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This item can be found on the following maps: Celts | Oppidum [German version] A. General Large Celtic settlement ( Oppidum) south of Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria) in a strategically favourable position on a dry gravel ridge between the Danube and areas of wetland (Donaumoos) extending from west to east, near a river crossing and formerly accessed by branches of the Danube (harbour?). The level settlement area is almost circular, with a diameter of 2.5 km, comprising 380 ha.; it is traversed by an ancient arterial…

[German version] Frankish king ( c. 436-482), son of the hḗrōs epónymos Meroveus and father of  Clovis I. (Chlodovechus). C. ruled the Frankish province of Tournai from c. 463, and was frequently victorious as an ally of Rome fighting in northern Gallia against the West Goths and the Saxons. He was probably also entrusted with administrating the province of Belgica II (Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,9-27; Fredegar 3,11-12 MGH SRM 2). A legend relates that he interrupted his reign with eight years' exile in Thuringia (Greg. Tur. Franc. 2,12). C.'s tomb was discovered in 1653 at his capital Tou…

[German version] A 5th- to 1st-cent. BC Celtic necropolis at the village of V. near Châtillon-sur-Seine (in Burgundy). The best-known grave is that of the 'Princess of V.' in a tumulus with a voluminous wooden chamber; this early 5th-cent. BC princess's tomb (Prince's tomb) is richly furnished with imported Greek and Etruscan goods ( bronze krater, silver phiale/ patera , Greek pottery) and a gold torque (Torques) and a state carriage. Attached to the necropolis was a fortified settlement as a princely seat on the neighbouring Mont La…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East and Egypt Weapons were among the earliest artefacts fashioned by humans and their ancestors. Stone arrowheads and blades were the first recognizable weapons in the ancient Near East into the Neolithic Period ( c. 10000 BC). From the 4th millennium BC, weapons were depicted on roll seals and stelae in scenes of warfare or hunting. Of maces suitable for close combat, generally only the heads (of stone or metal) survive. One exception is the deposit at the Chalcolithic find site of Naḥal Mišmār in P…

[German version] A. General Celtic archaeology (CA) investigates the material legacy of groups of the population from the Iron Age, mostly in southern and south-western Central Europe, in addition to the  Germanic archaeology, which borders onto it to the north and north-east. This concerns the  Hallstatt culture of the early and the  La Tène culture of the late Iron Age. The equating of this archaeologically knowable cultures with the ethnicity of the  Celts is not constantly and unambiguously poss…

[German version] A peat bog in Süderbrarup (in Schleswig-Holstein), from which numerous finds of the most varied kinds, e.g. weapons, jewellery, tools, coins, textiles and pots, (1st cent. BC to 4th cent. AD) were recovered in the second half of the 19th cent. The place of the finds is interpreted as a central cult and sacrifice site for the Germanic Angle tribe. The objects found are also from Roman workshops among other places, and (as gifts or booty?) from Germanic tribes neighbouring to the so…

[German version] I. Definition Funerary architecture (FA) refers to architectonically designed structures built above the contemporary ground level for the purpose of  burial, as opposed to underground hypogea, which have rooms for the cult of the dead and hero cult. Columbaria can combine both types. Hypogea with a ground level cult room influenced the early Christian martyria above the graves. Regarding further aspects of FA, cf.  Hypogaeum;  Maussolleum;  Necropoleis. Kammerer-Grothaus, Helke (Bremen) II. Egypt and the Near East [German version] A. Egypt The Egyptian buria…

[German version] The D. near Hallein (Salzburg) was a centre of Celtic culture in Central Europe from the Hallstatt period (6th cent. BC). Early salt-mining brought the partly fortified settlement in the upper valley of the D. economic prosperity rendering it important well beyond the region. This is attested by rich burials, esp. from the early La Tène period (5th/4th cent. BC), with lavish grave-goods and many southern imports. D. lost importance in the late Celtic period (2nd/1st cent. BC), and the settlement shifted to the valley of the Salzach around Hallein.  M…

[German version] Named after the archaeological site La Tène (field name) at Thielle on Lake Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel Canton, Switzerland. Soon after the discovery in the mid 19th cent., the La Tène Culture (LTC)/La Tène Period was recognized as typical of the later Iron Age in much of Central Europe and neighbouring areas. The site itself is, however, not particularly typical of the LTC, firstly because it offers a cross-section of finds (above all weapons and iron implements, wooden parts, etc.) tha…

[German version] I. Celtic-Germanic civilizations The manufacture of pottery in the Celtic and Germanic world is characterized by two shaping processes: 1) freehand moulding without any technical aids and 2) shaping on the potter’s wheel. Until the early Celts adopted the high-speed wheel from the Mediterranean world, coiling pots by hand and other freehand shaping methods were the sole methods and remained in practice into the Middle Ages to varying degrees. In central Europe, pottery thrown on potters’ wheels in local shops from the early Celtic 'princely seats' …

[German version] I. Classical Antiquity The sword used in Rome's early period is referred to as ensis or gladius in the transmission (Verg. Aen. 7,743; 9,431; 12,458; Liv. 1,43,2). According to Livy, the soldiers of the first three classes ('divisions') in the Servian order of centuriae were equipped with swords (Liv. 1,43,2). The Gallic sword was longer and had no pointed tip, the Hispanic sword was short, had a tip and was more suitable for thrusting than for slashing (Liv. 22,46,5). In the period of the 2nd Punic W…

[German version] O. is a bog in the district of Mühlhausen (Germany) where sacrifices were made. It was completely excavated 1957-1964, but published only in parts until now. It is a Germanic cult site that was used from the 6th cent. BC to the 4th cent. AD and which shows strong Celtic influences in the pre-Christian period. In the bog, various cultic areas were demarcated by stones or poles. Numerous animal bones (especially from cows and horses) and remains of sacrificial meals show that the si…

[German version] I. General The fossil resin of the conifers that gets its name in German ( Bernstein) from its combustibility or as a succinite. The magnetic power of attraction of amber was already known to Thales (A 1,24 and A 3 DK); from the Greek name ἤλεκτρον ( ḗlektron) the modern term ‘electricity’ is derived. Mentioned in Aristotle (e.g. Met. 4,10,388b19 ff.) and Theophrastus (H. plant. 9,18,2; Lapid. 3,16; 5,28 and 29 [2]), and as sucinum in Tacitus (Germ. 45). Pliny (Italian thium, German glaesum: HN 37,31-46) characterizes amber as defluens medulla pinei generis arboribus (‘t…

[German version] I. Classical antiquity (Lock: κλεῖθρον/ kleîthron or κλεῖστρον/ kleîstron, βαλανάγρα/ balanágra; cf. Lat. claustrum/ claustra; bolt: μοχλός/ mochlós; key: κλεῖς/ kleîs, κλειδίον/ kleidíon; Lat. clavis). Apart from the bolting of a door or gate by means of a beam, a system was employed in Greek/Roman antiquity that had already been described in Hom. Od. 21,6f.; 46-50 and was still in use in Roman times: a bolt provided with projections was drawn into its locked position from the outside by means of a cord…

[German version] The early Iron Age in central Europe is called the Hallstatt Culture (HC), after the town of Hallstatt in the Austrian Salzkammergut. In the middle of the 19th cent., a large cemetery (over 1,000 burials) was found there with extensive find material, which was viewed as typical and led to the definition of the HC in the 19th cent. The find site has a very special significance, because there is a salt mine there which was already extensively worked in the Bronze Age [5; 11. 67-79]. The HC includes the period from the middle of the 8th cent. to the middle of the 5…

[German version] I. Celto-Germanic area In central Europe from the Byzantine period onwards, hoard finds (HF; storage, treasure, safekeeping, mass, hidden finds, etc.) primarily of metal objects (copper, bronze, iron, precious metals) are an important archaeological group of finds. The diversity of terms reflects the breadth of the discussion of the importance of the HF. The various contexts of the finds, e.g. solid ground, moors, rivers, special places (rocks, crevices, caves, transport routes, etc.…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East and Egypt Salt (Sumerian mun; Akkadian ṭabtu; Hittite puti; Hebrew mælaḥ; Egyptian sm.t) played an important role in all ancient Near Eastern cultures and in Egypt. In often high temperatures, the supply of salt was essential to life: salt was therefore part of workers' ordinary rations in Mesopotamia and Egypt (Rations). It was esp. used to season foods and to preserve meat and fish. In medicine, too, salt was used internally and externally. Salt was an important ingredient…

Pingel, Volker (Bochum) [German version] A. Definition (CT) Celtic/Germanic Archaeology (CGA) is a part of prehistoric archaeology (= prehistory, early prehistory and protohistory). Based on archaeological evidence (finds, monuments), the largely non-written history and culture of the Celts and the Germani are investigated using  archaeological methods. Its scholarly and scientific development and reception can be broken down into several stages. In doing so the main criteria are the steps that lead to …

(κάτοπτρον/ kátoptron; Lat. speculum). [German version] I. Greek Circular hand mirrors made of bronze with decorated ivory handles were already known in the Mycenaean period. Then mirrors are again evident from the second half of the 8th cent. BC. Greek mirrors can be divided into hand mirrors, standing mirrors and folding mirrors. Silver mirrors from the Mycenaean period have not survived, those from later periods only in exceptional circumstances. Round hand mirrors were developed as a direct imitatio…

[German version] I. Ancient East and Egypt Monsters appear frequently in the art of the Ancient East and Egypt, with the exception of the very earliest periods.  They combine elements from two of more animals, or from animals and humans. In Egypt the gods themselves are often represented as hybrid monsters. with a great variety of forms: gods with animal heads, like Amun and Chnum (ram; Chnubis), Thot (ibis), Horus and Re (falcon), Sebek (crocodile), Anubis (dog) and Chontamenti (wolf or jackal); goddesses such as Bastet with a cat's …

[German version] On the G. moor, Ålborg district in northern Jutland, a large dismantled cauldron made of 13 partially gilded silver plates and a frame rack was found in 1891 (diameter almost 70 cm, weight c. 9 kg). The plates in repoussé technique show depictions of gods, scenes of sacrifice, mythical beasts etc. represented in a characteristic form. The questions of dating, origin and function of the G. cauldron have been the subject of controversy and debate from the time when it was found to the present. The cultic nature as…

[German version] I. Celtic-Germanic There has generally been evidence of belts since the end of the Neolithic Age (3rd millennium BC) as part of archaeological discoveries in Central Europe (mostly burial objects). The belts themselves were made of organic materials (leather, etc.) and have not been preserved, but the (metal) fittings, such as clasps (belt hooks/ rings) or decorations (metal plates) have been. Belt hooks made of bone are known from the early phase (end of the 3rd millennium BC). Dur…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Celts Late Celtic burial ground in Kent which gave its name to the A. culture in south-eastern England; cremation burials of the period between 50 BC and AD 50 are typical, and the burial gifts (Celtic lathe-turned ceramics and fibulae) demonstrate the existence of close connections with the Continent, which are possibly an indication of immigration of the  Belgae. The more sumptuous graves (e.g. Lexden) also contained ornamental bronze vessel fittings decorated in the Celtic style, amphorae and silver goblets. …

[German version] Prehistoric finds assemblage of the 5th to 3rd cents. BC in central Lower Saxony, named after burial mounds near Nienburg on the river Weser (Germanic archaeology, map). It is the westernmost group of the Jastorf culture. Typical elements of the NG are cremation burials in mounds, certain types of pottery and adornments (earrings). Occasionally Celtic imports occur; there is also evidence for iron working. Celtic archaeology; Funerary architecture III.G; Iron; Jewellery Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography H.-J. Hässler, Ur- und Frühgeschichte in Niedersa…

[German version] I. General Pins and needles (βελόνη/ belónē, περόνη/ perónē, ῥαφίς/ rhaphís, Latin acus) were put to a variety of uses in the ancient household: they were used for hair, garments and sewing. They were also a utensil, for example, in the work of doctors (Surgical instruments), sailmakers etc. Tattoos were also done using special needles. The shape of the pin, long and thin with one sharp end, has not changed since prehistoric times. In sewing needles, the head is generally unadorned and flat; …

[German version] Term for bodies or body parts of dead humans found in bogs, which ended up there for various, usually unclear reasons (e.g. sacrifice, punishment, burial, accident, battle). Most of the several hundred cases are from the bogs of northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands and date - in as far as can be determined (by carbon dating, pollen analysis) - predominantly to the later Iron Age (from c. 500 BC) and the Roman Imperial period of the centuries around the birth of Christ. Because of the mostly well-preserved state of the organic substances …

I. Near East and Egypt [German version] A. Introduction In the Near Orient (particularly the southern Levant and Syria) and Egypt, a fundamental change in the history of mankind occurred 12,000 years ago: the transition from the hunter-gatherer life of paleolithic times to neolithic agrarian society. In the so-called ‘fertile crescent’ and in Egypt, agriculture almost always included livestock farming. Agriculture also encompassed the planting of fruit trees, viticulture and horticulture. The methods of food production led to increasing freedom from dependency on e…

[German version] Method of constructing fortifications from wood, stones and soil widespread through Central Europe during the Iron Age, in which the dry-stone wall fronts had vertical gaps positioned at regular intervals. Basically two types can be distinguished according to their construction: one in which the rear of the wall was similar, and layers of crossbeams were incorporated in the body of the wall, linking the two surfaces (Altkönig-Preist type), and another in which a raised earth ramp …

(ὕαλος; hýalos or ὕελος; hýelos, vitrum) [German version] I. Methods of Glass Production Glass is a mixture of silicic acid (silicon dioxide, quartz or quartz sand) and alkali (soda, sodium bicarbonate or potash) as flux [2; 7; 8]. Since it was apparently unknown in antiquity that alkali makes the mixture water-soluble, only glass with sufficient lime to neutralize this reaction is preserved. Producers of raw glass (ὑελέψης; hyelépsēs or ὑαλοψός; hyalopsós) knew from experience which sand (ψάμμος ὑαλικός; psámmos hyalikós) or which calcareous plant ashes made the glass durable. Up i…

[German version] Square or rectangular enclosure of sides about 80-100 m long with circumvallation and occasionally palisade walls. The interpretation of these structures, found in the Celtic settlement area from France to Bohemia, is still disputed. For the most part they are regarded as 3rd-1st cent. BC Celtic sanctuaries, with shafts for sacrifices and wooden cult buildings. Rich sacrificial finds from recent excavations in France (cf. [1]) - including evidence of animal and human sacrifice, e.…

[German version] in the county of Rendsburg (Schleswig-Holstein). Burial ground of the Germanic pre-Roman Iron Age (6th-4th cents. BC) furnished with painted pottery vessels and iron slag, which indicates a privileged position within the  Jastorf culture and points to early iron production through contacts with the  Hallstatt culture. The presence of iron ore and slag mounds in the area is known, but cannot definitely be assigned.  Germanic archaeology;  Iron Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography H. Hingst, Jevenstedt, 1974.

[German version] I. Italo-Roman An o ppidum (plural oppida) was originally the fortress of an Italian tribe, the principal settlement of a civitas (A.) or pagus , which was fortified with earthworks. The aborigines lived in the mountains "without walls in villages and scattered" (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,9,2). Oenotrus, a mythical founder of cities, colonized small towns ( póleis mikrás, Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 1,12,1) in the mountains - namely oppida. Cato [1] knew of 34 oppida among the gentes of the Euganei (Plin. HN 3,133). Remains of such fortified oppida have been discovered in the m…

[German version] In Celtic and Germanic cultures, as in the Graeco-Roman sphere, a special significance is attached to spring offerings as well as offerings in water and bogs. The primary archaeological evidence of this are late 4th-cent. BC Celtic finds from a hot spring at Duchov in northern Bohemia and 1st- to 4th-cent. BC Germanic finds from a mineral spring at Bad Pyrmont in Lower Saxony. In both complexes hundreds of examples of fibulae (Pins; some with traces of use) dominate. SO are interpreted as votive gifts in the context of a fertility cult. Celtic archaeol…

I. Classical Antiquity [German version] A. Coins and coinage. General Coins, a particular, developmentally late form of money, are handy, usually are round pieces of metal made of gold, electron, silver, copper or copper alloys. The metal exhibits a prescribed composition (fineness), and the coins a weight defined by the applicable standard (Coinage, standards of). Coins bear signs on their obverse and the reverse: a design and usually an inscription. Through their characteristics, coins could be recognized as the product of those authorities (society or ruler) wh…

[German version] Later Iron Age culture (4th-1st cents. BC), named after a site in eastern Yorkshire (England) and recognized primarily by grave mounds with rectangular enclosures ( Funeral architecture;  Burial). In rich warrior graves  war chariots are typical burial goods. Besides contacts with Celtic cultures on the continent ( Celtic archaeology), emphasis is increasingly placed on strong indigenous traditions. Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography B. Cunliffe, Iron Age Communities in Britain, 1974 I. M. Stead, Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire, 1991.

[German version] (district of Apolda/Thüringen). Germanic burial site of the pre-Roman Iron Age that was excavated between 1907 and 1913. It comprises over 600 graves containing cremation burials from the 2nd half of the last pre-Christian cent. and the time of Christ as well as some graves from the 2nd/3rd cents. AD. The graves contain typical ceramics ( Situla, wheelmade pottery), weapons ( Sword,  Shield and lance) as well as  fibulae that are taken to be stereotypes for the subdivision of this…

[German version] Site (in Nonsberg - Val di Non near Trento/South Tyrol) which gave its name to an archaic group of finds (group 'Fritzens-S.') from the Early Iron Age (5th-1st cents. BC); S. was a fortified settlement rich in material finds revealing local South Alpine and Etruscan elements (the adorned bronze containers of the 'Situla Circle,' ceramic forms) as well as Celtic influences (iron gear, weapons). S. and the corresponding group of finds is believed to have belonged to the Raetian population of the central Alpine region. Raeti, Raetia; Situla Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliogr…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Etrusci, Etruria Close to the south-west German town of Eberdingen-H., a levelled large grave mound was excavated in 1978-1979 that proved to be one of the few unrobbed Celtic  princely graves of the late  Hallstatt culture (2nd half of the 6th cent. BC) investigated in modern times. The hill was surrounded by a stone ring with a diameter of 57 m and originally had a height of c. 6 m. In the north there was a ramp-like access that led to the 2 m deep, central tomb chamber. The chamber consisted of a double-walled block constru…

[German version] Celtic cultural group in the early La Tène period (5th cent. BC) in the catchment area of the rivers Marne, Seine and Aisne (Champagne). French scholars also call it ‘Aisne-Marne culture’; already in the 19th cent., it was called ‘Marnia’ on the basis of numerous grave finds (over a hundred necropoleis with several thousand graves), being an independent group at the northwest edge of the early La Tène culture. Typical are especially the full body burials in shallow grave necropole…

[German version] A dark-brown raw material of organic sapropel carbon with a dull shine, similar to jet or lignite, occurring in Bohemia and Moravia; it was worked, primarily by the Celts (6th-1st cents. BC), for jewel rings. Unworked and half-worked pieces in workshop finds, e.g. on the Heuneburg (6th cent.) and in the oppidum of Manching (2nd/1st cents. BC) show that jewellery was produced by cutting and carving and by turning on a lathe. Crafts, trade; Celtic archaeology; Jewellery Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography O. Rochna, Zur Herkunft der Manchinger Sapropelit-Ring…

[German version] Building technique for defensive walls of Gaulish oppida (Oppidum), described in Caes. B Gall. 7,23 and regarded as particularly resistant to siege engines. There is archaeological evidence for muri Gallici in several places in Gaul (Basilia/Basel), but they occur only sporadically east of the Rhine in late Celtic oppida (e.g. Manching). They consist of horizontal beams laid lengthwise and across, which were built up to form a timber-framed structure (cf. fig.). The lower beams were firmly joined with large i…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Caesar | Celts | Oppidum Oppidum of the Haedui in Gallia Celtica, later Lugdunensis (modern Mont-Beuvray), located on a hilltop, separated by valleys from the rest of the Morvan massif. In 58 BC, B. was the location of Caesar's victory over the Helvetii (Caes. B Gall. 1,23; 7,55; 7,63). Excavations particularly since 1984. More recent investigations have above all opened up the (pre-)Caesarean B., with its Celtic workshops and dwellings, as well as typical fortifications (walls built using the murus gallicus techniq…

[German version] Term for culture groups of the pre-Roman Iron Age in North Germany ( Germanic archaeology, with map), derived from the urnfields of Jastorf, in the district of Ülzen (Lower Saxony). The burial complexes and furnishings with jewellery, pottery, and occasionally also weapons and equipment, are typical of the Germanic Jastorf culture. It is the first iron-working culture in the nordic area.  Iron;  Jevenstedt Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography H-J. Häßler (ed.), Ur-und Frühgesch. in Niedersachsen, 1991, 380 G. Schwantes, Die Urnenfriedhöfe in Niedersachs…

This item can be found on the following maps: Celts (Basle). [German version] I. Celtic The Roman B. was preceded by a Celtic settlement of  Helvetii and  Rauraci. First, a large, open settlement existed in the late 2nd cent. in the Rhine plain (Basel-Gasfabrik), to which also belonged a field of cremation graves. During the early 1st cent., the Münsterhügel housed an  oppidum fortified with murus gallicus, which perhaps was vacated when the Helvetii left the area in 58 BC.  Fortifications;  Celtic archaeology Pingel, Volker (Bochum) Bibliography E. Major, Gallische Ansiedlung mit…

[German version] Special group from the Celtic Iron Age in the western highlands area between Luxembourg, the Rhine, the high Eifel and the Nahe Valley. The Hunsrück Eifel culture (HEC) is part of both the late  Hallstatt culture and the early  La Tène culture (6th to the middle of the 3rd cent. BC). It is primarily characterized by continuously attested burial mound fields with body burials. Additional peculiarities are special pottery shapes as well as its own grave furnishings (a lot of ring je…

('torque'; Lat. also torquis; Gr. στρεπτόν/ streptón, 'twisted'). [German version] I. Classical Antiquity Helically twisted collar of bronze, gold or silver with open but almost touching ends, which were thickened or figure-shaped and could sometimes be turned outwards. Torques are known from the Bronze Age onwards and numerous examples survive. The Greeks learned of torques from the Medes and Persians, where they were worn by people of high status (Hdt. 8,113,1; 9,80,4; Xen. Cyr. 1,3,2-3; cf. Curt. 3,3,13),…

[German version] Final section of the Central European Bronze Age (13th-8th cents. BC), named after the predominant custom of cremating and burying the dead in urns in largish burial fields (Necropolis IX). UC extends - connected by these shared ideas across Central Europe in various regional groups - from the northern edges of the German uplands to the Alps and from central France to the Carpathians. As a precursor to the Iron Age Hallstatt Culture (8th-5th cents. BC), which is regarded, at least…

[German version] in the district of North Friesland. A Germanic centre of iron production - surveyed in modern times - from the period of the late Roman Empire and early barbarian invasions ( c. AD 350-450). In the area of a village settlement with several peasant farms, specialized smelting of bog iron ores that occur locally took place in several hundred bloomery furnaces that were found distributed over c. 8 hectares. The raw iron that was extracted was further worked on site at several smithing locations. The necessary charcoal was produced in J. in at least…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Etrusci, Etruria | Princely graves, Princely seats Near Herbertingen-Hundersingen, in the district of Sigmaringen: fortified settlement of the late  Hallstatt culture (6th/5th cents. BC), situated on the upper Danube (ford?), with an open outer settlement and associated burial mounds, some richly fitted out. The H. is one of the most important centres of power ( Prince's seat) of the earlier Hallstatt period in central Europe. Excavations took place i…

[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…