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Een gouden pseudo-munthanger uit het Groningse terpengebied. De 9e-eeuwse elite in beeld

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Samenvatting

A gold pseudo-coin pendant from the Groningen terp area. A glimpse of a 9th-century elite. In 2007, a metal-detectorist found a gold pen-dant at a site near Warfhuizen, in the salt-marsh area of Groningen. The central part of the pendant is a disc of gold sheet, stamped with a die based on a coin of Louis the Pious (814-840). The rim of the pendant is made of one fine and three thick, beaded wires, with an elongated, biconical loop attached. The pendant is similar to pseudo-coin pendants and brooches from the second and third quarters of the 9th century. It is assumed that these ornaments were produced for a regional elite after Charlemagne had conquered the coastal area of the northern Netherlands (east of the Lauwers estuary) and the area of the neighbouring Saxons. Furthermore, the short phases of gold deposition in the northern Netherlands are related to periods of socio-politically instability, when local and regional elites had to define or reestablish their position.

Gepubliceerd

2008-12-12

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