Excavations in autumn 2020 above the Kirchberg of Reusten  at a section of the land registry called "Grüninger" served to clarify Neolithic finds that had occurred in this area for several years. The volunteer co-workers Christel Bock and Achim Lehmkuhl were also able to repeatedly report on human skeletal remains that came to light during agricultural work on this field. The excavations were able to prove another LBK settlement and various Middle Neolithic settlement pits. The skeletal remains are apparently not related to the Neolithic settlement but are of more recent date.

During excavations a female burial from the Early Bronze Age was uncovered. The only grave good was a small spiral ring made of gold wire, found behind the left side of the burial at hip level. This type of burial in a crouched position with the face turned to the south remains in a tradition of the outgoing late Neolithic in Central Europe. However, through radiocarbon the date of the burial could narrowed down to the period between the middle of the 19th and the end of the 17th century BCE and thus to the Early Bronze Age. Therefore, the find can be regarded as the oldest and most precisely dated precious metal find in southwest Germany so far. Its composition with approx. 20 % silver and less than 2 % copper, as well as traces of platinum and tin, indicates a natural gold alloy, which is typical for gold washed from rivers. The trace element pattern strongly suggests that this type of gold derives from Cornwall (southwest England), specifically from the River Carnon. This clear reference to north western Europe is remarkable, since the older known gold and precious metal finds can almost exclusively be assigned to deposits in south eastern Europe. There the use of gold for the production of jewellery can be proven as early as the 5th millennium BCE.

The new gold find from Ammerbuch-Reusten evidences the growing influence of western cultural groups on Central Europe from the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. The burial matches a group of other burials from the Bronze Age on the plateau and is apparently related to a hilltop settlement on the nearby Kirchberg of Reusten.

Publication:
An Early Bronze Age Burial with a Golden Spiral Ring from Ammerbuch-Reusten, Southwestern Germany

De Gruyter | Online: 21st Mai 2021 doi.org/10.1515/pz-2021-0010