Hallstatt and the
Hochdorf Burial
The First Iron Age
Hallstatt
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In many ways it is not surprising that Celtic
civilisation saw one of its earliest periods of rapid
development on the north side of the Alps from
Burgundy to Bohemia.
This area is one of the most geographically
favoured areas of Europe.
Temperate, fertile, and well-resourced as well as
being on the main routes which bind peninsular
Europe north to south and east to west.
Background to the Hallstatt periods
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Much of the Late bronze Age and the first
part of the Iron Age from c1250 to
500/450BC is referred to as the Hallstatt
period, named after the large cemetary
and salt-mining site in Austria which were
extensively excavated in the latter part of
the nineteenth century.
Background to the Hallstatt
periods
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The second part of the Iron Age from
c500/450BC until the different territories
were conquered by Rome (except Ireland)
is called La Tène after a site on Lake
Neuchatel in Switzerland from which a
substantial collection of artefacts were
recovered over a long period of
excavation.
Background to the Hallstatt periods
The Hallstatt and La Tène periods have
been subdivided, usually on the basis of
typology, into a number of phases
identified by letters or numbers.
 For our purposes we can state:
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Background to the Hallstatt
periods
Hallstatt C c750-c600BC
 Hallstatt D1 c600-c530/c520BC
 Hallstatt D2-3 c 530/520-c450/440BC
 La Tène A c450/440-c370/350BC
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(c=circa, approximately).
Background to the Hallstatt periods
In the Late Bronze Age the west-central
region of Europe shared a broadly similar
culture which had evolved from indigenous
origins over the centuries.
 In the 8th and 7th centuries a certain
differentiation began to be apparent in
the burial evidence.
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Background to the Hallstatt periods
These differences are found within part of
the region extending from southern
Germany to Bohemia.
 Here distinctive warrior burials can be
identified by sets of artefacts including
long slashing swords, the bronze trappings
from horse harnesses, and in some cases
elaborate four-wheeled vehicles.
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Background to the Hallstatt
It could be argued that the elite societies
of Hallstatt D were little more than the
intensification of social trends deeply
rooted in indigenous Urnfield culture in the
region.
 But the influence of Greek culture was a
major factor in the elite economies of the
Hallstatt princes.
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Background to the Hallstatt periods
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Other luxury objects include finely decorated
pottery, and more rarely items of gold, glass,
amber and coral.
In the Hallstatt C period we see the focus of
an aristocracy using the horse and the
vehicle as symbols of status.
Horses and vehicle burials may have come
from the eastern Pontic region (Black Sea).
The horses may have been items of
exchange.
Background to the Hallstatt periods
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The elite of Hallstatt regions began identifying
themselves as an élite, through their priviledged
access to exotic commodities, and by adopting
distinctive rituals (of burial etc).
The establishment of a Greek colony at
Massalia (Marseilles), close to the mouth of
the river Rhone took place around 600BC.
This as much as anything contributed to the
creation of the aristocratic wealth-culture in
the Hallstatt world.
Background to the Hallstatt periods
Trade contacts meant that Mediterranean
goods found their way north to Burgundy
and southern Germany through exchange
networks.
 Exotic items like cauldrons, and kraters
(huge amphorae) found their way into
Hallstatt graves, as well as imported
pottery used by the aristocracy on their
hilltop residences.
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Background to the Hallstatt periods
The burials of the elite of the Hallstatt D
period retained many of the traditions of
the characteristics of the earlier
aristocratic tradition, especially the fourwheeled vehicle.
 But warrior equipment like swords and
spears are no longer found. Instead in the
burials the emphasis is on the feast.
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Background to the Hallstatt periods
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This feast element (see the Hochdorf burial) is
emphasized requiring the dead person to be
provided with all the accoutrements necessary
for the drinking of wine and mead.
There is also a westerly shift in the distribution of
rich graves, most of which are now found in a
restricted zone from Burgundy (Bourgogne) to
the river Rhine, coinciding with the distribution of
‘princely residences’.
Background to the Hallstatt periods
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This shift may in part have been caused
by the growing importance of the Rhone
route at this stage, as the way by which
luxury goods penetrated into the north.
Hallstatt
Hallstatt
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The concept of the vehicle burial may have been learned
from the east, from the Pontic Steppes (near the Black
Sea).
It is quite possible that the actual horses were brought in
from the east as items of exchange. Exchange networks
are an important way of understand the development of
early cultures (including Celtic) in Europe.
The aristocracy identified themselves as an élite, through
their privileged access to exotic commodities and by
adopting distinctive rituals.
Hallstatt
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For the most part these exotic items from
the south found their way into the graves
of the élite, but imported pottery was
certainly used in the defended hilltop
settlements where the aristocracy
presumably resided and entertained their
clients.
Hallstatt: consumer durables
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The élite system of west central Europe in the
Hallstatt period is often referred to as a prestige
goods economy.
A social system based on careful control, by
chieftains from their hill forts, of rare exotic
goods which they used selectively as gifts to
subordinates, to maintain the social hierarchy.
In exchange the Greeks or their representatives
obtained raw materials.
Hallstatt
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These raw materials were probably metals (gold,
tin, copper, iron), amber and furs, as well as
slaves.
These Hallstatt D communities may have acted
as middlemen using their native networks as a
means to obtaining such raw materials.
This business arrangement was undoubtedly
far-ranging, including most of western Europe
and as far as Britain and Ireland.
Hallstatt
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Not surprisingly, areas on the periphery of the
Hallstatt chieftains, began to emulate them,
creating elite systems and demand for luxury
status-giving goods.
In the fifth century (400s BC), from the Loire
valley through the Marne and Moselle regions to
Bohemia, significant new power centres
developed.
This culture is now characterized as La Tène.
Hochdorf
Village, north of Stuttgart, in SW Germany.
 The discovery and excavation of the rich
and previously undisturbed burial of a
Celtic prince dating back to the time to
around c550BC took place in 1978.
 This is one of the most remarkable
Hallstatt graves ever to have been
discovered.
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Hochdorf
HOHENASPERG
Hochdorf
Numerous very rich burials have been
found in the immediate and broader
vicinity of the Hohenasperg.
 These finds support the identification of
the Hohenasperg as a royal residence.
 These royal burials form the basis for the
reconstruction of the former importance of
the settlement.
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Hochdorf
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Based on present knowledge, the oldest of
these burials goes back to c550BC, and
the most recent to the Early La Tene
period c400BC.
Hochdorf
In these monumental burial mounds, the
deceased were burial in elaborately
constructed wooden burial chambers with
precious grave goods and burial gifts.
 Despite more than 100 years of
archaelogical activity in the region, no
other burial site comparable to Hochdorf
has ever been found.
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The Discovery
Beginning in 1968 Mrs Renate Liebfried,
working as a volunteer in the
archaeological service, observed that
unusual stones were being ploughed up
by farmers, which must have belonged to
a burial mound.
 A complete excavation was conducted in
the year 1978/9 by Jorg Biel.
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The Hochdorf Excavation
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The burial mound contained two wooden burial
chambers, one situated inside the other. The
space between the chambers was filled with
stones.
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The roof was reinforced with two layers of oak
logs and planks. This construction in Hochdorf
made the burial chamber an impenetrable strong
room, safeguarding the dead prince against
grave robbers.
The Hochdorf Excavation
After the burial ceremony the chamber
was closed. The northern entrace was
blocked with stones.
 Soil was used from the immediate vicinity
to construct the burial mound which was
30 metres long, and went to a depth of 1,5
metres below the ground.
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The Hochdorf Excavation
The finished mound consisted of 7,000
cubic metres of heaped up soil, which
demonstrated to all that a powerful and
influential person had been buried there.
 The discovery of the burial in 1978 was an
archaeological sensation, especially since
the burial had not been disturbed.
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The Hochdorf Excavation
The excellent preservation of the objects
found in the grave gave a detailed insight
into the world of the Hallstatt Celtic
princes.
 The prince’s appearance could be
reconstructed as well as aspects of his
daily life.
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The Hochdorf Excavation: the body
Hochdorf: body ornaments
Hochdorf: the couch
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The couch is the most striking and most
interesting find from Hochdorf, and as yet
unparalleled.
It served as a deathbed in the burial, but
originally it was a couch used during the
banquet.
The couch was most likely produced locally. It is
2.75 metres long, and composed of six large
bronze sheets.
Hochdorf: the couch
It does also reflect strong influences from
Northern Italy.
 On the backrest, you can see depictions of
wagon trips and sword dances.
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Hochdorf : the couch
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Small sculptures of women support the
couch. They are decorated with coral inlay
representing the typical jewelry of the time.
Hochdorf
The Cauldron
Hochdorf: the cauldron
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The cauldron was an imported item. It was
crafted in a Greek workshop in southern Italy
and came as a gift of state to the royal court at
Hohenasperg.
The cauldron is 80cms high and decorated with
three bronze lions, alternating with three
handles.
It would have a capacity of 500 litres, mostly
likely mead.
Hochdorf
The Wagon
Hochdorf: the wagon
From the 8th century onwards, iron was
generally in use as a new type of raw
material.
 The Hochdorf wagon with its almost
complete iron sheathing represents a
masterpiece of early Celtic forging
technology.
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Hochdorf: the wagon
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The wheels, the shaft and the outside of the
wagon body are decorated with more than1,320
single pieces of thin iron sheet metal. 800 of
these bear punch-mark decorations.
The wagon had to be reconstructed since the
original 1 metre high vehicle had been crushed
after the collapse of the chamber roof, reducing
the wagon to a height of 5cms.
Hochdorf: utility objects
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As in many other Celtic royal burials a drinking
and banqueting service was found at Hochdorf.
The drinking service consisted of nine drinking
horns, the huge Greek cauldron (from Italy), and
a golden bowl.
The prince’s own drinking horn was crafted from
sheet iron.
The others were made from auroch horns.