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Finds and archaeology


Find places

Sorte Muld

Sorte Muld has been up to now the place with the most Guldgubber findigs in Scandinavia. Up to now there have been found about 2800 Guldgubber. Unfortunately the find circumstances in Sorte Muld are not the best for the dating and useage of the Guldgubber. The Guldgubber have been placed near an Mirgration age Settlement, called Sorte Muld because of the dark or rather black earth that has been found there. The Guldgubber were clustered together with other rubbish from the early settlement, probably placed there by other settlers later on. So we are not able to say, where the Guldgubber were placed formerly and we cannot date them, as they were found with younger and older material. Fortunately the Guldgubber findings elsewhere delivered a lot more dateable material. We can conclude from Uppåkra and other findings, that the date of the Guldgubber must be from about 400 to 800 A.D.

The settlement of Sorte Muld consist out of two propably three circluar rings - as far as our knowldege now. The Guldgubber were found together with bended spearheads. Two brakteate necklaces have been found near two houses. One of the necklaces consists of five brakteates and some gold-wire beads.

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Other places of Guldgubber finds

Denmark
Torring
Norre Hvam
Stentinget
Gudme-Lundeborg
Neble
Väster Egesborg
Toftegården
Strøby
Bukkegård
Møllegård
Agerbygård
Rønne
Smørenge
Boesgård
Sylten
Sorte Muld
Sweden
Uppåkra

Ravlunda
Järrestad
Gårdlösa
Eketorp
Bolmsö
Slöinge
Visingsö
Svintuna
Eskiltuna
Husby
Ultuna
Helgö
Gullmarsberg
Hög Edsten
Bodaviken
Norway
Hauge (Klepp)
Sandsvær
Hov
Hevne
Mære
Borg
Kongsvik
Borge


This would be a map. Distribution of Guldgubber finds.
Taken from Lamm, Jan Peder: Figural gold foils found in Sweden: a study based on the discoveries from Helgö. In: Bo Gyllensvärd et al. (ed.): Excavations at Helgö XVI. Exotic and sacral finds from Helgö. Stockholm 2004.

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Material of the Guldgubber

Guldgubber are made of gold-alloy, normally mixed with copper. It gives the gold a soft reddish glow and makes it harder and last longer than pure gold, which is very soft and bendable. Some Guldgubber are made of Silver (2-5) and some are made of bronze (2-3 as far as is known to me). But these are rare exceptions and should only be mentioned here for the sake of completeness.