäometallurgie (NW 1) (Applicant Wunderlich, Christian-Heinrich )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Francois Bertemes
