The Pliezhausen brooch (also known as the Pliezhausen disc, Pliezhausen bracteate or Pliezhausen disc brooch) (german: Reiterscheibe von Pliezhausen) is a gold disc decorated with figures that was discovered in 1928 during excavations in

Pliezhausen Pliezhausen is a municipality in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Pliezhausen is located between the Neckar and the Schönbuch. Constituent communities The original municipality Pliezhausen consists of t ...

, in the county of

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in the grave of a wealthy

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

c woman dating to the early 7th century and which was the front of a disc fibula. It is one of the few artifacts of the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

which portrays the figures of people.

Discovery

During construction work in the vicinity of the street known as ''Pliezhauser Alamannenstraße'', graves from an Alemannian

grave field A grave field is a prehistoric cemetery, typically of Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe. Grave fields are distinguished from necropoleis by the former's lack of remaining above-ground structures, buildings, or grave markers. Types Grave fields can b ...

kept coming to light. In 1928, during the excavation of what became designated as Grave 1, that of a wealthy woman, the Pliezhausen equestrian brooch was discovered as part of the

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

. The disc, made from a thin gold plate, was the ornamental cover for a disc fibula with a bronze pin as the fastener. Other grave goods included a bronze ring, fragments of bronze wire and 13 pearls. The Pliezhausen brooch is displayed in the Württemberg State Museum in the Alter Schloss in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

Similar Finds

Several comparable finds from the early Middle Ages are known, such as from the noble ship graves of

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a ...

in England and

Vendel Vendel is a village at Tierp Municipality in Uppland, Sweden. The village overlooks Vendelsjön, a long inland stretch of water near the Vendel river which has its confluence with the river Fyris. Vendel was the site of an ancient royal estate, ...

and

Valsgärde Valsgärde or Vallsgärde is a farm on the Fyris river, about three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings and of the pagan faith in Sweden. The present farm dates from the 16th century. The farm's notability ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The disc from Sutton Hoo corresponds most exactly to the Pliezhausen disc, with the exception of the mirror-image arrangement. It is one of the few naturalistic and figurative representations that have survived from the early Middle Ages and provides valuable information on the mythical and religious imagination of the pagan

at the transition to Christianity.

Bibliography

* * Kurt Böhner: ''Die Goldscheibe von Pliezhausen''. In: Gemeinde Pliezhausen (Hrsg): ''900 Jahre Pliezhausen 1092-1992 - Heimat zwischen Neckar und Schönbuch''. Gemeinde Pliezhausen, 1992. *

Weblinks

Gemeinde Pliezhausen
(archive o
the original

{{Authority control Archaeological artifacts Alemanni Reutlingen (district)