More than four thousand years ago, ore was already being extracted from the ground in Central Europe and processed into metal, and some of it was given back to the earth. During the 19th and 20th centuries, this metal resurfaced, but as prehistoric treasure in the form of rings and flat bars. The unusually numerous finds are not only a sign of the growing importance of metal, they also indicate the transition from the stone age to the bronze age in Europe.
Rings and flat bars
Flat bars
Our collection does not include the oldest form: the rings and flat bars in the display case are more recent examples. They are derived from a curved shape the size of a collar with the ends hammered flat and shaped into two eyes (approx. 2300 B.C.). Since the quantity of ore to be processed into metal was constantly increasing, people devised simpler and less labour-intensive designs such as the rings without eyes, and eventually (1900-1800 B.C.) the flat bars with a slightly triangular shape. Like the shape, the weight was also fixed. Rings and bars initially weighed about 200 g, but as time went by lighter weight rings and bars were also produced, perhaps for ease of trading and to permit exact payments.
Where were these rings and bars stored?
Map of Europe
The largest number of hoards has been found in the foothills of the Northern Alps, Bavaria and Salzburgerland, close to the places where the metal was produced. But the rings and other early bronze age artefacts have also been found in a broad swathe along the Elbe and the Oder, from Silesia to the Baltic coast. However, it is strange that none of these rings and flat bars have been found in the western Alps (south-west Germany, Switzerland), whereas copper bars occur there in the shape of axes. Since no bars have been found in the high Alps, it is assumed that, following its extraction, the crude metal was taken to the valleys for conversion into bars, then distributed from there as a commodity and medium of exchange.
Why?
The most remarkable thing about these numerous small and large hoards is the fact that they exist. Were they merely storage places for materials, saved up for a rainy day, or valuables hidden in times of danger? Probably not, because in that case most of them would have been dug up again, and furthermore, metal that people had intended to retrieve would not have been buried in the vicinity of springs, in marsh land or peat bogs. Nor were the rings and flat bars just buried in the ground at random. In so far as the limited data will permit any generalisation, the rings were buried upright in rows or circles. The flat bars were stacked in two or four groups opposite one another, with the ends touching.
In the early bronze age, the ever growing demand for copper meant that opencast mining or the quarrying of veins of ore was no longer sufficient, and was replaced by “industrial mining” which had a far greater impact on the environment. This open confrontation with the “subterranean realm” made prehistoric people feel guilty of robbing the land, and destroying the stone used to build the world. To compensate for taking the colourful ore which, when combined with fire, could be converted into a malleable and highly prized metal, part of the ore extracted from the ground was given back to the earth as “refined metal” in the vicinity of the mining sites. The offering was made in accurately measured quantities and in the units current at the time.
Ingrid Van Damme
Member of the Museum staff
According to:
- F. Innerhofer, Frühbronzezeitliche Barrenhortfunde – Die Schätze aus dem Boden kehren zurück, in: Gaben an die Götter. Schätze der Bronzezeit Europas, Berlin, 1997, pp. 53-59
