Dieter Quast

Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum - Archaeological research institute | RGZ · Early Medieval Arcaheology

The site of the Runde Berg is settled at the top of a hill of the north slope of the Swabian Jura. This area which is part of the Roman province of Germania Superior in the Early Empire is progressively abandoned by the Roman administration in the second half of the 3rd c. AD, whereas new immigrants belonging to the Elbe Germanic culture settle: th...

In 2011, the long known site at Biesenbrow was rediscovered. It consisted of a ploughed-up treasure trove of the 6th century consisting of c. 200 solidi of East Roman emperors, the Ostrogoths' king Theodoric and the Merovingian king Theudebert I. The composition of this coin ensemble finds its closest parallels in Scandinavian hoards, especially in...

In Grave 95 of the burial ground at Holubice an amulet was found at the left shank of the buried individual, where a rock crystal pendant was replaced by another valuable object - a 1st/2nd century Roman rock crystal ring. Rings of this type are known almost exclusively from Rhineland and Gaul. The specimen from Holubice represents an "eastern outl...

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There is a small group of neolithic stone axes which in Roman times were inscribed in the style of magic gemstones of the 2nd/3rd centuries. Whereas material and colour of the stones will certainly have attracted the ancient workman or client, the fact that it was an exotic object as early as in the Roman period and therefore possessed magic powers...

This paper deals with the rare silver bowls found at Kriimani and Varnja in eastern Estonia in the 19th century. The vessels are outwardly similar and have been made in the Byzantine Empire in the late 5th - early 6th century. There are four impressed control stamps of the reign of the Emperor Anastasius I (491-518 AD) on the bottom of the vessel f...

In summer 1836 more than 3 km south of Wolfshagen in the field at the »Vorwerk Dannhof« a gold ring was discovered. It had been bent straight and was so far interpreted as a unique armring. However, using earlier publications it could now be identified a spiral fingerring with a broadened central piece of type 37 after Ch. Beckmann. Comparable fing...

In context of a hoard find of the 4th century discovered during excavations on the Palatine hill in Rome, three sceptres were found among others. Comparable objects are known from pictorial presentations. However, for the first time the finds from the Palatine hill provide evidence on the material and fastening of the spherical top of the staffs. T...

A small find assemblage is presented here consisting of a spatha of type Vimose-lllerup, var. 2, after Biborski (3rd century) and an iron chape which at first sight would have been described as being incrusted. More exact analysis led to the surprising result that the »inlays« were no silver threads which one would expect with an incrustation. The...

Large cloisonné brooches are widely distributed throughout the whole Mediterranean in the 5th and 6th century A.D. They are presented here in a typological and chronological order.

For many years the question has been discussed whether the grave of the Frankish king Childerich also comprised head-gear fittings. The bee-shaped fittings and the golden bull head have repeatedly been mentioned in this context. A new model for reconstruction is presented here, based on Germanic sword belts of the later Roman Principate which were...

For more than 130 years a figurai bronze brooch has been stored in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart, which was discovered during railway construction works »in the area of Rottweil«. So far it has always been regarded as dating to the Merovingian period; however the brooch belongs to the Romanic time. The nimbus with an inner cross a...

Excavations at an Early Alamannic Settlement near Oberstetten