Our exchange partners prepared a comprehensive information
folder with things to do in that area. One spot caught our interest straight
away: close to our house is an ancient Celtic burial site, actually around 500
B.C. It’s called the Hochdorf
Chieftain’s Grave. In the late 1970s, this grass mound among agricultural
fields was excavated and revealed a most astonishing find.
.
The original pieces and remains are housed in a museum in
Stuttgart but what they have in place here is pretty impressive and well worth
a visit.
“A man, roughly 40 years of age and 6 ft 2 in
(187 cm) tall, was laid out on an exceptionally richly decorated 9 ft
(275 cm) bronze couch on wheels inside the burial chamber. Judging by
other objects found there, this man probably had been a Celtic chieftain: He
had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, a hat made of birch bark, a gold-plated dagger made of
bronze and iron, rich clothing, amber jewelry, a razor knife, a nail clipper, a comb, fishing
hooks, arrows, and most notably, thin embossed gold plaques were on his
now-disintegrated shoes.
At the foot of the couch was a large cauldron decorated
with three lions around the brim. This cauldron was originally filled with
about 100 gallons
(400 l) of mead. The
east side of the tomb contained an iron-plated wooden four-wheeled wagon
holding a set of bronze dishes—along with the drinking horns found on the walls
enough to serve nine people.”
The art work on his shoes and the drinking horns in bronze
and gold was exquisite.
Given my Irish farming background, the reconstructed mound
reminds me of a bunker silo. In case you don’t know what they look like, take a
peek. This is how they are made:
How did they do it all that time ago without machinery?
