Posted on 06/22/2012 3:50:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
...former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder... pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet) wide had to be created from Lubmin, a coastal resort town in northeastern Germany, to Rehden in Lower Saxony near the northwestern city of Bremen.
The result has been a veritable cornucopia of ancient discoveries. The most beautiful find was made in the Gessel district of Lower Saxony, where 117 pieces of gold were found stacked tightly together in a rotten linen cloth. The hidden treasure is about 3,300 years old.
The 1.8 kilograms (4 pounds) of gold, which was found in a field, consists of some jewelry, but primarily spirals of gold wire, which are tied together in chains consisting of 10 spirals each. This isn't jewelry, but an ancient form of gold bullion...
When Johanna Wanka, the Lower Saxony science minister, unveiled the treasure to the press in February, the story became even more surprising. She explained that testing done at the University of Hanover had revealed that the gold had come from a mine in Central Asia.
"Using a mass spectrometer, we examined more than 20 trace elements, allowing us to determine the fingerprint of the metal," explains chemist Robert Lehmann. "The gold vein must have been created deep in the mountains of Kazakhstan, Afghanistan or Uzbekistan over a period of millions of years."
...He suspects that the gold found in Gessel was initially brought in caravans from the mountains to the nearby Indus Valley, where a giant riparian culture flourished until about 1,800 B.C. From there, says Hassmann, the merchandise was sent by ship to Mesopotamia and, after that, somehow reached the northern flatlands.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
A 3,300-year-old treasure trove of gold found in northern Germany has stumped German archeologists. These chains are thought to be an ancient form of bullion, rather than jewelry.
One theory says that traders transported it thousands of miles from a mine in Central Asia, but other experts are skeptical.
The trove was found during construction work for a natural gas pipeline.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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Velly velly interesting, gold certainly weathers well.
Un inder meanenetime, Uzbeks and Kazaks are demanding the return of der golden horden.
If it's close to pure (no alloys) it never tarnishes or discolors, even in underwater conditions when it's exposed to oxygen.
Is that a cabuchon saphire? If so, that is my ring. That is my birthstone.
"Journalists" just can't get past their script. Even 3,000 year old global trade was a Bad Thing driven by "greed"?
Well, of course it isn't. It's how we preppers keep our gold holdings. Now will you please tell them to return my stash?
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