More than 2,400 years after a Celtic warrior was buried beside his chariot, almost nothing remained of the vehicle itself. The wood had rotted away, but metal fittings still marked where its wheels, hubs, and axle had once rested.
Archaeologists found the pieces near Bad Camberg, Germany, while examining land intended for a solar park. The burial dates to the early La Tène period, a phase of Celtic culture that began in the fifth century B.C.E. Archaeologists identified it as a “princely grave,” a term for the rich burials of powerful Iron Age figures. Gold jewelry, weapon fragments, and a bronze jug imported from Etruria in present-day Italy show that the person buried there belonged to the highest level of Celtic society.
The team suspected that a circular shape detected underground might be an important grave. The chariot, however, came as a surprise.
"Even after the geophysical survey of the planned area, we speculated about the possible presence of a Celtic elite grave. However, nobody expected that we would ultimately find not only a princely grave, but even a chariot burial," said Kai Mückenberger, district archaeologist for the Limburg-Weilburg district, in a translated press release.
A Celtic Chariot Burial in Germany
Archaeologists excavated the site in about two weeks. They removed some sections as intact blocks of soil so fragile objects could be studied slowly in a laboratory.
X-rays and CT scans have detected additional objects inside the blocks, although researchers have not yet identified or uncovered all of them.
Fittings from two wheel hubs, axle caps, and iron wheel rims show that the warrior was buried with a two-wheeled vehicle. Only a handful of Celtic wagon burials have been found in Hesse, according to the Hessian Archaeology Department, and officials say none matches the quality of the Bad Camberg discovery.
Read More: The Ancient Celts: Iron Age Foes of Rome Who Left Behind More Than Weapons
What Makes a Grave “Princely”?
Despite the name, calling it a “princely grave” does not prove that the person held a formal royal title. According to the archaeological volume Connecting Elites and Regions, scholars use the term to refer to lavish Iron Age burials containing objects such as weapons, bronze vessels, and decorated wagons that displayed elite status.
At Bad Camberg, the gold and chariot marked the deceased as an important figure, while the weapon fragments led archaeologists to describe him as a warrior. The imported Etruscan jug also points to connections with communities south of the Alps, suggesting that he belonged to a wealthy and well-connected group.
Another Prince in the Glauberg Landscape
The discovery has drawn comparisons to the Prince of Glauberg, another prominent Celtic figure who lived in Hesse around the same time. Archaeologists uncovered richly furnished graves there in the 1990s, followed in 1996 by the discovery of a nearly life-size sandstone statue of a warrior.
According to a study in PLOS ONE, the fifth-century B.C.E. statue shows a man wearing armor, a neck ring, and a leaf-shaped headdress. Similar objects found in a nearby grave have led researchers to connect the statue with the person buried there.
The Bad Camberg grave is not as richly furnished as the Glauberg burial. Still, it provides the first evidence that another powerful Celtic leader may have lived in this part of Hesse.
Researchers are now opening the remaining soil blocks and studying the objects inside. Each piece may add to the story of the man buried there and the community that placed a chariot beside him. His name and the chariot’s wooden frame are gone, but its metal fittings still mark the vehicle intended to carry him into the next world.
Read More: Scottish Burial Site Suggests an Iron Age Woman’s Brain Was Removed and Bones Carved After Death
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from Hessen Wissenchaft: Hessen Archaeology presents unknown Iron Age princely grave
- This article references information from Sidestone Press: Connecting Elites and Regions
- This article references information from: Sculpting the Glauberg “prince”. A traceological research of the Celtic sculpture and related fragments from the Glauberg (Hesse, Germany)
