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[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] 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] 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…