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[English version] Der Mooropferplatz von O., Kr. Mühlhausen (Thüringen) wurde 1957-64 vollständig ausgegraben, jedoch bisher erst in Teilen publiziert. Es handelt sich um einen germanischen Kultplatz, der vom 6. Jh.v.Chr. bis ins 4. Jh.n.Chr. benutzt wurde und in vorchristl. Zeit auch starke keltische Einflüsse aufweist. Im Moor waren durch Stein- oder Stangensetzungen verschiedene Kultbereiche abgetrennt, in denen überwiegend Fruchtbarkeitsopfer stattfanden, wie zahlreiche Tierknochen (bes. Rind …

[English version] Nach dem Fundort A. benannte Kultur der jüngeren Eisenzeit (4.-1.Jh. v.Chr.) in der östl. Grafschaft Yorkshire (England), die hauptsächlich aus Grabhügeln mit quadratischen Einfassungen (Grabbauten; Bestattung) bekannt ist. In reichen (Krieger-) Gräbern ist die Beigabe von Streitwagen typisch. Neben Kontakten zur kelt. Kultur des Kontinents (kelt. Archäologie) werden heute starke indigene Traditionen betont. Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography B. Cunliffe, Iron Age Communities in Britain, 1974  I.M. Stead, Iron Age Cemiteries in East Yorkshire…

[English version] I. Alter Orient und Ägypten M. sind in der Kunst des Alten Orients und Ägyptens mit Ausnahme der frühesten Perioden häufig belegt. In ihnen sind Elemente von zwei oder mehreren Tieren oder von Menschen und Tieren kombiniert. In Äg. wurden die Götter selbst oft als M. mit unterschiedlichen Formen dargestellt: Götter mit Tierköpfen, wie Amun und Chnum (Widder; Chnubis), Thot (Ibis), Horus und Re (Falke), Sebek (Krokodil), Anubis (Hund) und Chontamenti (Wolf oder Schakal); Göttinnen wie Bastet mit einem Katzenkopf oder…

[German version] A. General Helmets protect and impress. Their design therefore mostly went beyond purely purposeful weapon engineering ( Weapons). Individual decoration served as insignia of rank and standard decoration as a sign of collective power. The representation emerged in magnificent parade helmets as an exclusive aspect, likewise in copies made of clay used as burial objects [1]. The leather cap (e.g. late Roman [2. K 120, 121]) was timeless; the words κυνέη ( kynéē) and galea (both with the meaning ‘dog's coat’) bear witness to this. The protective function…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Celts The tomb of a Celtic 'princess' from the second half of the 4th century BC was discovered in 1869 at W. (in the district of Mainz-Bingen); originally, it was probably covered by a large tumulus which has not survived. Of the rich surviving furnishing, ornate gold neck, arm and leg jewellery, parts of ornate belts, a Celtic bronze jug, a bronze bucket from Campania and parts of a two-wheeled war chariot are remarkable. The Celtic ornamentat…

[German version] (Cuxhaven district). Cremation burial fields of the early Imperial era (2nd/3rd cents. AD) with bronze or brass vessels that were used as urns. The finding-place gave its name to the typical Hemmoor buckets, some of which have richly decorated rims and attachments; They come from Roman workshops in the Rhineland.  Germanic archaeology;  Urna Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography M. Erdrich, Zu den Messingeimern vom Hemmoorer Typ, in: R. Busch (ed.), Rom an der Niederelbe, 1995, 71-80 H. Willers, Die röm. Bronzeeimer von H., 1901.

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt Crafts in Egypt, in Syria-Palestine and in Mesopotamia can be best categorized by the materials employed: stone, bone and other animal products, clay and glass, metals, wood, wool and flax and leather, as well as reed and plant fibres. These were used to make objects of the most varied kinds, from cooking-pots to finely worked pieces of jewellery. For the building trade, stone, clay, reed and wood were important. For the investigation of the various forms of…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Celts Located in the Wetterau region, the town is rich in saltwater springs that were exploited already in the late Celtic period (1st cent. BC) as saltworks with remnants of briquetage (grading basins, ovens, clay barrels, forming vessels). There are still traces of settlements in the city area such as a fortification of a section on the Johannisberg, a large field of cremation graves, and a hoard of Celtic coins that all bear witness to the to…

I. General [German version] A. Gold and gold deposits Gold is a soft precious metal that can be shaped well mechanically and so can be worked easily into sheets and wires, but it has a relatively high melting point at 1063°C that makes casting difficult. It is relatively rare in nature where it is present in the form of gold aggregates in solid rock from which it is extracted through mining methods, or it is present in the form of gold particles or grains in sandy deposits of weathered primary rock, from…

[German version] I. Definition Silver (ἀργύριον/ argýrion, ἄργυρος/ árgyros; Latin argentum) is a precious metal, which in Antiquity was extracted primarily by smelting silver-bearing ores of lead. Four different kinds occur naturally: 1. as pure silver; 2. as silver ore; 3. as a component of galena, the only economically interesting ore of lead; 4. in alloy with gold, i.e. as electrum (Elektron), in which the gold content can amount to less than 30 %. Pure silver is rare and its surface corrodes, so that…

(Latin 'hill', 'funerary mound', pl. tumuli; Greek τύμβος/ týmbos, σῆμα/ sêma; χῶμα/ chôma). I. Definition, distribution, function [German version] A. Definition Tumulusis a general term for a mound, as a rule artificial and usually round or oval in plan, associated with a burial ('burial mounds', as opposed, e.g., to prehistoric settlement mounds). Tumulus burial (‘mound burial’) describes all burials that have been covered by a mound. Tumulus is also used in archaeology as a technical term for burial mounds outsid…

[German version] I. Greece After the massive Mycenaean fortified palaces had been abandoned, several centuries passed before larger fortifications were again built in Greece. During the Geometric Period fortification construction in the motherland remained modest. Simple structures were built that left few if any remains, and the ruins of Mycenaean fortifications sufficed for protection requirements. However, citadels (acropoleis), peninsulas, and other topographically suitable locations were fortif…

[German version] I. Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, and Rome Unworked metal of various weights cast into various shapes which has served since the Bronze Age as raw material for further processing or as a pre-monetary method of payment. From earliest times gold, silver, and electrum occur in the eastern Mediterranean as crude lumps, small round ingots (perhaps crucible remnants), and round or shaped bars with division notches. Alloyed bronze, tin, and particularly copper appear as crude lumps, round ingo…

[German version] A. General Germanic archeology (GA) seeks to study the evolution, development and organization of the tribes and ethnicities of the  Germani by drawing on archaeological sources and methods [5; 7; 8]. Thereby, historical and linguistic knowledge about the Germani can be supplemented and extended. Presently, GA is focussing on two aspects: a) the evolution of the Germani in the undocumented pre-Roman period; b) analysis of archaeological sources on patterns of settlement, everyday li…

[German version] There is indirect evidence through rotary tracks of the lathe in the early Celtic period (6th/5th cents. BC), in the Hallstatt Culture, in bronze knobs, amber beads, rings made of sapropelite, etc. On the Heuneburg works waste from a turner's workshop is preserved. In the 6th cent. BC, turned wooden vessels are also known (lathe works). The lathe itself can only be inferred from ancient or medieval representations and sources; it probably came over the Alps from the Greek-Etrus…

[German version] A. General points In most periods of ancient and early European history- as also in other ancient cultures (e.g. Mycenae, Anatolia, Etruria) - some burials can be identified as standing out particularly from the mass of 'normal graves', and these are mainly described as 'princely graves' (PG) [5; 14; 22]. Right through to the early Middle Ages, there is no direct information available about the actual status of these dead, so that PG is only a useful label. Accordingly, other descrip…

[German version] I. Ancient Orient and Egypt In both the Ancient Orient and Egypt the WC was a single-axle open chariot with spoked wheels pulled by horses. WCs were predominantly made of wood and in some cases clad in metal. The first evidence of WCs is on 2nd millennium BC seal rolls in Anatolia, and then in Syria (Seals). Their origin is disputed. In particular Hittite texts record the military significance of WCs (battle of Qadesh in 1275 BC between Muwatalli II and Ramses [2] II). There is also ev…

[German version] I. Introduction The Greek word νεκρόπολις/ nekrópolis, ‘city of the dead’, is attested in Antiquity only in Strabo (17,1,10,14) as the name of a suburb of Alexandria [1] (Necropolis). Modern scholarship transfers the term necropolis to cemeteries of various cultures and time periods. General definitions as to shape and size do not exist. In this article, necropolis refers only to sites of a certain size and usually lying outside the settlements themselves. The size of a necropolis, the …

(Hellenistic κοράλ(λ)ιον ( korállion), κουράλ(λ)ιον ( kourállion), Latin curalium, corallium). [German version] A. General comments The fact that coral does not consist of plants but of the calcareous skeletons of minuscule anthozoan coelenterates has only been known since the 19th cent. Theophrastus (De lapidibus 38), Pliny (HN 32,21-24, cf. Isid. Orig. 16,8,1), and Dioscorides (5,121 Wellmann = 5,138 Berendes) praise especially red coral, which was found near Naples, Trapani, on the islands of Huyères, and on the Aeolic islands. Darker coral is mentioned as lace by Plin. HN 3…

[German version] H.-Ditzingen, district of Ludwigsburg: finding-place of a stone statue of a warrior from the late  Hallstatt culture (6th/5th cents. BC). The ‘Stele of H.’, which is approximately life-size (extant H 1.50 m) and totally three-dimensional, represents the naked figure of a man with a conical hat or  helmet, mask (?), neck ring ( Torques),  belt and a typical Hallstatt dagger. It was lying at the edge of the encirclement wall of a burial mound from the late Hallstatt culture that it originally crowned. Its design shows both Graeco-Etruscan and local Celtic elements. …