Archaeologists Unearth 3,000-Year-Old Wishing Well in Germany

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | January 18, 2023 | Sarah Kuta

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a 3,000-year-old wishing well brimming with finely crafted ceramics, jewelry and other items they think the area’s Bronze Age inhabitants lowered into the ground for ritual purposes.

The well is located in Germering, a town in the Fürstenfeldbruck district of Bavaria, just west of Munich, per a statement from the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection.

Since 2021, archaeologists have been excavating the area ahead of construction on a new distribution center. So far, they’ve discovered more than 70 wells dug from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages...

This wishing well, however, is different from all of the others because of what archaeologists found preserved inside: 26 bronze clothing pins and more than 70 pieces of ceramics, including decorative bowls, cups and pots. They also salvaged a bracelet, two metal spirals, an animal tooth, four amber beads, a wooden scoop and the remains of various plants.

The well’s original depth—16 feet—suggests that Bronze Age inhabitants dug it at a time when groundwater levels had dropped considerably. Archaeologists hypothesize that area residents were suffering from poor harvest yields and a long drought...

“Even today, fountains have something magical about them for many people. They drop coins in the hope that their wishes will be granted,” says Mathias Pfeil, who leads the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection... While we can’t know for sure what motivated our ancestors 3,000 years ago, the items they placed in the well may have been “intended as sacrifices for a good harvest,” he adds.

[Persevero]

Or
Calling porn statuettes “idols”

[kearnyirish2]

Nice!

[kearnyirish2]

The Gaelic word for water is whiskey (seriously)

[ViLaLuz]

Yes! Blackfoot is an underrated band.

[SunkenCiv]

LOL!

[Menes]

Don’t project your character unto others, please.

[HYPOCRACY]

Too bad.