The Early Bronze Age „Spangenbarren“ hoard from Oberding, Erding district. First results

Abstract

In Oberding, Erding district (Bavaria), excavations ahead of a construction took place in April 2014. In several settlement pits – dating to the Early Bronze Age – the biggest yet known so-called „Spangenbarren“ hoard with 796 ingots could be documented. The ring ingots had been hidden in a separate hoard pit next to settlement pit 1, which was already filled. They were laced in bundles of ten ring ingots and grouped in eight bigger bundle groups. The average weight of each ring ingot is 103 g. The ingot copper could be from three groups: a) one group with tetrahedrite (form the Inn valley), b) one group with chalcopyrite and c) one group with nickel (both from the Mitterberg region). The ceramic was concentrated in pit 1, most of them could be associated to the ceramic group Sengkofen/Jellenkofen, but a few others could be associated to the Vĕteřov-Böheimkirchen and Maďarovce Culture. The ring ingots of type Bermatingen, the copper from the Mitterberg region, the typical early Bronze Age ceramic and radiocarbon data out of pit 1 are dating the whole find complex to the end of the Early Bronze Age in southern Bavaria. After all the hoard of Oberding is one of only a few Early Bronze Age hoards with “Spangenbarren” which were found during an archaeological excavation and is located in context with a concurrent settlement.