Many of the excellently preserved wooden grave goods from the cemetery at Fallward (Cuxhaven district) still have distinctly recognisable coloured surfaces or decorations. Within the framework of the DFG-funded research project to investigate the burial site, these traces of colour are to be comprehensively analysed by an interdisciplinary working group under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Christoph Krekel (ABK Stuttgart). The aim of these analyses is to characterise the pigments and binders used, to create a virtual documentation of the overall patterns on the objects and to re-evaluate the colour settings, especially in the context of the textiles and their patterns.

In a first step, Theresa Hinterkörner M.A. (NIhK) systematically documented and mapped in detail all visible colour areas in the exhibition at the Museum Burg Bederkesa. Parallel to this, further in-situ investigations were carried out by Dr. Stephanie Dietz (ABK Stuttgart) using portable X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF).

The subsequently taken micro-samples are now being further investigated in the Stuttgart laboratory of the ABK using SEM/EDX, Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy, among other methods.