A comprehensive history of research into gold bracteates would be far too lengthy to be adequately covered here. Known since the 17th century, bracteates attracted wider scholarly attention in the early 19th century, when scholars such as Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Jens J.J.A. Worsaae, Oscar Montelius, Hans Hildebrand and Sophus Müller studied, published and discussed them in detail. The classification into types (Types) that is still authoritative today was mainly developed by Montelius. The fundamental theories regarding the origin of the images, which were seen as imitations and further developments of Roman coin and medallion images, as well as their basic interpretation as amulets bearing images of gods, were also put forward during this period. Wilhelm Grimm was the first to study the runes on bracteates in 1821.
The 20th century saw the emergence of major publications on gold bracteates. Particularly noteworthy are the works of Helge Öberg, who attempts to systematise the pictorial representations (Guldbrakteaterna från Nordens Folkvandringstid. Uppsala 1942), Mogens B. Mackeprang with the first catalogue of all specimens (De nordiske Guldbrakteater. Aarhus 1952), Karl Hauck with approaches to a semantic interpretation (Goldbrakteaten aus Sievern. München 1970) und Morten Axboe with studies in their manufacture and regional variations (The Scandinavian Gold Bracteates. Acta Archaeologica 52, 1981, 1–100). The large catalogue compiled under the direction of Karl Hauck finally made all gold bracteates accessible as images with textual information, including the runic inscriptions, and opened up methodological interpretations and systematic approaches to classify the bracteates as well (Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit. Ikonographischer Katalog. München. 1985–1989).
- Behr, Charlotte: Forschungsgeschichte. In: W. Heizmann, M. Axboe (eds.), Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit – Auswertung und Neufunde. Ergänzungsbände zum RGA. Berlin/New York 2011, 153-229.