Frankleben hoard

The discovery was made by the operator of the coal dredger, Anton Wesp, in the "Michael Vesta" pit (now flooded and part of Runstedter See south of Frankleben, just off the BAB 38 highway).

Wesp returned to the site on 5 July 1946 and discovered a second vessel (find II), from which he was able to save 93 sickles and two axeheads.

The original hoard probably contained more than 300 such bronze sickles of the so-called Knopfsichel ("knob-sickle") type, of which 237 came into the possession of the Halle State Museum of Prehistory.

The tradition of depositing bronze artefacts in the hoards in this region predates the Urnfield culture, reaching back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.

In the later Bronze Age, the tradition of hoards continued, but the sickles were in turn replaced by jewelry such as arm rings.

[4] An analysis of the Frankleben hoard found that markings on the sickles constituted a numeral system related to the lunar calendar.

This number and the lunar shape of the sickle suggest that the stroke groups should be interpreted as calendar pages, as a point in the monthly cycle.