The Thorsberg moor (, or Thorsbjerg Mose, South Jutlandic: Tosbarch, Tåsbjerre "Thor's hill") near Süderbrarup in Angeln, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, is a peat bog in which the Angles deposited for approximately four centuries. It is the location of important Roman Iron Age finds, including early Elder Futhark runic inscriptions such as the Thorsberg chape, 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.
Excavation
The moor was excavated in 1858–1861 by a teacher from
Flensburg, 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 in
Copenhagen.
Discoveries
The deposits were made from approximately 100 BC to 500 AD
[Thomas Birkmann, Von Ågedal bis Malt: die skandinavischen Runeninschriften vom Ende des 5. bis Ende des 9. Jahrhunderts, Ergänzungsband zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 12, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995, , p. 45.] and are clearly votive in nature.
[Malcolm Todd, The Early Germans, Oxford: Blackwell, 1995, , p. 261.] However, it is doubtful that they were dedicated specifically to
Thor. The placename may reflect worship of Thor there by Danes during the
Viking Age 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.
[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, p. 71 ] 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 AD;
[Graham Sumner, Roman Military Clothing (2): AD 200-400, Botley: Osprey, 2003, , p. 35.] objects of Roman workmanship including two
phaleræ, military decorations in the form of richly decorated gold discs in diameter made in the 3rd century in the workshop of Saciro, thought to have been near
Cologne, which have the image of a seated man with a spear, possibly a representation of Mars;
[Herbert Schutz, Tools, Weapons and Ornaments: Germanic Material Culture in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400-750, Leyden/Boston: Brill, 2001, , pp. 185-86.] and objects of Germanic workmanship, notably the
Thorsberg chape, 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 Magna Germania, who were in closer contact with the Romans than the Angles.[Birkmann, p. 46.] After approximately 200 AD, the deposition of weapons increased, possibly as a result of conflict between tribes such as the war (166 to 180 AD). Many of the objects deposited, especially the weapons, have been made useless by breaking, bending, etc. It was common practice among Celtic peoples to ritually "kill" such weapons.[Dragos Mandescu, "Killing the Weapons. An Insight on Graves with Destroyed Weapons in Late Iron Age Transylvania", Proceedings of the International Colloquium from Târgu Mureș, 7-9 October 2011, Killing_the_Weapons._An_Insight_on_Graves_with_Destroyed_Weapons_in_Late_Iron_Age_Transylvania.]
In addition to the weapons and other man-made objects, the deposits in the bog include isolated bones.[Herbert Jankuhn, Nydam und Thorsberg: Moorfunde der Eisenzeit, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1983, , p. 22 : "Vereinzelt kamen . . . auch Tierknochen vor, so einige Pferdeknochen und ein Rinderhorn" (Animal bones also occurred in isolation . . . such as a few bones from horses and a bovine horn).] Just outside the moor is an Iron Age tumulus with a stone circle.
See also
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Weapons sacrifice
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Wetlands and islands in Germanic paganism
Notes
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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
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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
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Herbert Jankuhn. Nydam und Thorsberg: Moorfunde der Eisenzeit. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1962
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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.
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Klaus Raddatz. Der Thorsberger Moorfund: Gürtelteile und Körperschmuck. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1957
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