The Lavishly-Furnished Grave of a Celtic Chieftain

The Lavishly-Furnished Grave of a Celtic Chieftain

Discovered in 1968 by an amateur archaeologist near Hochdorf an der Enz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and excavated in 1978/79, the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave is a richly furnished Celtic burial chamber dating from 530 BC. It is one of about a hundred such graves dating from the second half of the 6th century BC found in France, Switzerland and Germany.

The man in the grave, who was laid out on a lavishly-decorated 9-foot bronze couch on wheels, was about 40 years old and just over 6-feet-tall, quite tall for the Iron Age. Judging by other objects found there, this man had probably been a Celtic chieftain.

The well-preserved grave goods provided deep insights into the world of the Celtic rulers. The man had been buried with a gold-plated torc (band of twisted metal) on his neck, amber jewelry, a gold-plated dagger made of bronze and iron, a bracelet on his right arm, a nail clipper, a comb, fishing hooks, a flat cone-shaped hat made of birch bark adorned with circle patterns and punched decorations, arrows, a razor knife, and most notably, there were thin embossed gold plaques (above) on his now-disintegrated shoes.

The mound was surrounded by a stone ring and oak posts and the entrance was to the north. The east side of the tomb contained an iron-plated, wooden, four-wheeled wagon holding a set of bronze dishes – along with drinking horns on the walls, enough to serve nine people. The one reserved for the host (above) was delicately decorated with gold, the tip being adorned with beads made of bone.

Gilded in preparation for the afterlife, the almost 14-inch long bronze and iron dagger, with its blade protected by a richly decorated sheath, had been carried by the prince in life. The gold coating made for the burial consisted of 16 parts, all precisely fitted onto the dagger without any fold. At his feet was a large bronze cauldron, filled with honey mead.

The grave is an enormous barrow mound which was about 20-feet-high and 197 yards in diameter when it was constructed. It had shrunk in height to approximately 3 feet and was barely discernible because of centuries of erosion and agricultural use. Following examination of the grave, the burial mound was reconstructed in 1985 to its original height.

Nearby, a museum dedicated to the grave was built, during the construction of which the foundations of an ancient Celtic village were discovered, probably the one to which the chieftain belonged. The finds from this discovery were incorporated into the museum.

See additional photos at www.thevintagenews.com/2016/12/24/the-hochdorf-chieftains-grave-intact-and-richly-furnished-grave-of-an-early-celtic-chieftain/