Rare Discovery of Intact Tomb: German Archeologists Uncover Celtic Treasure

Spiegel ^ | Wednesday, December 29, 2010 | cro -- with wire reports

[SunkenCiv]

Archeologists in Germany have discovered a 2,600-year-old Celtic tomb containing ornate jewellery of gold and amber. They say the grave is unusually well preserved and should provide important insights into early Celtic culture...

The subterranean chamber measuring four by five meters was uncovered near the prehistoric Heuneburg hill fort near the town of Herbertingen in south-western Germany. Its contents including the oak floor of the room are unusually well preserved. The find is a "milestone for the reconstruction of the social history of the Celts," archeologist Dirk Krausse, the director of the dig, said on Tuesday.

The intact oak should allow archeologists to ascertain the precise age of the tomb through tree-ring dating. This is rarely possible with Celtic finds because the Celts left behind no writings and their buildings, usually made from wood and clay, have long since crumbled away.

A Vital Trading Center

Krausse said the artefacts found suggest that a woman from the Heuneburg aristocracy was buried there, but added that laboratory tests will need to be conducted to be certain. Only a small part of the chamber has so far been examined.

The entire room weighing some 80 tons was lifted by two cranes onto a flatbed truck and taken to a research facility in Ludwigsburg on Tuesday. The results of the analysis will be presented in June 2011, researchers said.

Heuneburg is regarded as one of the most important Celtic settlements and was a vital trading center during the period between 620 and 480 BC. Intensive excavation has taken place at the site since 1950. Other tombs found at Heuneburg over the decades had already been plundered.

[blam]

Wagons without horses.

The deep steppes were unpenetrateable without horses and wagons.
This may show that these people had a previous connection to the steppes, where the horses and wagons were buried with them ( Kurgans). They may have decided that horses were too expensive to kill/bury.

[fanfan]

Very nice.
Thanks for posting.

Happy New Year!

[colorado tanker]

Beautiful stuff. I just love Celtic art.

They're reconstructed some of the wall and houses:

[Domestic Church]

That’s impressive housing considering ~400 BC, looks like some from 100 years ago in Ireland

[colorado tanker]

Since most of the histories of the time were written by Romans I suspect they exaggerated the “barbarousness” of those living outside the Empire.