Golden Cone of Ezelsdorf-Buch
49.3253511.364633333333Koordinaten: 49 ° 19 ' 31.3 "N, 11 ° 21' 52.7 " E
The gold foil cone of Ezelsdorf book is a Bronze Age artefact made of thin gold sheet. He served as an outer decorative panel langschäftigen a headgear with a brim, which probably consisted of organic material and the outer, thin gold sheet mechanically stabilized.
Classification
The copy of Ezelsdorf book belongs to a group of now three known, cone shaped gold hats from the Bronze Age, in the course of the 19th and 20th century in southern Germany (Golden Hat of Schifferstadt and gold foil cone of Ezelsdorf book) and in France ( gold foil cone of Avanton ) were found in more or less good condition. In addition, the fourth copy of the Berlin Gold Hat, who emerged as a fund without locality 1996 in the art market, its original location but is also suspected in southern Germany or Switzerland.
It is now believed that the gold hats served as religious insignia of gods and priests of the Late Bronze Age widespread in Central Europe sun cult. This view is supported by the pictorial representation of an interpreted object as a cone hat on a stone slab from the grave of Kivik in Skåne, southern Sweden in a distinctly religious - cultic context.
After partial decoding of the ornament canons of the cone- shaped gold hats of the type Schiffer city to write the sheet gold cones today in addition to their representative and cultic function extensive calendar properties. Whether they were actually used as a calendar, or whether they represent the underlying astronomical knowledge only, is unclear.
The gold foil cone of Ezelsdorf book was as hoard without accompanying artefacts that allowed a more precise dating, safe. Based on the ornament comparison with other, more accurately dated as found objects, the time of its manufacture to the Late Bronze Age, about 1000-900 BC, dated.
Description
The gold foil cone of Ezelsdorf - book is a wheel with Punzstempeln and ornament ornate, 310 g heavy gold plate body with a long, slender stem and cuffs and gebauchtem foot. The lower edge is crimped around a 1.8 cm wide ring of flat sheet bronze. The originally present Brim missing.
After the second restoration in 1976, the total height of the cone is now 88.5 cm. The piece was Cu as blowing work of gold alloy with 88.3 % Au, 11 % Ag, 0.59 % and 0.086 % Sn made of one piece and has an average wall thickness of 0.078 mm.
The hollow cone is ornamented coverage over the entire length with horizontal trim and frame bands. In this case, 21 different Punzstempel and 6 different Ornament wheel were used. The horizontal strips were systematically with repeating itself, decorated like stamp patterns.
The optical separation of individual ornamental bands was achieved by ribs and Treibwülste. In the ornamental bands are found mainly humpback and circular motifs that have a circular inner hump and are edged with up to seven outer rings.
In addition, frequently occur ribbons on with triple point coupled bosses ( 12 point hump such bands as against 20 bands with circular motifs). As a special feature, the occurrence of each unique ornamental band is composed to honor from achtspeichigen wheels or from eyes or almond shaped bumps. The apex is crowned by a zehnstrahligen uncontoured star, whose background is underlined with dots bumps.
An overview of the shape of the hat and the type and number of related areas in the ornament Musterpunzen shows the adjacent figure
The shaft goes into a wide, vertically ribbed textured band on the cone base, which is provided with similar motives. As Standring was a band of bronze plate to the brim the edge of the gold sheet was crimped.
Another rod-like bronze fragment was Mitgefunden (32 mm long, 2.8 x1, 4 mm wide ), which may have been slidably arranged on the cap and its function in the literature vary, namely, is interpreted as a potential pointer element or brim gain.
Calendar function
Based on current knowledge, the gold hats of the type Schiffer city, including the Ezelsdorfer gold foil cone belongs to a systematic series in number and type of data used in the various ornamental bands ornaments. Based on fully preserved on investigations Berlin Gold Hat has been found that an astronomical calendar are displayed based on a lunisolar system to the gold hats.
After partial decoding of the ornament canons of the cone- shaped gold hats to write the sheet gold cones today in addition to their representative and cultic function extensive calendar properties. Whether they were actually used as a calendar, or whether they represent the underlying astronomical knowledge only, is unclear.
In principle, starting with the zone i, on the basis of a suitable n contiguous portion adjacent ornament zones Zi. Zi n is a summation of the contained special or circle symbols performed. Of this total, the number of symbols of one or more, occurring in the area of this section switching zones optionally removed to get to the corresponding value in lunar or solar time of writing.
Due to its lack brim the presentation of this calendar functions is limited to the Ezelsdorfer gold foil cone possible. For a general overview of the characteristics and functionality of the calendar features on a gold hat intact preserved see Berlin Gold Hat.
Location and History Fund
The Ezelsdorfer gold foil cone occurred in the spring of 1953 as " at work hindering Royal sheet " directly under the earth's surface, approximately 8 cm deep to light. The site is located at the foot of wooded, 576 m high mountain Brent at the district border between the towns of Ezelsdorf and book near Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. The information published in the literature map called exact location a geographical position at the foot of the mountain at about 11 ° Brent 21'59 East, 49 ° 19'38 North (WGS84).
The golden hat was completely chopped from the Finder, a worker, and thrown to the side. The fragmented metal parts were later whether their shimmering gold staining of the wife of the worker collected and submitted to a dentist. Through a melt sample turned out that the sheet of pure gold was. The finds were the Germanic National Museum Nuremberg offered below, the realized the find as a counterpart to the Golden Hat of Schifferstadt and ankaufte.
In a follow-up of the site by the Germanic National Museum more fragments of the find were detected up to a depth of 80 cm. It turned out that the gold plate cone had been buried under the dense forest humus as a single piece without accompanying artefacts in " pure sand ". This is particularly in view of the well-planned, probably caused from cultic purposes Disposal of golden hat in the soil compared with the find circumstances when largely preserved finds from Schiffer City of particular importance.
The location of the find in the soil could not be reconstructed, but it is assumed that the Ezelsdorfer could have been buried gold foil cone analogous to the Golden Hat by Schiffer city and as in Berlin Gold Hat - valued square to the floor standing.
Production
The gold foil cone of Ezelsdorf - book consists of Cu from a gold alloy with 88.3% Au, 11% Ag, 0.59 % and 0.086 % Sn. He was as blowing work in one piece and without seam.
Applying the gold weight of the hollow cone, taking into account the lack of brim in the dimensions of a square-shaped gold ingot, can be calculated a nugget of about matchbox size as the starting material. This gold ingot was forged during the machining process have an average wall thickness of 0.078 mm.
Based on the tribological properties of the material, the material solidifies with increasing degree of deformation and then tends to crack. To avoid these cracks a particularly uniform deformation during reforge was required. In addition, the work piece during the manufacturing process had to be repeatedly annealed at at least 750 ° C.
Here, due to the low melting temperature of the gold alloy ( 960 ° C), a very precise temperature control and an isothermal heating of the component required in order to prevent melting of the surface. For this operation, the Bronze Age artisans used a charcoal fire or oven similar to the kilns for pottery, whose temperature could be controlled, however, only limited by bellows- assisted delivery of oxygen.
Considering the tribological characteristics of the related material and the modest technical means alone is the production of a undecorated component of such thin gold sheet, already constitute a formidable craft performance
As part of the further processing of the gold hat of Ezelsdorf book was provided with radial ornamental bands. To this end, the hollow inner body was probably - much like the Golden Hat of Schifferstadt - in order to stabilize filled with a suitable Goldschmiedekitt based on tree resin and wax, and the thin gold sheet from the outside by repeated pressing of a total of 21 different Negativpunzen and unwinding of six different Rollpunzen in the present form structured.
Whereabouts
The Ezelsdorfer sheet gold cone is located in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg and is a central core of the Bronze Age collection dar.
Monument
In spring 2011 it was decided by the local post -Heng and Thann castle to build a community project, a monument near the occurrence of the golden hat. The monument was completed in 2012 and inaugurated in August 2012.