Bronze Age casting moulds, hoard found in Bavaria

Ancient

Two rare stone casting molds for a sword and a jewelry pendant from the Bronze Age Urnfield culture (1300-800 B.C.) have been discovered in Großeibstadt, Lower Franconia, Bavaria. The intact half of a mold for a tanged sword is unique on Bavaria’s archaeological record. The second is a mold for a pendant. The objects are evidence that a bronze caster worked his trade at the site around 3,000 years ago.

The casting molds are among the most significant finds reported since the amended Bavarian Monument Protection Act went into effect on July 1, 2023. Before then, any archaeological artifact found in Bavaria was subject to “Hadrianic division,” meaning objects belonged 50/50 to the finder and the landowner. Protection of Bavaria’s cultural heritage had no role in this arrangement.

Under the new law, all archaeological artifacts belong to the state. Finders and landowners are entitled to a reward if the market value exceeds 1000 euros and the object was recovered in keeping with the law. Regional institutions are given the opportunity to apply for transfer of the items based on predetermined criteria.

A second major discovery begun in October 2024 also attests to the success of the new law. A metal detectorist found several bronze objects in a field near Grabenstätt in the Chiemgau region of Upper Bavaria. He followed the law, documenting each find in detail and then reporting them to the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD).

The objects were part of a late Urnfield period (ca. 880–800 B.C.) hoard that was likely scattered by later agricultural work. Throughout 2025 and 2026, the finder, coordinated by the BLfD, surveyed the site, discovering more pieces. The final tally was 52 solid arm and leg rings, two flanged axes, fragments of a sheet-bronze arm ring, parts of at least one bronze cup, and a plate-sized cast ingot (a “cake” of raw metal) were recovered. It was one of the largest and most varied hoard of the period found in southern Bavaria.

Taken together, the casting molds and the hoard attest to the skills of Bronze Age metalworkers in the production of weapons and adornments in Bavaria during the Urnfield period.

Vandal warrior grave weapons given to museum in Poland

Ancient

The Father Stanisław Staszic Museum in Hrubieszów, Poland, has received an complete set of Vandal weapons, likely from a cremation burial, that is one of the richest Vandal warrior burials ever found in the region. The assemblage includes a sword, spearpoints, shield fittings, spurs and a bronze fibula.

Buried approximately 2,000 years ago, the group consists of an iron sword deliberately broken into three parts, plus pieces of its scabbard, two spear points, one intact made of iron and the other broken, a shield boss with a sharp protrusion, a shield handle, a helmet with a collar, a dagger, two spurs, a belt buckle, a bronze fibula for closing a cloak. All of these elements, especially the presence of the rare scabbard and spurs, indicate that the deceased was a high-ranking cavalry warrior.

The origin of the find is murky. The collection was delivered anonymously, and the only thing museum officials know is that the artifacts emerged on farmland in a few years ago in the municipality of Werbkowice. They were not recovered at that time, and since then the contents were exposed to damage.

The objects are in poor condition, heavily corroded, and in need of urgent intervention to prevent further deterioration. Specialists have been engaged to conserve the pieces. The process is expected to take months.

The museum plans to verify the location with an excavation next year. For now, researchers believe the objects came from a single grave. There may be others at the site, which would shed light on the assemblage that has been removed from its context.

Colleges student finds ancient spear point on field trip

Ancient

A biology student from Mark Baldwin University in Virginia has discovered a rare Native American spear point while on an ecology field trip to Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The stone tool is about six inches long and is of a type known as a Lehigh/Koens-Crispin point, used by East Coast Native Americans between 3,000 and 4,500 years ago. It is in exceptional condition.

Brooklyn Rolph found the weapon while looking for shark teeth on a barrier island the last day of the trip to the University of Virginia’s Anheuser-Busch Coastal Research Center. High winds delayed the outing, so she only had 40 minutes or so to explore the island.

In the water on the shore of an inlet with the tide coming in rapidly, she spotted a pointy thing she’d be looking for. When she picked it up, she realized there was a lot more of it below the point. She showed it to her professors and they recognized it as an ancient spear point.

Their excitement at the find was tempered by the understanding that Rolph was probably not going to be able to take it home. The island they were exploring is part of a nature preserve owned by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. She showed the point to the research center’s site director and he confirmed that everything found on the preserve was owned by the state.

The point was transferred to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources for further study.

Brewery acquires historic 1832 tipstave

Modern(ish)

A turned wooden painted tipstave, a ceremonial truncheon created for the High Constable of the Hundred of Ringmer in Sussex in 1832, has sold at auction for £16,000 ($21,500),16 times the pre-sale estimate, at Gorringe’s in Lewes. It is one of the highest prices ever paid for a tipstave.

The High Constable was the most important official of the Anglo-Saxon county division known as a hundred court. High Constables were charged with maintaining order and managing administrative affairs of the parish. Turned, carved and elaborately painted truncheons were emblems of their authority, used in ceremonies.

This tipstave was made during the reign of William IV and is inscribed with the name of the first High Constable who wielded it: G Hoey. The names of another 15 other locals of influence who held the positions of constable and high constable are included on silver labels. The largest and most decorative of these is engraved “B Thorpe High Constable 1868 – Cliffe Volunteer Fire Brigade Estd 1864.” It features an engraving of a fireman with his fire engine.

The last one, engraved for Thomas Reader White, headmaster of the Lewes Grammar School, is dated to 1879. That was the last gasp of the High Constable of the hundred courts. The County Courts Act, passed in 1867, had eliminated their judicial powers. The Local Government Act of 1894 ended the position altogether.

The name of greatest local import was John Harvey, whose High Constable plaque is engraved with the date 1838. Harvey was the founder of Harvey’s Brewery, the oldest independent brewery in Sussex. In 1838, he built a brewhouse and hung out his shingle for the first time as Harvey & Sons. It was the brewery that bought this lot at auction.

Miles Jenner, joint managing director of Harvey’s Brewery, said: “The hammer price reflects how unique this item is. It relates to an historic area of the town, the parish of Cliffe, that had an independent system of local government until 1881. It was the commercial heart of the community and the names on the tipstaff are those of local tradesmen.

The fact that these include the founder of Harvey’s Brewery, John Harvey, and his son William bears witness to their prominence at that time. We felt it was essential that it should remain within the parish and are delighted to have secured it.”

Massive 18th c. pediment returns to Rotterdam plague hospital site

Modern(ish)

A massive sandstone pediment weighing five metric tons that once topped the entrance to the 18th century plague hospital in Rotterdam is returning to its original site after 115 years in storage.

The triangular tympanum is 9.4 meters (31 feet) wide, more than two meters (6.6 feet) high and features seven coats of arms from members of the Rotterdam City Council bounded by two allegorical figures representing the rivers Meuse and Rotte with bound the city of Rotterdam.

The Pesthuis was built to house plague victims in 1716. It was the first building constructed south of the New Meuse river in what is now the Feijenoord neighborhood, intended to quarantine patients with infectious diseases away from the heart of the populated city. A century later, the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (Dutch Steamboat Company) made the Feijenoord one of the city’s most active industrial areas.

The Pesthuis was demolished in around 1900. Only the tympanum was saved. In 1910, it entered the collection of the Museum Rotterdam, but was never displayed. Its sheer massiveness made it challenging to exhibit.

The Hunter Douglas industrial complex was built where the Pesthuis once stood, and this year the Piekfabriek on the former Hunter Douglas site is hosting the 12th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam.

For the biennial, architectural firm LNML designed an installation in which the (re)use of stone takes center stage. The tympanum of Museum Rotterdam is part of this installation. The former industrial area is once again at the beginning of a major transformation. In the coming years, it will be given a new future with space for living, working, and amenities.

It is fantastic that a masterpiece from our city historical collection can be fully displayed again after more than a hundred years. This was always a problem due to its enormous size and weight. It is especially wonderful that, in doing so, it is also returning to the place where it came from .
— Curator and Historian Rob Noordhoek of Museum Rotterdam