Archaeometallurgical Investigations at Elsfleth-Hogenkamp, District of Wesermarsch = Archäometallurgische Untersuchungen in Elsfleth-Hogenkamp, Ldkr. Wesermarsch: A Polymetallic Goldsmith Workshop of the Roman Iron Age in Germanic Settled Territory = Eine polymetallische Goldschmiedewerkstatt der Römischen Kaiserzeit

The riverside market of Elsfleth-Hogenkamp, which is the focus of this volume, located in the Weser moor at the confluence of the Weser and Hunte rivers, has become known in supra-regional research mainly because of the extensive and diverse range of metal finds such as fibulae, coins and military equipment. Most of this material was recovered with the help of metal detectorists and could be dated to the Roman lron Age and the Migration Period; its composition indicates dose ties between the population residing at the Weser-Hunte river junction and the Roman military. Concentrations of metal remains, e.g. in the form of melted dress accessories and fragmented vessels, as well as slag and casting waste, it was also possible to conclude that metal processing played an important role in the economy of the settlement. The archaeometallurgical investigations carried out by Stephen William Merkel in the laboratory of the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum as part of a German Research Foundation funded project have not only been able to confirm this impressively, delving deep ly into the activities of the metalsmiths; what is more, it was proven that one of the oldest goldsmiths‘ workshops north of the Limes yet to be discovered was located at Hogenkamp.