The Thorsberg moor near Süderbrarup

Süderbrarup

Süderbrarup is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the north side of the Schlei, approx. 20 km northeast of Schleswig, and 30 km southeast of Flensburg...

 in Anglia

Angeln

Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...

, Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, is a peat bog in which the Angles

Angles

The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...

 deposited votive offering

Votive offering

A votive deposit or votive offering is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for broadly religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural...

s for approximately four centuries. It is the location of important Roman Iron Age

Roman Iron Age

The Roman Iron Age is the name that Swedish archaeologist Oscar Montelius gave to a part of the Iron Age in Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the Netherlands....

 finds, including early Elder Futhark

Elder Futhark

The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...

 runic inscriptions such as the Thorsberg chape

Thorsberg chape

The Thorsberg chape , is an archeological find from the Thorsberg moor, Germany, that appears to have been deposited as a votive offering...

, a Roman helmet, a shield buckle, and an early example of socks (attached to trousers). The finds are of similar importance as the contemporaneous finds from Illerup and Vimose in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

.

The moor was excavated in 1858–1861 by Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

 teacher Helvig Conrad Engelhardt. The objects recovered by Engelhardt are on exhibit in the state museum of archaeology at Gottorf Castle; another 500 finds are on exhibit in the National Museum of Denmark

National Museum of Denmark

The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen is Denmark’s largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main domicile is located a short distance from Strøget at the center of Copenhagen. It contains exhibits from around the world,...

 in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

.

The deposits were made from approximately 100 C.E. to 500 C.E., and are clearly votive in nature. However, it is doubtful that they were dedicated specifically to Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

. The placename may be reflect worship of Thor there by Danes during the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

 rather than by Angles during the Roman Iron Age. And as Engelhardt noted, although the 'Thor's hammer' symbol occurs on several finds from the site, it is a motif that can be found in many non-Germanic contexts, even on Native American artefacts. They include early examples of clothing, both Germanic and Roman, in particular the footed trousers, which are commonly dated to the 4th century but which now appear to be no later than 300 C.E.; objects of Roman workmanship including two phaleræ

Phalera (military decoration)

A phalera was a gold, silver, or bronze sculpted disk worn on the breastplate during parades by Roman soldiers who had been awarded it as a kind of medal. Roman military units could also be awarded phalerae for distinguished conduct in action. These awards were often mounted on the staffs of the...

, military decorations in the form of richly decorated gold discs 13.2 cm in diameter made in the 3rd century in the workshop of Saciro, thought to have been near Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, which have the image of a seated man with a spear, possibly a representation of Mars

Mars (mythology)

Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...

; and objects of Germanic workmanship, notably the Thorsberg chape

Thorsberg chape

The Thorsberg chape , is an archeological find from the Thorsberg moor, Germany, that appears to have been deposited as a votive offering...

, a piece of a scabbard bearing one of the earliest inscriptions in runes. Some of the Germanic fibulæ and shield bosses of ultimately Roman origin appear to be from Germanic tribes in Greater Germania, who were in closer contact with the Romans than the Angles themselves. After approximately 200 C.E., the deposition of weapons increased, possibly as a result of conflict between tribes such as the Marcomanni

Marcomanni

The Marcomanni were a Germanic tribe, probably related to the Buri, Suebi or Suevi.-Origin:Scholars believe their name derives possibly from Proto-Germanic forms of "march" and "men"....

c war (AD 166 to 180), possibly as a result of Roman campaigning. Many of the objects deposited, especially the weapons, have been made useless by breaking, bending, etc.

In addition to the weapons and other man-made objects, the deposits in the bog include isolated bones.

Just outside the moor is an Iron Age tumulus

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

 with a stone circle

Stone circle (Iron Age)

The stone circles of the Iron Age were a characteristic burial custom of southern Scandinavia, especially on Gotland and in Götaland during the Pre-Roman Iron Age and the Roman Iron Age. In Sweden, they are called Domarringar , Domkretsar or Domarsäten...

.

Sources

• Conrad Engelhardt. Thorsbjerg Mosefund: beskrivelse af de oldsager, som i aarene 1858-61 ere udgravede af Thorsbjerg mose ved Sønder-Brarup i Angel. Copenhagen: Gad, 1863. OCLC 249241131. Reissued with introduction by Mogens Ørsnes. Thorsberg Mosefund. Sønderjyske og funske Mosefund vol. 1. Copenhagen: ZAC, 1969. OCLC 256851199
• Michael Gebühr and Claus von Carnap-Bornheim. Nydam und Thorsberg: Opferplätze der Eisenzeit. Exhibition Catalogue. Schleswig: Archäologisches Landesmuseum, Verein zur Förderung des Archäologischen Landesmuseums e. V., Schloss Gottorf, 2000
• Herbert Jankuhn. Nydam und Thorsberg: Moorfunde der Eisenzeit. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1962
• Klaus Raddatz. "Der Thorsberger Moorfund-Katalog. Teile von Waffen und Pferdegeschirr, sonstige Fundstücke aus Metall und Glas, Ton- und Holzgefäße, Steingeräte". In Offa-Bücher 65. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1987. ISBN 3-529-01165-7
• Klaus Raddatz. Der Thorsberger Moorfund: Gürtelteile und Körperschmuck. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1957

External links

• Room 3: The First Stockings, virtual German Hosiery Museum
• Thorsberger Moor, Marsch und Förde, May 26, 2008
• Zwischen Thorsberg und Bornstein, Kaiserzeit im Norden