Oh you KNOW a find is good when even the Tagesschau reports on it! (I saw it on TV last week and literally almost screamed.) And this truly is spectacular - Roman cylinder locks are normally a) WAY bigger (the lock is only 1.2 cm x 1.1 cm, that's less than half an inch tall and wide), and b) NOT made out of gold.
The find was made by local hobby archaeologist and licensed metal detectorist Constantin Fried on a field near Petershagen and turned over to the appropriate governing body, the LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen, in 2023. Since then, it has been subjected to a variety of analysis methods. We now know that it worked, that the internal mechanism is made of iron, and that it probably dates to the 3rd or 4th century BC. Here, have some cool pictures:
Yes, that is how it was found. Come to Germany and bother a farmer enough that he lets you walk over his field, and you too could find 1,600 year old gold artefacts! (Don't actually do this, the farmers will get mad at you and the archaeologists don't like it either. You need a license for metal detectoring in many German states and fieldwalking with the intent to find and keep archaeological material as a private person is illegal, yes, literally.)
This is the large-scale brass reproduction made by one of the restorers at LWL-Archäologie. Since the original was found with a single gold link, it was possible to reconstruct the chain that would have held the lock to whatever it was supposed to hold closed (probably a small box, maybe a jewellery box). In order to work, the chain would have needed a minimum of six links. Also not found but added to the reconstruction: The key.
There's still a lot of unsolved questions around this find: Where is it from? Was it actually used as a lock, or did its owner wear it as a piece of curious jewellery? The lock seems to have been forced at least once, was this because someone stole the contents of the box it was locking, or was something stuck in the mechanism and the owner couldn't get at their stuff? And maybe most interesting of all: How was it made? Because, as far as we know, the Romans did not have magnifiying glasses, and this thing is TINY!!! It's TINY!!!!
Sources (apart from the article link I'm reblogging):
Tagesschau, Archäologische Sensation. Goldenes Minischloss aus der Römerzeit gefunden (article uploaded Jan 28, 2025).
LWL-Newsroom, Römisches Miniatur-Dosenschloss aus Gold. Besonderer Fund in Petershagen (press release from Jan 28, 2025).
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