Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: PPP Tschechien
Start date : 01.01.2022
End date : 31.12.2023
Outcomes:
Starting point
From 2012-2019 four Early Iron Age Tumuli, located at the western border of the Franconian Alb about 30 km east of Nürnberg, Germany were excavated (Mischka 2017, 2018, 2019; Mühldorfer/Mischka in press; Schmid-Merkl 2019; Steguweit/Mühldorfer 2014; Abramov et al. submitted). Three of them dating to the mid-8th century BC to the phase “Hallstatt C” and one to the 6th century BC and the phase “Hallstatt D”. The older ones are very well preserved, the younger one heavily destroyed by land correction works in the last century. According to the finds, tumulus 2 of about 20 m in diameter incorporated the inhumation burial of a male adult with a sword made of iron belonging to the oldest finds of iron in the region. With a diameter from 6 to 8 m, the tumuli number 3 and 4 were much smaller and leaned against the tumulus 2. They contained children of 10-14 years. The tumulus number one was built for an inhumation of an elderly women. In St. Helena, the deceased have been placed into a wooden burial chamber covered with stones and earth like it was common in the Early Iron Age in the region.
Nearly 5000 bags (4929) with finds were recovered, containing 1 to several dozen single finds. From burial 2-4, the wet sieving of the soil from the interior of the burial chambers recovered a few macroremains, many tiny bones from small mammals and hundreds of fragments of mainly bronze objects. Since the beginning of the excavations, the find processing is running but not yet finished. Several BA and MA-thesis about finds are finished so far (Abramov 2019, Bührer 2021; Hagemann 2019; Jäkel 2020; Rodens 2018; Edelmann 2017). The human bones are researched by a team from Kiel (anthropological analysis, aDNA) and Basel (Isotope measurements). The animal bones remaining from the burial ritual are under investigation in Erlangen. Nevertheless, the find processing is still going on. Therefore, the results given here are preliminary.
In detail, the burials are roughly characterised as follows:
Tumulus 1: elderly woman (Hallstatt D) with
- Pottery vessels (heavily damaged)
- Bronze jewellery: 2 armrings, 1 neckring,
- about 100 amber beads from a necklace
Tumulus 2: adult man (Hallstatt C)
- Pottery remains: richely ornamented plates, big storage vessels, altogether at least 15-20 vessels
- Bronze jewellery: 8 needles next to the body belonging to the clothing (with fibres from textiles preserved by the metal oxides), hundreds of tiny bronze knops of different types used for the decoration of wooden furniture (nearly 10.000 of them were researched within one of the MA thesis), probably belonging to a wagon, 2 special objects perhaps used as linch pins for the waggon, 2 tutuli belonging to horse gear.
- Iron: Sword
- 1 huge amber ring
- Animal remains from pig and deer, probably from food offerings
Tumulus 3: child (Hallstatt C)
- Pottery vessels, broken but well preserved, in a set of more than a dozen vessels
- Bronze jewellery: 2 needles
Tumulus 4: child (Hallstatt C)
- One half of a pot placed next to the head and one very bad preserved plate next to flank of the body and several single sherds
- Bronze jewellery: 1 needle
- In a pit underneath the burial level another pot, entirely preserved
Research project
In the research project, the burials from Simmelsdorf-St. Helena are taken as case study to optimize and evaluate methods to analyse organic residues in archaeological artefacts using spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques. The analysis of attached/soaked organic compounds in artefacts (e.g., ceramic vessels, wooden material, metal objects, etc.) is important part of proposed project for identification of dietary and economic habits of former population. Following workflow is considered for the analysis of archaeological materials: first, untargeted analysis of studied materials of different origin and of appropriate reference ones will be performed by non-invasive spectroscopic (Raman, RM, and infrared spectroscopy, FTIR) and spectrometric (laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, LDI-MS; gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, GC/MS) techniques. Then the raw data will be treated with statistical software allowing to find compounds (specific markers) that differ significantly in response among the samples. The abundance of each marker (peak height or area) across the tested set of samples is submitted to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This procedure allows to evaluate the differences among samples and significance of particular markers (their signals). In the second step, the targeted analysis by means of tandem mass spectrometry and ion mobility mass spectrometry, using UV/VIS spectra, searching in databases and/or comparison with authentic standards (if available) provide information about identity of the found markers.
In addition to these attached/soaked organic residues several kinds of finds will be also under investigation: The vessel contents as well as the substance used for their decoration (graphite, colorants) are in focus. The identification of graphite and/or pigments will be performed by Raman microscopy that was already applied on analysis of historical samples (Kučera et al 2021; Marcelli et at 2020; Ondrkál et al 2020). Furthermore, the used raw material of the fibres sticking to the bronze needles have to be determined.Specification of fibers origin and usage of those materials has invaluable meaning for understanding of archetypical funeral robe, bedding, blanket, presence of specific charitable gifts, such as: quiver, part of clothes and pouches, capability to treat with textile sources (e.g., flax, hemp, wool, silk and cotton) and/or leather materials. Typical problems of analysis of such materials are low amount of sample submitted for analysis and its decomposition over very long time (oxidation, microbial action, depolymerization, partial carbonization etc.).On the other hand, some textiles are so unique that they can be determined by the occurrence of one specific compound such as sericin (together with fibroin) in intact form found in silk. Those proteins were analysed by FTIR (based on distinct absorption bands of the secondary structure of proteins) (Akyuz et al 2014). Obtained fibres will be primally analysed by optical and electron microscopy Consequently, the infrared and Raman spectroscopy will be used.
As well, the exact raw material source of the amber found in burial 1 and 2 is of importance within the project. During recent years, many analytical techniques have been used to characterize the chemical composition of amber to determine its origin. Among them, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry are the most often used ones (Vandenabeele et al. 2003; Matuszewska/Czaja 2002; Pakutinskiene et al. 2007; Senftle/Larter 1988; Truică et al. 2012; Havelcová et al. 2016). Perhaps the most popular method for determining the origin of amber is infrared spectroscopy (IR). It makes it possible to determine whether amber comes from the Baltic Sea or not (based on the presence of the so-called ‘Baltic arm’; 1110‒1250 cm-1) (Beck 1964). The amber artefacts will be analysed by IR method, but for more detailed chemical characterization of amber, new methods are tested in the co-applicant’s laboratory (e.g., laser desorption / ionization mass spectrometry, LDI-MS; atmospheric particle mass probe spectrometry, ASAP-MS). Although these methods are destructive, the amount of amber sample required for these analyses is less than a pinhead (about 4 mg). This technique will be applied only on broken ambers or small fragments created spontaneously by storage in the collection. The pilot results have shown the potential and limitations of the proposed methods (Bliujiene/Kučera 2018; Kučera /Bednář 2020).
The results of the analysis are of greater interest within the archaeological research, because they help answer questions of the raw material procurement. For the amber, a change is expected but not yet proven between the early phase Hallstatt C and Hallstatt D with origins more of the North Sea or Baltic Sea related source areas. For the textile fibres, wool is expected, but must be proven, which is not possible any more by microscopic analysis due to the bad preservation. Furthermore, in other burials the textiles are coloured, but the question is, which substances were used for that, and which colours can be reconstructed exactly. The study of dietary habits in the Iron Age just begun with the BEFIM-project which focuses on the princely sites and Mediterranean imports (Bedeutungen und Funktionen mediterraner Importe im früheisenzeitlichen Mitteleuropa - Meanings and Functions of Mediterranean Imports in Early Iron Age Central Europ (https://www.befim.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/?page_id=3037; Rageot et al. 2019a; Rageot et al. 2019b; Stockhammer/Fries-Knoblach 2019; Stockhammer/Fries-Knoblach 2019; Van Gijn et al. 2020). With the analysis of the finds of St. Helena, the so called “poor relatives in the east” can be integrated in the discussion. It is an open question, which food was consumed in this region and was their imported food or plants/drinks (wine) from the Mediterranean for example. So far, only animal remains and rare finds of macroremains of plants were taken into account.
Specific aims of the project:
· Optimization and evaluation of methods for analysis of organic residues in archaeological artefacts (vessels contents and decorations, textile relicts, amber finds) based on spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques.
· With necessary caution, the use of the obtained results as a tool for
· the study of dietary habits of past populations and burial rites in the Early Iron Age
· the determination of the used fibres for the textiles (probably from cloth)
· the determination of the materials used for the decoration of pots
· the raw material determination of the source of the amber
· Interpretation of the results according to the state of research on Early Iron Age societies at the border of Eastern and Western Hallstatt Cultures
Expected outputs:
· Development and evaluation of sample procedure from sampling to analysis
· Understanding of burial rituals concerning the offering of food
· Determination of textile remains
· Publication of 1 paper is expected (e.g. Archaeometry, Interdiciplinaria archaeologica, Journal of Archaeological Science:Reports, Praehistorische Zeitschrift etc.)