Das Grab der "Prinzessin" von Zweeloo und seine Bedeutung im Rahmen des Gräberfeldes

The grave of the "Princess" of Zweeloo and its importance in context of the burial grounds
W. A. van Es & J. Ypey
Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, 93. Staatsuitgeverij, 1976.

Translated by Susan Verberg, 2019

For the PDF "Reconstructing the Wardrobe of the Princess of Zweeloo", click here:
https://www.academia.edu/38845292/Reconstructing_the_Wardrobe_of_the_Princess_of_Zweeloo

 From the end of February to the beginning of May 1952, Professor Van Giffen studied part of an early medieval cemetery near Zweeloo, in the southeast of the province of Drenthe (the Netherlands). The cemetery was just outside the village on the south side of the road that leads from Zweeloo to Noord-Sleen (Fig. 1 & 2). The excavation site lay diagonally opposite a small church, which is located on the other side of the street, on the eastern edge of the village center. The early historic burial ground could no longer be fully recorded, because part - and probably a not insignificant one - was destroyed shortly before due to sand excavation. When sand was taken from under the bottom of an ash tree, the old objects discovered in these earthworks initiated the archaeological dig. During the excavation, at a short distance west of the burial ground, the traces of a settlement were discovered which belong to the Roman Empire.

The use of the burial place began at the end of the imperial era or at the beginning of the Migration Period, in the late fourth or early fifth century and ended in the 8th/9th century. Start and end dates have not yet been specified. Another question, which will probably remain difficult to answer even in the future, is the continuation of occupancy: was the cemetery used uninterrupted as a place of burial during the early Middle Ages, or should we expect short or long occupancy breaks?

The vast number of burials found are inhumations. From those almost 110 have been excavated. About 75% of the inhumations were West-East graves. As far as the grave goods or the surviving remains of the skeletons showed, the dead had been laid down with their heads in the west end of the grave. The remaining inhumations are south-north burials. Discoloration from a wooden coffin was found in about half of the graves. With these inhumations comes a small number of cremation graves.

Most of these ten to fifteen cremations turn out to be incinerations. Urn burials were observed only once or twice. Finally, on the excavated section of the cemetery, there are also seven north-south aligned horse burials. The objects in the graves were relatively poor in most cases. Numerous burials contained no or only very meager grave goods. The graves were created in rows that run in north-south or west-east direction. Also, the funerals are not evenly distributed over the cemetery grounds, but in a group formation.

Fig. 1 The location of Zweeloo, Drenthe province (Netherlands).

West-East and South-North burials occur side by side in different groups. Some of these grave groups were evidently related to two adjacent south-north graves, each surrounded by a broad circular ditch. Near these two circular ditches, which may have marked the foot of small burial mounds, there is a series of rectangular four-post settlements. Similar post positions have also been found elsewhere in the cemetery.  

The structure and composition of the Zweeloo burial ground could only be briefly described here. Further details are reserved for the entire publication prepared by the first author. We only use this scheduled publication to separately present one of the most important, perhaps even the most interesting grave of the cemetery.

Fig. 2 The location of the grave field at Zweeloo.

We refer to grave number 87, which already caused a stir during discovery because of its wealth of finds and has since been known as the grave of the "Princess" of Zweeloo. However, the wealth of this burial is only relatively understandable in the context of this burial ground. Furthermore, the word "known" is not to be taken quite literally, since so far only a few of the grave goods have been published ¹, indeed the complete contents of the grave were not revealed until recently as the grave had not been completely excavated in situ. The western side, with the head and torso part of the deceased, had been framed in situ in a wooden box and taken as a whole. For a long time, the box was stored untouched in storage at the provincial museum of Drenthe in the provincial capital of Assen. 

    At that time, a watercolor of only the grave goods and the bone discolorations which were visible on the surface was made. It was not until 1971 that the content of the wooden box in the laboratory of the Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek (Royal Institute for Archaeological Soil Research) in Amersfoort was dissected free of charge by the second author of this paper. And thus, almost 25 years after its first discovery, the excavation of this grave was completed. The careful examination in the laboratory has not only yielded many previously unknown objects, but the close observation of their context also made it possible to make statements about the appearance of the clothing of the deceased and about the way in which the objects were given.

Our first intention here is to give a detailed description of the grave. Moreover, this burial is not to be considered merely in isolation. It belongs to a small group of graves, which occupies a separate position in the grave field. This group consists, as far as it is still preserved, of five or six inhumations (numbers 83 to 88) and six horse burials (numbers H 1 to 6) (Figure 3). The row of posts on the southwest side of the group of graves reproduced in Fig. 3 may be related to the graves. The three easternmost graves - a horse and two inhumations, one of which is the grave of the "Princess" - are just bumping into the disturbed edge of the [commercial sand] excavation point. There is therefore no certainty as to whether the group to which our tomb belongs, belongs to the [archaeological] excavation of van Giffens. This [fact] is not supported by the findings (see Fig. 3). Rather, it is more likely that the group of tombs originally expanded further to the east, where it was destroyed by the removal of sand. On all other sides, the group is completely free. It is located on the extreme north border of the cemetery; further north, no graves have been found. In the west and south, a strip is also left free around the group; the nearest graves can be found at a distance of between five and ten meters. Next comes, on the south side, a north-south aligned horse grave (H 7), which included a Zuckerhutumbo ² of the type Galgenberg (after F. Stein) and therefore belongs to a later time horizon than the graves of the "princess". The burial group with the "princess" is thus characterized by its isolated location. It also remains a coherent unit in chronological terms, and embodies one of the earliest - if not the earliest - phases of use in the preserved part of the burial ground.

The distribution of the graves within the group is shown in Fig. 3, a part of the overall plan of the burial ground. The three western body graves are oriented north-south. In the case of grave 86 it was possible to ascertain with certainty that the head of the burial was in the south on basis of surviving skull fragments. The grave goods mark this as a woman grave.

    For the children's grave 85 a south-north orientation, due to the location of a string of beads in the south end of the tomb, is also likely. It was apparently a girl's grave. Grave 83 was also a child burial according to its dimensions. its exact orientation is not determined because it is missing grave goods (south-north or north-south). It contained traces of a rectangular wooden coffin.

Fig.3 Zweeloo. The burial group with grave 87 of the "Princess".

Part of the overall map of the cemetery.

The grave character of pit 84 is not entirely clear. It could represent a west-east aligned children's grave, but has not yielded any finds. Asured West-East graves are the burial of the "princess" (grave 87, Schadel in the west), and south of this the tomb of an adolescent person (grave 88). The cone beaker, which was found in the latter tomb, situated in the interior against the western edge of the coffin, must have been laid down at the head. Unfortunately, this addition does not allow any specific sexing of the interred person. Graves 87 and 88 both contained coffin traces.

In comparison with the tomb of the "Princess", the other funerals have yielded only a few finds. Grab 88 contains "only" the already mentioned conical glass beaker, which is, however, in the area of the province Drenthe to be regarded as a precious and rare piece. A second cone beaker was found in the nearby burial ground of Aalden in the same district. Together, these two beakers form the only protohistorian glasses that are now known from the province of Drenthe, as opposed to the late Roman bowls from the settlement of Wijster ³. The beaker from Zweeloo is made of olive-green glass. It has a diagonally ribbed lower wall; the upper area under the laid-out edge is covered by a horizontal spiral thread. The height of the cup is about 14 cm. The Aalden piece is slightly larger and also elaborately decorated.

Underneath the area with horizontal spiral thread, on this version a wave-band-shaped glass thread is laid down ⁴. The dating to the 5th century of these cone beakers is secure. Böhner puts them in his level II and doubts that they would appear later ⁵. A specimen from the burial ground of Haillot indicates a very close parallel to the piece from Zweeloo grave 88 ⁶. The type probably already existed during the first half of the 5th century ⁷. However, in this pronounced form it does not seem to have been established before the middle of the fifth century. The production center of these cone beakers is to be found in the Franconian area.

The only addition to the girls' grave 85 was a small necklace of twelve beads. One of these beads is made of amber, the rest are made of opaque flame work glass. The latter are partly - six pieces - monochrome (brown-red, yellow, white, blue or light green) and have a disk or flattened spherical shape; one of them is more or less rectangular and faceted. The remaining five are multi-colored: four are spherical in shape and show a brownish-red color with yellow or white zigzag lines included with white dots in one case; the fifth bead is tubular, white and decorated with light blue dots. Beads are known to be difficult to fix in time. It may be said, however, that in its composition the string of grave 85 falls completely outside the framework of what appears to be customary in this burial ground.

Apart from the simple and monochrome glass beads, which remained in use throughout the early Middle Ages and probably later, it is the beads of multicolored glass that are characteristic of the string. Exact parallels do not occur in the Zweeloo burial ground. The most similar is a multicolored bead from grave 86 (see below). Beads have been found in a total of 34 inhumations, three of which belong to the grave group of the "Princess". Outside of this group, only one or two beads appeared in some of the graves. In the other cemetery areas, the majority of graves which yielded more than two beads, the size of the strings is very different and is characterized by the presence of one or more millefiori or checkerboard beads. These 16 graves, which are associated with the occurrence of these beads, occurred in the later phases of the grave field - 7th or 8th century and younger. The peculiarity of the grave string from grave 85 indicates that this grave belonged to another, and to a former section of the occupation time. Böhme has pointed out that multicolored glass beads only appear from the 5th century onwards ⁸. 

In grave 86, at the southern part of the deceased's torso, there were five small beads of opaque glass (three white, one reddish and one multicolored: white with reddish brown and blue spirals), a pair of bronze brooches of the type Perlberg by Böhme ⁹. The grave goods indicate a woman's grave. But there is a difficulty: in the grave - apparently at the beads and the pair of fibulae - was also found a fused bronze fragment and a band-shaped bronze hook. The fused bronze fragment is barely visible as part of an onion button brooch (cross arm with half-round top and end of the ball). The piece is unfortunately too fragmentary in order to be able to specify the type more precisely. The band-shaped bronze hook carries on the long rectangular front a simple notch ornament. It can be compared with the somewhat shorter hook from the men's grave 116 of Wijster ¹⁰ and would, like this one, also have belonged to a notched belt set. The last two finds are men's items; the melted onion button even points to a fire burial. Perhaps these objects have accidentally gotten into the woman's grave, and it is conceivable that an older man's grave was disturbed in the creation of this woman's grave. In any case, fibulae and hook could belong to a somewhat earlier time step than the Perlberger fibulae. The two objects can still be classified to the period "around 400", because the Perlberger fibelae type by Böhme fits time levels II and III, the period between about 380 and 480, but with emphasis on level II (approx. 380-420).

The best dating find from the grave 87 of the "Princess" is the magnificent equal-armed fibula. It belongs to the Böhmescher Zeitstufe III (about 420-480) ¹¹. The type is typologically relatively late and would therefore be set in time shortly before the middle of the 5th century. The bowl urn found in grave 87 and the pair of composed disk brooches with gilt serrated ornaments make a date around 450 appear quite possible, but otherwise give no more definite dating references.

A closer definite dating of the graves on the basis of their grave remains difficult. The funerals are generally assigned to the first three quarters of the fifth century. However, at least two generations of graves seem to be set apart within the burial group due to the additions. The older one is represented by the female grave 86; an associated, if not a little older, men's (cremation) funeral may have been lost. The "Princess" and grave 88 next to her would form the second or third generation. Such a view is compatible not only with the dating of the grave goods, but can also be further supported by the (horizontal) stratigraphic observations. The children graves, which cannot be dated in and of themselves, belong according to their location and time frame also near the female grave with the Perlberger fibulae. But it cannot be entirely excluded that they are chronologically connected with the grave of the "Princess", because they are spatially shunned by the horse graves, to be thought from the same time.

The burial site seems to have been regularly used oriented from west to east. Initially, the south-north burial was common, possibly parallel to the cremation burial. The latter form of burial is not completely proven, as the successful investigations of the Jubilee in the important cemetery Liebenau, Kr. Nienburg (Weser), have shown how easily flat-lying cremation burials escaped archaeological observation, if - as in our case - the upper layers of earth are destroyed.

During the second generation, West-East-oriented inhumation was preferred. Grave 86 is cut by the horse burial H 4. One wonders whether the two male items (onion button brooch fragment and bronze hook) could not have entered the woman's grave at the moment when the grave pit for the horse was excavated. In any case, this conflict also indicates that grave 86 belongs to an older phase than the burial of the "princess", for there is obviously a connection between horse burials H 1-5 and grave 87. The five horse burials are in a row that runs straight to the tomb of the "Princess". It is possible to still see horse burial H 6 in connection with the grave 87. The distances between the individual horse burials within the row are different. H 2 and H 3 are very close together. Their pits almost touch each other. These two burials seem to form a pair. The same could be true for H 4 and H 5, but here close association is less clear. In pits H 1-3 and H 6 the horse lies on its right side, with its head in the northern end of the trench. The same is reported in the excavation report for burial H 4. The excavation drawing is not completely clear in this respect. According to the journal, the horse was not lying on his side in the burial, but standing up, so to speak. The middle part of the burial pit was excavated deeper to accommodate the legs of the horse. The burial number is not mentioned in the report, but this entry can only refer to horse burial H 5. This burial has an irregular shape: on the right side, there seems to be a kind of niche whose function is not clear. It remains even uncertain whether the "niche" is not a coincidence (collapsed grave-pit wall?). In all six horse burials skeletal remains were preserved, which are currently not accessible.

The horse burials contain no further finds and are therefore not datable. The already mentioned connection with the tomb of the "Princess" made a dating, at least of the burials H 1-5, of the middle or around the third quarter of the fifth century almost a certainty. H 6 could be younger, but probably not very much. The burial H 1- 5 need not necessarily be created at the same time. The group formation within the series of horse burials referred to above could also be explained as a consequence of a time gradation, but such an assumption is less likely and it remains unprovable. On the other hand, it seems certain that the burials H 1-5 were laid out at a time when grave 86 was no longer maintained, while interest in grave 87 was still active.

Bead strings and equal-armed fibula from grave 87 of the grave field of Zweeloo.

We recall once again that the custom of equine burial was maintained until later in this burial ground. This is proved by the already mentioned grave with a sugarloaf shield buckler (H 7), in which one may possibly see the burial of a war horse.

The Zweeloo horse burials H 1-5 and H 6 have in their position a certain similarity with the horse burials, which Winkelmann assigned to a much younger prince grave of Beckum II ¹². The best parallel can be found in the cemetery Looveen at Wijster ¹³. Here not only very comparable west-east running rows of North-South oriented horse burials are found, but in Wijster the peculiar habit of letting the horse stand upright in the grave is also found. The graves have no datable finds, which is why they are very difficult to classify. Until now it was assumed that they date from the same time as the south-north oriented graves of the cemetery, i.e. from the 7th / 8th century. For some of them, it seems likely too: for example, for the series of graves 29-21-20-22-23-28, which have been incorporated into the burial ground, so to speak. The question arises, however, whether one is entitled to transfer this conclusion without further ado to the very long series of horse burials between graves 64 and 167. It should be noted that the edge of this row of graves apparently did not arise all at once; conversely, the changes and intersections within the series are telling. The horse graves here are quite far removed from the inhumations in an isolated position on the northern edge of the cemetery, exactly in an area where there were two burial mounds (hills I and II). In the center of a third grave mound (III), another horse burial was found, this time together with two west-east or east-west graves without grave goods. The burial mounds are likely Iron Age. This also applies to the fourth grave mound (IV), which is in line with the other three. The distance between the hills varies from 10 to 20 meters. Burial mount IV was used again in later times, as can be seen from the findings in its center. There, namely, secondarily, the well-known male grave 116 from the late 4th / early 5th century was recovered. Now, as we know from the early horse burials in Zweeloo, can we not at least consider the possibility that the horse burials between grave mounds I to III on the northern edge of the cemetery of Wijster were laid out as early as the fifth century? In this way, the horse burials would in a sense bridge the great period between the late imperial cremation and inhumations on the western edge of the cemetery and grave 116, which was concurrent with the youngest of these graves, but scattered far to the east. They would also help to partially close a chronological gap. Their dating to the 5th century would be especially important for the question of the occupancy continuity for this burial site. 

A continuous occupancy from the late imperial period to the 7th century was not accepted by us at that time ¹⁴. Now we would like to leave this possibility open. Although we cannot go into this problem in the context of this contribution, we again point out that the newly gained knowledge in Zweeloo also opens interesting new perspectives for the interpretation of the findings in the cemetery of Wijster.

Summing up the preceding considerations, the following picture emerges. The grave of the "Princess" of Zweeloo, which is quite well equipped for our region, belongs to a small group of graves, which is to be regarded as the burial place of a not-so-poor family. Especially the grave of the "princess" itself suggests the idea that the family belonged to a higher social class. It is also noticeable that grave goods of very different origin mingle in these graves. The production centers of the Perlberger and equal-armed fibulae are generally assumed in the lower Elbe and Weser area. The melted onion button comes from a provincial Roman workshop. The cone beaker from grave 88 - and perhaps also the glass beads (?) - from the other mentioned graves were made in the Franconian area. International connections during the early migration period are thus confirmed, and that this remote location of the province of Drente participated in these connections at that time as well.

According to the findings, the burials took place during the first half or the first three quarters of the 5th century. The practiced forms of burial prove to be quite variable. Cremation is not attested with certainty, but South-North and West-East inhumation occur at that time, or better, seem to alternate during this period. Especially the horse burials are interesting. They underline the "princely" character of our grave and, moreover, fit effortlessly into the horse burial state that Müller-Wille has worked out ¹⁵. This state stretches from Thuringia through northern Germany to the northern Netherlands. Characteristic is, among other things, the occurrence of numerous horse graves in a cemetery, which were sometimes created in rows, just as it is the case in Zweeloo. It was already known that horse burials also occur in a later section of the early Middle Ages. But new is the realization that they occur in Zweeloo so early and also elsewhere, for example in the cemetery Wijster, may occur much earlier than previously thought. Unfortunately, the grave group with the "princess" did not survive complete. There likely were cremation graves lost; on the east side, graves have probably fallen victim to the [commercial] sand excavation. Of course, this affects the meaningfulness of this group. Nevertheless, in our opinion, it may be inferred from the findings that the grave group may only have been the burial ground of a small settlement unit; probably a homestead.  

This does not mean, of course, that the associated settlement consisted of only one farm. Maybe there were several houses that would have their burial sites elsewhere, where they have not yet been found.

Of further importance is the fact that here in Zweeloo a colonization phase of the advanced fifth century has clearly been reached, which was hitherto very poorly recognized in the whole northern Netherlands. Although Zweeloo is not completely alone in this regard. The same time horizon is also represented, for example, in the nearby burial ground of Aalden. Nevertheless, the Zweeloo finding remains a rare and therefore valuable testimony that the thread of population continuity in our neighborhoods in the 5th century was not completely disrupted. The "princess" of Zweeloo will force us to re-think the continuity problem for other places - the cemetery of Wijster has already been mentioned previously.

The burial group of the "Princess" represents one of the earliest phases in the Zweeloo burial ground. Whether it is actually at the beginning of the occupancy, should not be overlooked at the moment and will remain difficult to decide because of the incompleteness of the cemetery. It certainly cannot be ruled out that the cemetery was occupied a little earlier - with cremation?

Despite some uncertainties, which may still be partially illuminated in the context of a total study of the cemetery, grave 87 already shows as a very interesting find. The "princess" of Zweeloo is, we mean to say, dr. Genrich worthy, and it goes without saying that we no longer wanted to wait to introduce her to our friends and colleagues.

The excavation of the findings of the burial part in the wooden storage box

It has already been mentioned by the first author that in 1952 a large part of the grave of the "Princess" was enclosed in a wooden box. The surface had then been injected with some hardener to solidify the preparation. Over the years, however, many cracks have emerged which caused that in some places several beads came loose. Fortunately, a watercolor had been made at that time, with which some shifting could be corrected. Only the position of individual amber beads in the area of the beads Ca 27-30 could not be exactly determined. However, the resulting deviations from the original state are of little importance.

Before the beginning of the "small dig" in the laboratory with lancets and other fine tools, the position of the objects in the box was measured and recorded. During the preparation, the exact location of each appearing bead as well as the other objects was fixed. 

The type of hardener used at that time was unknown. It turned out, however, that this remedy had not penetrated deeply and had not particularly strengthened the sand. Thus, the grave goods could be exposed without much difficulty. By means of transparent paper and the location of the objects, the z. T. superimposed, held.

    The fibula A had already been removed from the grave. It lay over several beads and over the toiletry set. The bronze objects in the tomb were generally badly corroded. A number of small opaque yellow glass beads were completely weathered and only visible as yellow spots. They could not be recovered even after curing with a PVC solution, because they could not be separated from the surrounding sand. The fibulae Ba and Bb showed strong sandy rust encrustation and were also already heavily corroded. Of the small remnants of bone pieces I and J, only fragments could be saved.

Fig. 4 Zweeloo. Plan of the Grave 87. M. 1:25.

In some places, discoloration of the bones was also to be considered. Remains of tooth enamel had been preserved, but was very fragmented. Nevertheless, it was possible to glue together some fragments; Among these parts of the cutting edges of some teeth were still recognizable, which had wear.

According to the measures taken from the grave (Fig. 4) and the traces of the bones, it can be estimated - following the rules of the doctrine of proportions for adult women - a body length of the burials of 165-170 cm.

Fig.5 The location of the grave goods after the small excavation in the crate.

Two necklaces were found in the grave. One is made of amber beads, the second of glass beads. In the belt area a series of large glass beads, which were mounted alternately with bronze rings, was also found. It was by and large possible to establish the original order of beads. With the belt string the former composition is even identified. In the vicinity of various bronze objects were still textile remnants. These will be described in detail together with the objects.

The grave ¹⁶

Pit: ± 227 X ± 105. Coffin: 220 X 55 / 67.5. Orientation: W-O, 101°. On the grave plan (Fig. 4), the only object found is the pot standing to the left of the skull.

The grave goods

A. Equal-armed serrated fibula, silver-gilt with bronze needle and an iron spiral axis ¹⁷, on the middle of the chest (Fig. 6 and color chart). The fibula is a quality piece. The animals are beautifully stylized and finely worked. Length of the hook plate: 9.86; Length of the spiral plate: 10.82; L. 6,66-7,08 cm.

On an older drawing of the fibula a fabric remnant was recorded at the needle spiral. The type of fabric was not specified. The fabric is no longer available. Furthermore, a piece of yarn was specified, of which a small remainder was still preserved under the spiral. It is a yarn twisted from 2 Z-spun S-twisted yarns of diameter: ± 0.1-0.15 cm. Chemical and microscopic examination indicated linen yarn.

At the place where the fibula lay in the box, a piece of the same yarn and a small fabric fragment was found: Twill ± 16 Z-x ± 14 S-spun threads p / cm2. It is questionable whether it is the same fabric as the above-mentioned fabric initially found on the fibula.

B. A pair of disk brooches composed from multiple materials, re (Ba) and li (Bb) from the neck area (Fig. 7, B). The back plates are made of bronze. Ba has an iron needle; Bb a bronze needle with iron spiral axis. The relief disks of both brooches were completely corroded. From the gilding only traces have been preserved. The ornament Ba could be reconstructed. The question of whether the relief disks were made of gilded bronze or of gilded silver cannot be answered from the surviving remains. However, fragments of a silver strip enclosing the relief disks were found. This makes it probable that the relief disks were also made of silver. Lead remnants were found on the front of the back disks.

Fig.6 The equal armed serrated fibula from grave 87. M. 1: 1.

Brooch diameter: 3.75 / 3.9; Br of the silver ribbon: ± 0.25 / 0.3 cm.

On both brooches, fabric remnants were found preserved in the rust at the spirals: diamond twill ± 18 X 18 Z-spun thread p / cm2. The fiber type could be determined as linen after chemical and microscopic examination (Fig. 7, TB). A small fragment of an S-twisted yarn was also found on the brooch found to the left of the neck.

C. Two more or less parallel necklaces, from the neck area to the right of the belt (see also color chart).

Ca. Necklace made from approximately 101 amber beads. These are round, ring-shaped or disk-shaped. The size of the beads increases from the ends to the middle of the string. Min. Dm.: ± 0.9; Max. Dm.: ± 2.15 cm (Fig. 5, Ca, 1-101 and color chart). No. 98 was under the left disk brooch Bb, 99 and 100 under the right brooch Ba. Beads 91-96 were around 44-5 3 but deeper.

Cb. Necklace of at least 130 glass beads. These were partly under and next to the string

Ca. About 110 beads could be recovered, mostly after first impregnating with a PVC solution. In the following description, the brackets indicate the number of beads that were probably observed but could no longer be recovered (Fig. 8) ¹⁸.

1 ring-shaped, ds colorless (a);

(12) annular, opaque yellow; a large number, but at least 12, in the area of ??70 (b);

16 (20) annular, blue (31,32,36,37,38,63-65,67-71,73,75,76, + at least 4 weathered) (c);

13 (16) spherical, colorless (9,12,13,17,33,60,62,66,78,89,91,97,99, + 3 splintered (d);

14 spherical, manganese (11, 16, 27, 30, 35, 39, 40, 42, 54, 55, 57, 77, 90, 98) (e);

2 ring-shaped, light ice blue (26,85) (f);

1 spiral, "black" (4) (g);

4 long-cylinder, green (2,3,24,110) (h);

2 long-cylindrical, opaque green (7,106) (i);

9 long-cylinder, blue (l, 5,6,8,10,18,19,107,108) (j);

36 four-sided prismatic, blue (14,15,20-23,25,28,29,39A,39B,52,56,58,61,72,74,79-84,86-88,92-96,100-105) (k);

1 ring-shaped, yellow-green with opaque yellow, intersecting wavy lines (41) (1);

2 ring-shaped, yellow-green with opaque white, intersecting wavy lines and opaque dots (44,51) (m);

1 ring-shaped, yellow-green with opaque yellow spiral (53) (n);

1 ring-shaped, yellow-green with opaque spiral (49) (o);

1 ring-shaped, bright ice blue with opaque spiral (45) (p);

3 ring-shaped, that of light ice-blue with opaque white, intersecting wavy lines and opaque dots (47, 50, 57) (q);

1 melon-shaped, 4-lobed, very light ice blue (46) (r);

1 melon-shaped, 4-lobed, green with opaque spiral (43) (s);

1 melon-shaped, 5-lobed, yellowish-green (48) (t);

Fig. 7 Grave goods B, E, F, G, H, I, J. TB and TE are the fabric remnants in B and E. M. 1:1.

Fig.8 Necklace Cb. The colors are reproduced in heraldic style.

1 = yellow. 2 = white 3 = red. 4 = blue. 5 = black. 6 = green,

Only with the multicolored beads are the colors indicated. M. 1: 1.

   

D. String at belt height, composed of 30 large glass beads, an amber bead, ten bronze rings and a bronze disc (Fig. 9-11). The bronze ring e was firmly encrusted to bead 13 There was also a fragment of yarn found, S-twisted from 5 Z-spun threads. Closely pushed together, the beads give a length of ± 55 cm. Of course, they have not been worn so close together. They were still in the grave in turn. Only bead Do was slightly off the line below the lower end of the equal-armed brooch A (Fig. 5).

The beads ¹⁹

0 = faceted, blue;

1 = annular, "black" (= very dark, green) with intersecting, opaque white wavy lines and 5 opaque points;

2 = annular, green;

3 = annular, "black" (= dark green) with an opaque white zigzag line;

4 = annular, opaque with irregular, opaque yellow lines and surrounding opaque green line;

5 = annular, "black" (= dark green) with opaque white zigzag lines and opaque white circumferential line;

6 = annular, opaque white (with opaque red core?);

7 = annular, "black" with opaque red core (?), with opaque white zigzag lines and circumferential opaque blue line;

8 = annular, grass green with opaque pale-yellow zigzag lines and surrounding opaque red lines;

9 = ring-shaped, "black" (= dark green) with violet-red streaks, opaque white zigzag lines and opaque blue band;

10 = annular, opaque white;

11 = annular, "black" with two opaque white and one opaque blue zigzag line;

12 = octopod melon-shaped, green with opaque red, yellow and green bands;

13 = annular, "black" with opaque, intersecting wavy lines and six opaque dots;

14 = six-ribbed melon-shaped, grass-green with opaque band and opaque dots on opaque green underlay;

15 = annular, "black" with red streaks and opaque yellow, intersecting wavebands and five opaque blue dots;

16 = six-ribbed melon-shaped, pale green with opaque red bands and opaque dots on opaque yellow base;

17 = amber bead;

18 = ring-shaped, "black" with opaque white, intersecting zigzag lines and eight violet-red puffs on an opaque background;

Fig. 9 Belt string D. 1-31: The beads. M. 4:5.

Fig. 10 Belt string D. 1-31: The beads. M. 4:5.

Fig. 11 Belt string D. a-h: The bronze rings. M. 1:1.

19 ring-shaped, opaque white;

20 = annular, ultramarine blue with thin, opaque white circles;

21 = fünfrippig [?] melon-shaped, light green grass with five opaque dark blue-white-red dots;

22 = annular, opaque with irregular, opaque yellow wavy lines, opaque green circumferential lines and opaque blue wavy line;

23 = ring-shaped, "black" (= very dark green) with two opaque white zigzag lines and surrounding opaque blue band;

24 = fragment of a ring-shaped, opaque white bead;

25 = ring-shaped, "black" (= dark green) with purple-red streaks, opaque-white intersecting wavy bands and five opaque-blue dots;

26 = annular, grass green;

27 = barrel-shaped, "black" with two opaque white and one opaque blue zigzag line;

28 = annular, opaque white with dark brown kernel (?) or contamination;

29 = ring-shaped, "black" (= dark green) with violet-red streaks, opaque-white zigzag lines and opaque-blue ribbon;

30 = ring-shaped, "black" (= dark green) with opaque blue, intersecting bands and three bright opaque cobalt blue dots;

31 = ring-shaped, "black" with irregularly distributed opaque and white dots.

The bronze rings ²⁰

a = outside diameter: 3.76 / 3.82; cross section round diameter.: 0.63 X 0.71 - 0.71 X 0.81;

b = outside diameter: 4.05 / 4.16; cross-section round diameter: 0.56 X 0.58-0.74 X 0.72; completely corroded bronze fragment, band-shaped ± 0.6 X 0.5, L.: 0.85;

c = outside diameter: ± 2.1; profiled cross section diameter: max. 0.3 X 0.32; a piece of the ring is missing;

d = outside diameter: 2.37 / 2.49; oval cross section diameter: max. ± 5.8 X 0.26; two dents on one side;

e = outside diameter: 2,12 / 2,2; drop-shaped cross-section, max. ± 0.44 X + 0.3;

f = outside diameter: 3.72 / 3.8; drop-shaped cross-section, 0.7 X 0.27-0, 85 X 0.31;

g = outside diameter: 2.05 / 2.14; diamond-shaped cross-section; Br.: 0.48-0.56; DM: 0.3-0.36;

h = bowl-shaped bronze disk, gr. dm.: 3.0 with central bore, diameter: 0.45 and three eyelets on one side;

i = bronze ring, outside diameter: 4.07 / 4.14; round cross section, diameter: 0.62 X 0.62 - 0.68 X 0.72; two fragments of a bronze needle (?), Dm.: ± 0.2 and L: ± 0.85 and + 0.7;

j = bronze ring, outside diameter: 2.04 / 2.08; oval cross section: 0.26 X ± 0.4 - ± 0.6;

k = bronze ring fragment, outside diameter: ± 2.1; profiled cross section ± 0.28 X + 0.55.

  

Fabric fragments

At bronze ring a, a small twill fragment: [broken] diamond twill, ± 13/15 Z- X ± 15 S-spun threads p / cm2.

At bronze rings b and c two fabric fragments max. ± 1.0 X 0.8: twill ± 18 S-X 18 Z-spun threads p / cm 2. In addition, a yarn fragment, S-twisted by two Z-spun threads; diameter: ± 0.2.

With ring d poorly preserved fabric remnants, although distinctly Z- and Z-spun.

With rings f and g, a minimal fabric fragment: 2/2 twill, 9/10 Z-X 6 Z-spun threads p / cm2, the first set tight, the others loosely spun. The fabric fragment was only 1.3 X 0.5 cm in size and could also be the part of a diamond twill; however, it is much coarser than most other textile fragments.

For ring h, the fragment of a rhombic body, max. 2.4 X 1.15 large, ± 16/17 Z-X ± 16/17 S-spun filaments p / cm 2.

On ring i several fabric fragments, max. ± 2.5 X 0.8 large. Twill (diamond twill?) ± 14/17 S- X min. 13 Z-spun threads p / cm2. The bronze ring showed a particularly strong corrosion in a sharply defined place; this could indicate a leather strap was here in the past.

Fig. 12  Clay pot from grave 87. M. 1: 2.

E. Bronze Arm ring (Figs. 5 and 7) in height to the left of the left hip, probably on the left forearm, which also shows skeletal discoloration. Outside: 8,13 / 8,27; round cross section, diameter: 0.8. The object was partly heavily corroded.

Several fabric remnants adhered to the arm ring, but most were covered by a layer of corrosion, and therefore difficult to see. However, some better fragments could be determined to be diamond twill with ± 15/16 Z-X ± 15 S spun thread p / cm 2. The material is wool (Fig. 7, TE).

F. Two bronze keys, lying across arm ring E (Figures 5 and 7). Both keys are missing the eyelets and the "beard". The stems are flat and one side, bordering the edges, is decorated with double half circles. Fa: length circa ± 15.9; the flat part has a cross section of ± 0.45 X 0.2 to 0.67 X 0.15; the bent part has a round cross section of ± 0.2 / 0.25. Fb: length circa 12.5; the flat part measures in cross section ± 0.65 X 0.15, the bent end is round, diameter: ± 0.24.

G. A toiletry set in silver with remains of gilding. It was half under the equal armed fibula on the left half of the breast (Fig. 5). Three devices with twisted square silver wire handles are suspended by means of eyelets in a silver wire ring (Fig. 7). The instrument with a flat-ended end is ± 4.65 cm, the spoon 5.25 cm and the object with a flat, straight end 5.5 cm long.

H. A band-shaped bone object was on the left at the lower end of the sternum. Obviously, the piece was longer (Fig. 7 H). It shows on both sides parallel to the long edges running weak grooves and in the axis five through holes. L.: ± 2.5; Br.: ± 1.0; D.: ± 0.1.

I. A small silver wire ring lying at the top of the sternum. Diameter: ± 0.65 (Fig. 7).

J. Some glaze fragments of a beaver tooth lying on object H (Figs. 5 and 7). The total length of the fragments is circa ± 5.0; the gr. Br.: ± 0.65. It can be assumed that H and J belong together and formed a pendant. In my opinion, one could interpret this beaver tooth pendant as an amulet.

K. Clay pot at the head of the coffin to the left of the skull (Figures 4 and 12); dark brown gray, smoothed, handmade. The clay is slightly flattened and shows signs of wear. The shoulder shows alternately raised rounded and flat stripes, which are delimited by grooves. H.: ± 10.8; Mm.: 14.8 / 15.2; Gr. DM: 17.0 / 17.4; Bdm.: ± 6.0.

As the first author pointed out, the equal armed fibula, the composed brooches and the clay pot make acceptable a chronological classification of the grave of around the middle of the fifth century. The other gifts cannot refine this time. Some elements, like the big beads, are even new finds for this time. The keys also do not contradict this time-line, both in form and ornamentation. Examples from graves with belt fittings prove this 21.

The designation "Princess grave" was not given in vain, although until 1971 the total wealth of the grave goods was not yet known.

The reason for this was probably the still uncleaned primitive fibula and the large beads (D). The richness of the necklaces could only be guessed; the two composed disk brooches with their silver-gilt relief plates were still unknown.

The amber necklace is no less abundant than that of Cortrat grave 26. This necklace is considered by H. W. Böhme to be the richest neck and bust ornament in his field of work between the Elbe and the Loire ²².

But string D of Zweeloo exceeds the so far known: 31 very large glass beads, enriched with bronze rings. Since the large beads are often interpreted as amulets, especially if they were worn on the belt, this would be a wealth of very large amulets together. In this situation, one would think of a belt. So far, I have not found comparable belts in the literature. Fortunately, Mr. Cl. Seillier, Conservateur du Musee Communal in Boulogne-sur-Mer, was able to name a parallel. During his excavation of the cemetery of Vron (Somme) in 1974 a female grave was uncovered with a string of beads. It is the W-0-grave 160 A. The skeleton was preserved, and so it was observed that some of the beads were under the pelvis, so probably girded the body. Mr. Seillier, to whom I am very grateful for his information, was able to date the tomb to the second half of the fifth century, after the other grave goods. The belt string in the Vron grave is not made of large beads, but is more comparable to the Zweeloo necklace Cb: mainly smaller beads and a number larger. The latter are comparable in size with the Zweeloo string Ca, beads 43-51. In the grave 160 A in Vron was also an iron buckle found, which was slightly to the right of the middle of the belt. So there would have been a belt strap there. This was probably where the knife was attached, which was found at the level of the left hip.

In Zweeloo one gets the impression that the keys probably hung from the belt string or perhaps from a trim-shaped cloth belt. For the latter, however, no further evidence has been found. The ring on which the keys hung is missing and therefore any scraps of fabric that would have stuck to it.

Looking at the situation of the offerings one gets the impression that the "princess" was buried in her garments. Of these garments probably came the many fabric fragments, which are usually very small and very poorly preserved. Most clearly recognizable is the fragment of a linen [broken] diamond twill on the left disk brooch. The needle was still in it. Warp and weft are Z-spun. Twill of the same kind was not found, but rather twill made of Z- and S-spun threads. The bronze rings Da, Dh, and E fragments are probably a woolen diamond twill of almost the same fineness as the brooch Bb. In other places it could only be said that they were twill; however, the fragments were too small or too poorly preserved to recognize a possible diamond shape. 

    Twill and Z- and S-spinning direction could be determined at the objects Db, Dc, Di and below fibula A. Perhaps investigation of the grave immediately after the excavation in 1952 would have given more information regarding the textile findings. It is certain that the fabric fragments on the equal-arm fibula were only lost after the excavation. Perhaps these fabric remnants could have provided information as to whether the fabric on the cup brooches and on fibula A was the same or whether there were various textiles here. The objects Df and Dg were found to have a much coarser texture made only of Z-spun threads. A fragment with Z-spun yarn twist in the bronze ring Dd was too small and too poor to determine the weave.

All that is certain is that the garment, which was closed with the two disk brooches on the shoulders, had been made out of a [broken] diamond twill. This garment was woven from linen. In addition, the dead woman also wore a robe of wool, which consisted of a [broken] diamond twill with S-spun weft threads. Perhaps this garment was closed with the equal-arm fibula.

A dress, which was closed at both shoulders with brooches, is already known from antiquity with the Hellenic chiton, a kind of tube dress. It was taken in in two places at the front and rear edge and joined together at the shoulder, creating in the middle a neck opening, and on both sides arm openings. Such a tubular dress was already known from Germanic costume of the Iron Age ²³. It is depicted on the Trajan's Column in Rome. One can find women's shirts [tunics] with sleeves from the same time, but they were not closed with fibulae at the shoulders. The ivory iconography of the 5th century does not help in the search for illustrations for this way of fastening the clothes with brooches at the shoulder, since the clothing depicted there reflects the Roman costume. The costume of the woman in the Zweeloo grave was probably Germanic type. In the cemetery of Rhenen - as elsewhere - one sees the two disk brooches lying on the shoulders, sometimes combined with other fibulae. For example, a woman buried in the tomb 19 of Sahlenburg (Lower Saxony) was equipped with the same combination of fibulae as that in grave 87 of Zweeloo, which probably indicates a similar clothing of the dead ²⁴.

I tried to reconstruct this garment in a drawing. It could have been worn over a shirt [tunic] with sleeves and with a coat / cloak or rather a wool overdress. But we lack the necessary information. I have therefore limited myself to the tube dress with the disk brooches, bead belts, etc. (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13 Reconstruction attempt of the costume of the "Princess" by Zweeloo.

Let us hope that future excavations will provide material for solving the questions that remain unanswered. In doing so, colleagues who - like our Jubilarian Dr. Genrich - have an eye for such things, help to form a picture of the people who represented the Anglo-Saxon culture in the 5th century.

W. A. van Es

Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek

Marienhof / Kleine Haag 2

NL - 2900 Amersfoort

J. Ypey

Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, Technolog. Werk

Stoovestraat 9

NL - 2900 Amersfoort

¹ W. A. van Es, Wijster, a native village beyond the imperial frontier, 150-425 A.D. (1967) Fig. 160; 1-1a.

² F. Stein, Adelsgräber des achten Jahrhunderts in Deutschland. Germanische Denkmäler der Völkerwanderungszeit, Serie A, Band 9 (1967) Table 100:17.

³ Van Es (see note 1) 153-7.

⁴ Zurn Vergleich K. Böhner, Die fränkischen Altertümer des Trierer Landes. Germanische Denkmäler der Völkerwanderungszeit, Serie B, Band 1 (1958) Taf. 64:4 (Rittersdorf grave 125).

⁵ Böhner (see note 4) 225-6.

⁶ J. Breuer und H. Roosens, Le cirnetiere franc de Haillot. Annales de la Societe archeologique de Namur 48, 1957, 171-376, tombe XI (=Archaeologia Belgica 34).

⁷ H. W. Böhme, Germanische Grabfunde des 4. bis 5. Jahrhunderts zwischen unterer Elbe und Loire. Münchener Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte 19 (1974) 140.

⁸ Böhme (see note 7) 41.

⁹ Böhme (see note 7) 8 ff.

¹⁰ Van Es (see note 1) Fig. 221:9-11

¹¹ Böhme (see note 7) 14-9.

¹² M. Müller-Wille, Pferdegrab und Pferdeopfer im frühen Mittelalter, mit einem Beitrag von H. Vierck: Pferdegräber im angelsächsischen England. Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, 20-1, 1970-1, 142, Abb. 14.

¹³ Van Es (see note 1). 500-1.

¹⁴ Van Es (see note 1) 518.

¹⁵ Muüller-Wille (see note 12).

¹⁶ All measurements are in centimeters. The abbreviations mean: H = height; L = length; Br. = width; D. = thickness; Dm. = Diameter; gr. = size; max = maximum; min = minimum; re = right; li = left; ds = translucent; M. = diameter; B. = soil; Mdm. = inside diameter; Bdm. = bottom diameter.

¹⁷ Up until now it was assumed the fibula was made of gilded bronze.

¹⁸ The small letters indicated in brackets correspond to those in Fig. 8.

¹⁹ The numbering corresponds to that in Fig. 9-10.

²⁰ See note 19, here valid for Fig. 11. 

21 J. Ypey, Zur Tragweise frühfränkischer Gürtelgarnituren auf Grund niederländischer Befunde. Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek 19, 1969, 100: Fig. 9; Table XI.

²² Böhme (see notes 7) 42; Table 119:10.

²³ H. Mutzel, Vom Lendenschurz zur Modetracht (Berlin 1925) 43-45, 158 Fig. top right, 155, Abb.; -C. Kohler, A History of Costume. Edited and augmented by E. von Sichart (Philadelphia o. J.) 102 ff, Fig.88-89.

²⁴ Bohme (see note 7) 161, Abb. 53.