Extraordinary find: 10th c. bronze wheel cross matches mold found 43 years ago

A bronze wheel cross dating to the 10th or 11th century has been discovered in western Havelland, in Brandenburg, Germany. The small devotional object is extraordinary due to its age, bearing witness to the early Christianization of the Brandenburg region, but most remarkably, it exactly matches a casting mold found 43 years ago.

The cross was found by volunteer archaeological monument conservator Juliane Rangnow during an authorized metal detecting survey. She discovered several artifacts from the same period — coins, fragments of gilded jewelry and iron weapons — at the site. The mold it fits was unearthed in a 1983 excavation of a Slavic hillfort in Spandau. It was found next to the remains of a wooden church, and is one of the oldest Christian artifacts found in the region. No casting of the mold was discovered there or anywhere else, until now.

The cross was conserved and documented at the Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeological State Museum (BLDAM). When precise measurements were taken, conservators realized it might be a match to the Spandau casting mold, now on display at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Berlin. When the two were compared, they were found to be a precise fit.

The casting mold and cross bear witness to the early Christianization of the region , one of the most fascinating periods in its history. In the early 10th century, the area of ​​present-day Berlin and Brandenburg, then inhabited by non-Christian Slavic tribes, fell under the influence of the East Frankish Kingdom, the precursor to the later Holy Roman Empire, through campaigns of conquest. The new elites brought with them not only a political reorganization but also a new faith. However, evidence of this initial Christianization is primarily preserved in historical written sources, as the majority of the Slavic tribes apparently deeply rejected the new religion. In 983, they rose up against East Frankish rule in the so-called Lutician Revolt and won their political and religious independence for approximately 150 years. A sustained Christianization did not occur until the 12th and 13th centuries, after the region had finally become part of the Holy Roman Empire as the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

The mold and the cross will be exhibited together at the Brandenburg State Archaeological Museum on January 24th through March 11th.

* This article was originally published here