Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
Today, the state of Baden-Württemberg – known as ‘The Länd’ in the country’s current official branding campaign – is home to more than 11 million people, but how much do we know about the communities who came before them? The Hidden Länd: us in the 1st millennium at the Baden-Württemberg State Archaeological Museum follows the region through a millennium of upheavals, from the end of the Roman empire to the emergence of Christianity. Created in collaboration with the Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Württemberg, who are responsible for the state’s archaeological research, the exhibition brings the archaeological record to the forefront, highlighting five key sites, each exploring a particular period and theme.
The end of empire
Our journey begins in the 1st-2nd centuries AD at the site of Diersheim, a cremation burial ground for the Germanic Suebi people, located near the Roman frontier. The surviving grave goods at Diersheim reflect the multiculturalism of the community buried here: at least half of the graves contain Roman drinking services, including mixing bowls, ladles, sieves, and drinking vessels, but we also find tools, weapons, jewellery, and other artefacts with connections to the Baltic Sea area, Slovakia, and further afield. On display, too, is a unique set of grave goods from 1st- to 2nd-century Germanic princely tombs in Kariv, western Ukraine, including a bronze cauldron decorated with bearded men sporting a distinctive hairstyle associated with Suebi warriors. Believed to have been made in a Roman workshop and given as a gift to the elite at Kariv, this vessel is a testament to the far-reaching networks of Germanic communities across Europe.
As we move into the 3rd and 4th centuries, south-west Germany becomes a region in transition. Changes at the settlement of Güglingen exemplify the movements of people, goods, and ideas that were occurring in this period. In the early 2nd to mid- 3rd century, Güglingen was a typical Roman vicus – essentially a settlement with its own assembly that is not grand enough to be a town – on the edge of the empire. It comprised residential buildings with craft areas and cellars, baths, and temples. Over the course of the 3rd century, however, the vicus started to decline as the Roman presence decreased and more people from northern and central Germany began to move in. Germanic pottery made in Roman styles reflects an enduring appetite for Roman ways of life – as the flow of goods from the empire was cut off, people at Güglingen were forced to make do with replacements produced more locally. By the mid-4th century, though, the centre of the old Roman vicus had been abandoned entirely and an early Alemannic settlement was established on its periphery.
In the 5th and 6th centuries, post-Roman society was consolidating in south-west Germany, and new ways of life were emerging. At the cemetery site of Lauchheim, we see how funerary practices were being used to communicate messages about social identity. Male graves featured weapons and tools, while female burials often contained objects associated with textile production such as spindle whorls. Elite burials of both genders frequently included other items intended to highlight the status of the deceased, such as gold-foil swords, custom-made brooches, fine glass vessels, and textiles woven with gold. At another Alemannic cemetery, in Trossingen, a 6th-century warrior was buried with a lyre; this luxury object would have conveyed his importance to the mourning community, but also reflected wider ideas about communication in a world where information was often passed on through songs and epics.
Religion and power
Manifestations of spiritual ideas in the archaeological record experienced a dramatic shift in the 7th and 8th centuries as the Christianisation of Europe increasingly began to shape people’s lives. At Sülchen, excavations have unearthed some of the earliest evidence for Christianity in Baden-Württemberg in the form of a simple stone church dating back to at least the 7th century, as well as an associated early medieval cemetery. This cemetery appears to be seamlessly connected to an earlier row-grave burial ground that pre-dates the church, dating to between the mid-6th and mid-7th century. Unlike the graves in the church cemetery, many of the burials in this earlier necropolis contained grave goods. Interestingly, a number of them feature Christian symbolism, such as decorative discs with a cross motif, worn by women on their belts. Other symbols are more ambiguous – perhaps deliberately – but such traditions point to an early Christian community whose new beliefs were being merged with their existing traditions.
Elsewhere in south-west Germany, the archaeological record highlights the importance of relics, which were a key component of medieval Christianity. At many small, rural churches these took the form of touch relics of local Gallic saints, including dust, water, lamp oil, and candle wax, but we also find more impressive items like the ornate gold-plated 7th-century reliquary from the church of Ennabeuren.
The final section of the exhibition explores expressions of power. In the 9th and 10th centuries, society was divided into the clergy, the nobility, and the peasant class. Those in positions of power expressed their status through their appearance, with objects like rings serving as symbols of authority and prestige for both spiritual and secular elites. Divisions of power affected the landscape as well, as ‘central locations’ began to emerge. These sites had various functions, but were usually centred around a religious or economic centre of some sort. Ulm was one such location, a Carolingian royal palace that grew into an early urban site. The elements found in Ulm – fortifications, a thriving market, coinage, craftsmanship, and industry – as well as the building quality, continuity of infrastructure, and the settlement size and density distinguish it from other simple rural settlements and make Ulm an important case study for the beginnings of urbanisation in the region.
Like much of Europe, south-west Germany underwent tremendous change throughout the 1st millennium AD. The Hidden Länd presents tangible connections to the people who lived through these changes: valuable for the modern inhabitants of Baden-Württemberg, but equally fascinating for anyone wanting a window into how these wider shifts affected real people, demonstrated through the places they lived and the objects they left behind.
The Hidden Länd: Us in the 1st millennium
Kunstgebäude Stuttgart, Schloßplatz 2, 70173, Stuttgart
Open: until 26 January 2025
www.thehiddenlaend.de
Text: Amy Brunskill
You must be logged in to post a comment.