Archaeological Breakthrough: Discovery of a 2,600-Year-Old ‘Princely’ Funeral Chamber in Germany

[Cet article a initialement été publié le 13 novembre 2024]

According to the press release, additional excavations will be carried out in this area in the coming weeks, and should end this year.

A princely tumulus?

According to a press release published on October 18, 2024 by the Ministry of Regional Development and Local Housing, a team of archaeologists would have discovered a funeral chamber in the Danube plain, near Riedlingen. It would date from the beginning of the Celtic era.

First, the researchers discovered a tumulus two meters high and a diameter of 65 meters. At the time, he had to do 6 meters well. Consequently, archaeologists believe that this tumulus could be princely, since between 620 and 450 BC, the Celts in southwest Germany built mounds of this type for important personalities in society.

The pillaged funeral chamber

In the center of the tumulus, the team of archaeologists fell on “The very solid oak wood of a large fully preserved funeral chamber, just 70 cm below the recent surface”. It measures approximately 3.40 m wide and approximately 4.05 m long. Unfortunately, it had already been excavated by looters of antiquity by digging two tunnels within the tumulus. This infiltration could explain the absence of funeral goods, even if certain objects may have been neglected by looters.

Never mind, the wood of the tomb, (nicknamed falling from Riedling) is still extremely well preserved, which makes this discovery exceptional. “” “[Elle] is a chance for archeology”Said Dirk Krausse, archaeologist of the Land of Baden-Wurtemberg, during the press conference.

How to date the grave?

Indeed, thanks to the quality of the wood, the latter can be dated thanks to dendrochronology (study of dark circles). If these works are not completed for the moment, a wooden artefact in the shape of a massage, it would date from 585 BC. In addition to this “tool”, human bones have been discovered in the grave, which would come from a first anthropological autopsy, from a “male individual, probably aged 15 to 20 and measuring between 160 and 168 cm”.

“” “The recently discovered funeral chamber represents an exceptional testimony to our heritage. It is still fully preserved 2,600 years after its creation”Explains at a press conference Andrea Lindlor, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing in Baden-Wurtemberg.

The Celtic people are particularly unknown and mysterious since there is no written trace of a Celtic language, of a Celtic civilization, of a people with Celtic codes. For The New Statesman is a British magazine, the Celtic people are even a “Historical Mirage”Intended to fill a“ chronological emptiness ”.