BRONZE AGE METAL AND AMBER IN THE NETHERLANDS (I) J,J. BUTLER Biologisch-Archaeologisch lilS/iII/lil, Grollillgell, NederiaIld ABSTRACT: A comprehensive study is offered ofthe Bronze Age finds ofmetalwork and amber in the Netherlands. Parts I and II concernthe Early and Midd1e Bronze Age. Part I (this part) is a presentation, in the style ofthelnventaria Archaeo!ogia, of the more important associated finds,both richer graves and hoards. Part II will be concerned with the stray finds, their typology, distribution, origins and cultural context; fo llowed by a concluding synthesis. Parts III and IV will deal in similar fashion with the Late Bronze Age. KEYWORDS: Netherlands, Early and Middle Bronze Age, amber, bronze, tools, weapons, ornaments, hoards, graves. 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION of bronzes was, as far as the evidence goes, rat her slight. There may even have been a preponderance of As background fo r our presentation of the material, flint and other stone tools and weapons (i.e. axes and section 2 summarizes our present view of the daggers) in use. It is difficult to document this because comparative chronology of the Bronze Age in the they were rarely deposited in graves and hoards; but, Netherlands and neighbouring areas. fo r example, finds of flint daggers (practically all stray Section 3 describes a series of finds of Early and finds) far outnumber finds of Early Bronze Age metal Middle Bronze Age amber necklaces, with a prefatory daggers. essay on their probable origins. 2. The grave or hoard deposits containing personal Section 4 detaiIs other richer grave finds and hoards possessions evidently belonged to indi viduals ofhigher of the Early and Middle Bronze Age. Many of these social status, who, it can be presumed, would have finds have been published previously (not infrequently required a wider range of weapons and ornaments than by myself in the course ofthe last thirty-odd years); we could be provided by local craftsmen; who in any case have thought it useful to repeat the drawings and find seem to have produced mostly axes. data here forthe sake of affording a convenient overview, 3. In the case of som e other hoards, we may be to provide an update of the bibliography, and, where dealing with imports from other areas of discarded necessary a revision of interpretations in accordance objects intended for recyc1ing. Since there were no with current views. copper or tin ores to be found in the alluvial soils and Here we use the term 'hoard' to describe two ormore subsoils of the Netherlands, all such metal had to come objects fo und toget her, without evidence that they from a distance. There is no evidence for the Bronze belonged to a grave deposit. Single-object depositions, Age importation of ingots. Imports were therefore in possibly belonging to the category Einstiickhort, will the form offinished objects, eitherfor use or as scrap for be catalogued together with stray finds. re-melting. The Early Bronze Age hoard from It may be noted that there are a number of objects in Wageningen (Find No. 10) seems to contain objects of burial mounds which, though possibly deposited in both sorts. A small hoard consisting of two mis-cast connection with burial rites, were not themselves from Scandinavian-type palstaves from the Emmerdennen a grave, or at 1east are not known to have been in a seems to represent the import of founder' s waste from grave; such finds are therefore c1assified as hoards. Denmark or North Germany; some or all of the North It should not be supposed that the hoards and richer Welsh palstaves in the Voorhout hoard (Find No. 14) graves of the Early and Middle Bronze Age provide a may have the same significance, if from the opposite balanced picture of the regional production of metaI­ direction. Imports of this sort are likely to have been far work in those phases. Quite the contrary: these finds more common than the record shows, as they would contain few locally produced articles, and are mostly normally have disappeared into the melting pot. stocked with imports from diverse directions. This may have various causes: In general, then, the typology and distribution of the 1. In the Early Bronze Age the regional production stray finds (thus material fo r a subsequent volume) will 47 48 J.J. Butler datable by contacts especiaIly with central, northern and western Europe (and occasionally farther afield) was built up by the present writer in various studies (see References). The relations between these two " chronological structures is, necessarily, a theme to be . 8.9 , discussed in the present work. Table I is offered in advance of the detailed discussion in order to provide a convenient frame of reference fo r the reader. In this table we have not attempted to interpret fine is +- � '-", detail, but rather to provide a broad orientation, ·'3 .: generalized to a century-by-century scale. ' : Since comparative relative datings are not, for the " . most part, particularly controversial at the moment, we have taken the chief interest to be the comparison of datings by archaeological correlation with thoseobtained by recent work on dendrochronology and calibrated 14C. Phase names italicized in the table have dendro­ . .. .. .. ... , .. .. " ) . datings placing the indicated phase in the indicated . : ::.. .. century. Those marked by a plus sign (+) have one or more calibrated 14C datings centering in the century indicated. (Their statisticai ranges spread, however, a century ormore in eitherdirection), The otherplacements in the table depend on archaeological correlations. All 14C dates utilized were calibrated with the Fig. l. Location of Find Nos 1-24 (Find No, 3, 'Drenthe', not Calibration Program of the Groningen Laboratory for mapped). Isotopic Research (C.LO), available on computer diskette. Details will be given in a later section, provide better insight into the character and extent of 3. THE EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE local bronze production. The hoards and richer graves GRAVES AND HOARDS WlTH AMBER are, rather, of special importance for the contacts they NECKLACES demonstrate with other regions, for the establishment of the chronology, and for the insight they provide into 3.1, Introduction the way of life of the elites of the time. Part III will deal with the richer Late Bronze Age In the prov ince of Drenthe there is a noteworthy series findssimilarly. In the cataloguing of the finds in Part I of Early to Middle Bronze Age necklace finds. The interpretation will be held to the minimum necessary, necklaces consist predominantly of amber beads, reserving more detailed comment for the conc1uding occasionally supplemented by beads offaience, tin and synthesis which will follow the cataloguing and study sheet bronze (Exloermond, Find No. I), rock crystal of the stray finds, (Emmerdennen, Find No, 2), and glass (Emmer­ In general the work is based on the personal study of compascuum, Find No. 7), Altogether eight necklaces the objects and theirdocumentation in the museums and contain nearly 200 amber beads, more or less equally other collections. divided between the grave necklaces and the bog hoards. The earliest of these necklaces is the well-known Exloermond bog hoard (Find No. l), which is more or 2. COMPARATIVE CHRONOLOGY (cf. table l) less on the borderline between what is understood as Early and Middle Bronze Age in the Netherlands. In the A detailed chronological frarnework for the prehistory Middle Bronze Age there are seven major necklace of the Netherlands was created by Lanting & Mook finds:fo urfound in tumulus graves (two near Weerdinge, (1977) on the basis of 14C datings; for the Bronze Age one from the Emmerdennen, one at Hijken) and three consisting chiefly of grave monuments and settlement bog hoards (Emmercompascuum, Roswinkelerveen and sites, with their associated pottery types and other finds. 'Drenthe'). This structure is still valid, but has been improved at It is remarkable that all the major necklace finds of some points by newer datings, by the calibration in the Early and Middle Bronze Age are from the province calendar years of the conventional 14C scale, and by the of Drenthe, and have not occurred in the rest of the application in other areas of dendrochronology. country. The largest amber bead finds in the other A separate chronology of richer graves and hoards, provinces are those from graves at Zwaagdijk, North Bronze Age metal and amber in tlle Netherlands (I) 49 Table I. Comparative chronology. Cen- Central Europe No rth N.W. Nelherlands U. K.. F. IUry Europe Gennan y B.e. MrTTL. Uf MIV I ZG. IV Gasteren+ L.B.(I) PENA RD II: XI Ha A2 Ffynhonn au. B.f.IIb M III ZG. III Swalmen-H. M.B.B! B.f. Ila XII H.AI L.B. ----- -- SPATE HG!- M !VIII ZG. III Holsel M.B.B PENARD I: XIII D FROHE UF. APPLEBY: B.f.l: Rosnoen ---- -- lONGERE Mil ZG.II We e rdinge+ M.B.B B.m.II XIV C2 Hg .• Epe Ase nk ofen ---- MITfLERE Løve ZG.I Voorho ut M.B.B ACTON PK2 XV Cl Hg .. Gag- genhofen B ALTERE MIB Sagel- Sagel- M.B. A ACTON PKI. XVI HG.. Wohl de Wohlde TREBOUL. A2c LOCHHAM B.m.! UWCQUAID f-- XVII A2b UlNCQUAID Sagel - Sage l- M.B. A WESSEX 2+ Wohlde+ Wohlde+ (Carnerton, ArreIon) -- ----- Langquaid+ MIA. Tins dahl+ M.B.A VÆSSEX 2+ XVIII A2b Geme inIe- Virring barn 111+ Leubingen L.N.C Emmen E.B. WESSEX 1+ XIX A2 a Pile axes Bush Bw .. Willerby W. ---- ---- ----- Leubingen E.B. WESSEX 1+ XX Alb MigdaJe ---- r--- ----- Singen+. Wage- E.B. SL Adri en+ XXI Aia Nitra+ ningen (SI. Wal- rick+) Holland (below, Find No. 24), with four small beads, For Northwest Germany, Bergmann (1970: pp.