24 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Bronze Age women’s jewelry set discovered in Güttingen carrot field, Swiss

A set of Bronze Age women’s jewelry was discovered by archaeologists in Güttingen, Thurgau canton, northeastern Switzerland, in a freshly plowed carrot field.

The set, which dates to around 1,500 B.C., includes a necklace made of bronze spiked discs, two spiral finger rings, more than one hundred pinhead-sized amber beads, and spirals made of bronze and gold wire. A rock crystal, a beaver tooth, a perforated bear tooth, a bronze arrowhead, a few lumps of polished iron ore, a small ammonite, and a fossilized shark tooth were among the more unusual items discovered with these opulent items.

An amateur archaeologist named Franz Zahn discovered the treasure for the first time in August of this year. After the carrots were harvested, he was traipsing through the field when he noticed some bronze discs in the disturbed ground. Zahn, an enthusiastic metal detectorist who has found a number of Iron and Bronze Age artifacts in the Güttingen region, recognized the artifacts’ archaeological importance right away and notified the Thurgau Office of Archaeology.

With the farmer’s permission, the team from the Office of Archeology arrived the next day and quickly realized that only block recovery, that is, the removal and transfer of a larger area of earth of around 50x50x50 cm with the not yet visible finds to the laboratory. At the same time, the small excavation made it clear: There was no evidence of a grave. The jewels were probably buried in an organic container or sack.

Photo: Thurgau Canton

The soil block was transported to the Frauenfeld conservation laboratory for excavation. Throughout the process, each discovery layer was meticulously documented. A similar find had already been discovered near Etzwilen two years ago.

These are typical “costume jewelry” from the Bronze Age, more precisely the Middle Bronze Age around 1500 BC. In total, 14 bronze discs were discovered. Spiked discs get their name from the round pointed nub in the center, which is surrounded by three concentric circles. Originally, each of the holes on the discs would have been used to thread a string or a leather strap, with spirals threaded in between them to act as spacers. On the site, there were eight larger gold wire spirals and eleven bronze wire spirals.

As finds from graves show, women wore necklaces with these eye-catching discs, with spirals strung between them as spacers. Eleven of these spirals were found in Güttingen. In addition, eight slightly larger spirals made of fine gold wire appeared, which weigh a total of over 21 grams. More than 100 amber beads and two finger rings with double spirals complete the ensemble.

Photo: Thurgau Canton

Was there a jewelry box hidden here? Were the bear tooth, the rock crystal and the selected fossils and stones a collection of curiosities or souvenirs from a visit to Klettgau? Or is there even more to it? Objects of this type may have been considered to have a special, protective or healing effect and may have been worn as a kind of amulet.

The set is scheduled to go on display at the Frauenfeld Museum of Archeology next year.

Thurgau Canton

Cover Photo: Thurgau Canton

Related Articles

Rich Votive Deposit Discovered in the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento

10 August 2023

10 August 2023

At least sixty terracotta figurines, female protomes, and busts, oil lamps, and small vases, a rich votive deposit of bronze...

Christians Supplied Medieval Pagans with Horses for Sacrifice for Funeral Rituals

20 May 2024

20 May 2024

In the late medieval period, pagans in the Baltic region of northern Europe imported horses from neighboring Christian nations for...

Ancient helmets, temple ruins found at a dig in Velia southern Italy

1 February 2022

1 February 2022

A discovery that “sheds new light on the history of the mighty Greek colony” by Velia. Archaeologists in southern Italy...

Unique 7,700-year-old figurines were discovered in Ulucak Mound, one of the oldest settlements in Western Anatolia

6 October 2023

6 October 2023

Ulucak Mound (Ulucak Höyük), one of the oldest neolithic settlements dating back to 6800 BC, male and female figurines evaluated...

After 150 years, Schliemann’s destruction in Troy was repaired

8 August 2021

8 August 2021

Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman, excavated the ancient city of Troy in northwest Canakkale province 150 years ago. Archaeologists are...

Archaeologists discover bones of a woman who lived 14,000 years ago at a site in The Iberian Peninsula

13 August 2021

13 August 2021

Archaeologists have discovered the bones of a lady who lived 14,000 years ago, the earliest traces of a modern burial...

300 Year Old “Exceptional” Prosthesis made of Gold and Copper and wool Discovered in Poland

14 April 2024

14 April 2024

Something novel has been discovered by Polish archaeologists working on the excavation of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi...

A coin of Queen Fastrada and Charlemagne found – First of its kind

8 May 2023

8 May 2023

A coin purchased by the Charlemagne Center in Aachen, Germany, bears the name of Queen Fastrada. This is the first...

Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

30 December 2021

30 December 2021

Egyptian scientists have digitally unwrapped the 3,500-year-old mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. For the first time, a team in Egypt...

In Pontefract, archaeologists have discovered Neolithic remains

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Archaeologists working on the site of the former Carleton Furniture factory at Mill Dam Lane in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England,...

Neanderthals too may have Developed a System of Numerical Notation

2 June 2021

2 June 2021

People developed numbers tens of thousands of years ago, according to archeological findings. Scholars are now investigating the first comprehensive...

One of the oldest known mosques in the world uncovered in Israel

23 June 2022

23 June 2022

A team of Israeli archaeologists has discovered what is one of the oldest known mosques in the world. Israeli archaeologists...

Oldest US firearm unearthed in Arizona, a 500-year-old bronze cannon linked to Coronado expedition

27 November 2024

27 November 2024

Independent researchers in Arizona have unearthed a bronze cannon linked to the 16th-century expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, and...

Analysis of Butchered Bones, Somerset Pit Reveals Bronze Age Cannibalism

17 December 2024

17 December 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered the bloodiest massacre in early Bronze Age Britain and evidence of Bronze Age cannibalism. It is the...

The ancient city of Kastabala will soon have a colonnaded Street

4 September 2021

4 September 2021

The archaeological excavation of the ancient city of Kastabala in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey continues. Kastabala-Hierapolis is one of...