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[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…

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] 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] 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. …

[German version] These mound dwellings (German: Wurte) originated as individual farms in the marshes between Denmark and the Netherlands (where they are called terpen) in the Germanic settlement area along the southern North Sea coast in the 2nd/1st cents. BC during regression phases of the North Sea. In the course of subsequent cents., these locations were deliberately elevated into settlement mounds because of the rise in sea level and increasing numbers of storm floods. Mounds of several meters height that could co…

[German version] Coloured molten glass decoration applied to metal (mostly bronze). The Celtic  La Tène Culture (late 5th-1st cent. BC) was the heyday for enamel in Central Europe, the knowledge for it possibly originating in the Achaemenid East. The Celts used almost only red enamel (‘blood-enamel’), probably because of its similarity to  Coral.  Jewellery (fibulae, necklaces, parts of belts etc.), bronze vessels, and  weapons (helmets, swords) etc. were decorated with enamel. Workshops for enamel were found in   oppida in particular ( Bibracte). Ename…