Celtic Archeology - 5

Glauberg

Glauberg, in Germany, is like Bibracte in France. It was an oppidum, a fortified city on a hill. It also has an associated few burial mounds that were undisturbed until recently excavated. The aerial surveys I mentioned in the last archeological post led to the discovery of these mounds in 1988.

The burial mound recreated at Glauberg. There are posts in the ground around a trench that people hoped would be some sort of celestial calendar. Nope, just posts, in the ground.

There are some typical grave goods like swords made of iron, and rings made of copper, and bronze. There are belt parts and shield parts, but the amazing find is a life-sized sandstone statue made to look like the buried prince. The details on the statue match the parts found in his grave. It is a stunning statue in how well preserved it is and realistic. The Celts left very few human images in their art. That is part of what makes this item so interesting.

This is a powerful thing to behold. A statue of sandstone taller than me and quite a bit older than Jesus.

The loops above the head appear to have been iron hoops that may have held some organic material  to make him appear larger than life. The gold torc is a very interesting work of art. It has repeated human head motifs and animal figures and three pointy bits. All the evidence points to this grave being about 500BC. So just a little later than the prince at Hochdorf, but what a difference in what was interred.

A close up reveals the torc that was discovered in the grave. Amazing work for our time, let alone their time.

They did a really interesting recreation of what the princely grave looked like as it was uncovered. Of course they took pictures at every step along the way. Below you can see the torc as it was and the bones of the upper ribs and collarbones.

A recreation of the uncovering of the torc in situ.

All these new excavations have led to interesting insights into how the Celts lived. In particular there is one other artifact that stands out. There is a bronze pitcher with a thin spout that contained traces of mead that had pollen from plants from a 100 mile radius. This pitcher was almost fully intact. It is as you see in the picture. The small deformations and dents are the only damage done by centuries of burial. It is a really interesting piece of art featuring human faces on animal bodies and a crossed legged sitting human figure.

The Pitcher

Closeup of the top.

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me to learn so far is: in the writings of the Romans about the Celts there was much propaganda to smear the Celts and prepare the Romans to march against them. While Rome was conducting human sacrifices to their Gods, there is no evidence the Celts ever did. The propaganda told the opposite. The early conflicts between Rome and the Celts paved the way for the eventual wholesale slaughter of Celts and the absorption of the remainder into the Roman system.

The Celts at Glauberg maintained a fortified city on top of this hill with fortifications similar to those at Bibracte until defeated by the Romans sometime shortly after the time of Christ. The hill was abandoned because the fortified border line between the Romans and the untamed Germanic tribes was only about 3 miles away. Since those times the hill has waxed and waned in importance several times over the centuries and the burial mounds laid undisturbed right there. Today one can walk all over the top of the hill and read interpretive markers all over. It is a lovely park with excellent views.

All work and no play...

You know the line. I'm dedicating this post to letting you know I have been eating, resting, and exercising well. For instance, on the afternoon I met Keith at the University in Heidelberg, I left early that day for a "little hike". The hike started (as so many here do) with stairs. From the marketplace in Heidelberg to the Castle level on the hill there are 311 stairs, I first counted these stairs when I was 11 years old. They are the same as always.

Staircase from Kornmarkt to Castle

Then I continued up what is called the ladder to heaven. It rises 1500 feet over a distance of about 3/4 of a mile. So just a bit less intense that the Manitou Incline. Is is essentially a stairway from the city to the top of the mountain in kind of a straight, very uneven shot.

"Heavens ladder"

Looking back down over the incline railway, one can see about how steep the hill is. The ladder is about as steep as the railway.

Bergbahn, funicular, inclined railway - by any other name it is a less sweaty way to travel.

Once I got to the top, I realized that getting back in time for my meeting meant riding down the funicular instead of walking down. I was pretty sweaty and there was a breeze blowing. I was happy to be out of the wind. On the way down I saw a wild deer next to the tracks. I have not seen wild deer in Germany before. This was so cool. I took a bunch of quick photos.

Even through the reflection of the window you can see the deer.

When I looked at the photos later, I noticed something extraordinary. See if you can spot it yourself.

Below and to the right of mama...

I got to my meeting with Keith in time and we had a lovely meal at the "Copper Pitcher."  for some reason, I didn't get a photo with Keith this time. After lunch Keith took me on a tour of the University library system and I ended up in a library for about 4 hours reading that day. Learned so much.

The Copper Pitcher

Almost every day I have found time and opportunity to walk.  This past week I walked with my Uncle through the local forest. The birds were singing and the scent of Bärlauch was in the air. Bärlauch is a kind of wild garlic and it is currently near the end of its edible cycle. The green stuff on the ground is Bärlauch. If it is green you can just pluck leaves and eat it. Tastes like garlic; but it is a little like eating grass. Garlic flavored grass. MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Bärlauch on the ground, birds in the air.

Our walk took us through a psychiatric hospital grounds where people we know have displayed some artworks made of sandstone. There were varying degrees of excellence there. I found this sandstone and wood combination well done and fun.

Fun sculpture.

On the walk back to his house we found some pretty big bike stands. Public art is all over the place here. Some is more interesting than others.

Parking my uncle instead of a bike.

I'm averaging about 12000 steps a day. Most of those steps are a lot flatter than the hike up the mountain. Even in the city, a path can often be found that has a stream, a middle ages fortification, some gardens...

"New houses" built right on the city wall.

And pretty much any step that is not on a city street ends up looking something like this.

A walking biking path through a wood. So peaceful.

My heart, lungs and legs are all at peak performance for me. My mind is as quiet as it has ever been. Next week I leave for Paris. I have not caught up on all the archaeology yet, but I will soon.

Celtic Archeology - 4

Hochdorf part 2

The last time I wrote about Hochdorf, I had only had 1.5 hours at that site. I clearly needed more time there. Thankfully it is only a 1 hour drive from where I am staying. I'm so glad I made it back. So far it is my favorite interpretive site. This time I learned about more average people, instead of just all about the prince.

Arm bands, leg bands, pins, rings and tools suitable for an average person.

 Average people had average adornments that were more elaborate in good times and less so in lean times. But apparently many people had a three tool set of nail trimmer, tweezers and ear picks.

Tools on a ring that was a very popular three piece set.

I have written about walled cities and mines but little so far about average typical people. So much has been discovered and understood in the last few years. After the Prince was found new tools were brought to bear. Taking pictures from the air lead to identifying features on the ground  that indicated previous settlements may be present. Thousands of sites have been identified and many, but not nearly all have been investigated. The priority is given to sites that are otherwise endangered by development. Once identified, a closer investigation can be made with ground penetrating radar.

Ground penetrating radar in the 1980's

Many people lived in small homestead like arrangements. A few houses surrounded by a ditch. This might have been because there was relatively little danger for most of the Celtic peoples from about 1200BCE to about 200CE.

One popular layout for a multiple house village.

The buildings were varied and specific uses can be guessed at. A dug in house with a shingled roof would have provided shelter from the weather, particularly the cold. It also could have held a workshop. Check out the wooden nails that held the shingles on.

The shingled roof of a dug out house.

A large house might have been used for a larger extended family, or even a place of retreat when things were grim. It would have provided lots of storage for things and even shelter for animals.

Large house with thatch on the left, shingled dug in house on the right and a garden in the foreground.

 There are plenty of examples of storage pits for grain and wattle and daub construction. The grain would be put into a pit and the pit sealed. The grain around the edges would germinate and produce gas that would  prevent the grain in the center from germinating. Wattle and daub is a way of making draft resistant walls. A critical need in a cold wet climate.

Wattle and daub on the left and a dug our pit with shelter to protect grain.

In a continuing series of surprises the vessels that were found near Hochdorf for heating and pouring bronze had a clay lining that was clay brought from more than 100 miles away.

Making bronze required vessels that were heat resistant.

Celtic Archeology - 3

Bibracte, France

The sign at the entrance to Bibracte.

What an amazing place. It was a crazy long drive and worth every kilometer. Bibracte was a hilltop fortified city or oppidum that was built on land that had been inhabited since the stone age. About 300 years before Christ the fortress was built in a most amazing way. The walls surrounding the city used stacked logs and rocks in a clever technique that made it impregnable in its time.

A rebuilt section fo the wall and trench that served as fortifications. Notice the ends of wood sticking out between the rocks. This was sturdy enough in it's day.

The city was a part of Gaul which was a word the Romans used to describe the Celts. Remember Paul's letter to the Galatians? The Galatians were among the first Celtic converts to Christianity. Those Galatians were in what we now call Turkey. Paul was a Roman Citizen so he also knew them as Gauls. Bibracte was an impregnable city that held a significant advantage over the approaching Roman army in the 1st century after Christ, but unlike some other cities they did not resist Rome. It turned out, participating in commerce with the Romans over the years left a trusting relationship. The Romans left the city intact and within 100 years had pretty much moved everyone and everything to the new city Autun which was located on nearby flat land with much easier access for transportation.

A full sized diorama of a workplace from 200 years before Christ. They made copper and bronze items here.

The more or less sudden abandonment of the hilltop meant lots of artifacts were left behind and the forest grew back and swallowed the hilltop so well that 200 years later people could not remember where Bibracte had even been.

A Roman house for someone important has many layers of construction to sort out. Those bags on the left of the image are ballast to hold the tent roof on in high wind

The view from the top of the hill in Bibracte. The woods here are amazing, varied, full and lush.

The site was first begun to be excavated in 1867 and the location of Bibracte was then established as being on the hill. Those excavations continued only until the First World War when the primary researcher was killed. Digging did not begin again until 1985.The museum is the result of the latest excavations done in a very systematic way. There is a tremendous amount of material that has been found and sorted and understood and there is still a tremendous amount to be found. Excavations are ongoing. Imagine a population inside the walls of about 30,000 around the time of Christ. What a rich trove of history there is at Bibracte.

Nails. Lots of nails.

There were so many keys. So many clever ways to work out how to lock something.

 The amazing quantity of things leads to displays of not just one fine example of a nail, but many fine examples. Also, many examples of keys. Keys! And Locks! From the time of Christ!

The view from my door. So gorgeous.

There are so many details I can share, but I won't do it all here. The night I spent in the local village was serene and blissful. Truly a quiet time to sit and reflect. When I woke on my last morning  there, the view out my door was so beautiful. Truly I am blessed to be having these experiences.

Celtic Archeology - 2

Hochdorf

Wednesday I woke up near Stuttgart. I drove to Hochdorf and visited the Keltenmuseum there. It is a museum built around a find in 1978 of the grace of a Prince. It had lain undisturbed for about 2600 years. So many interesting things about this situation. The original burial mound was huge, but over time, farming in the area had worn it down. They have rebuilt a mound to resemble the mound as it once was.

The mound had a marker on top and posts to mark the edges.

The Celts did not leave a written record of their beliefs, practices, or even lists of who was important. Because of this burial sites have given a great deal of information about who there were and how they lived. For a bit of perspective the museum listed some contemporaries of this unknown prince: Solon, Pythagoras, Anaximander, Nebuchadnezzar, Siddhartha, and Confucius all lived within 50 years or so of this fellow.

Silhouettes of contemporaries of the prince

The grave goods were extensive and rich. They had the prince reclined on an amazing couch wrapped in many layers of amazing fabric and surrounded with drinking vessels, utensils, food and a wagon. They stacked multiple layers of rocks and wood above the grave, maybe to help obscure it from possible robbers later. In any case one would guess these people definitely had ideas about the afterlife.

The burial chamber

 There are so many interesting parts and details. Lots of iron work and gold and bronze. A couple of things that really stood out for me were the legs of the couch. They are little men, on wheels, holding up the couch. They were made using a lost wax method of casting, which means they could make many exactly alike. Wheels were a big deal in this culture and so were horses. The other amazing thing was the quality of bow and arrow they had at the time. So here are images of the little bronze man and recreated bow and arrows.

Bronze man on a wheel.

reproduced arrows

And finally for this post - the quality and detail of the fabrics in this burial is astounding. Many layers of wool, linen and hemp were wrapped around his fellow. No doubt this represented a tons of hand labor. The spinning wheel was far in the future, so people were spinning thread by hand. Then they would weave it or make complicated braids to show patterns. It is estimated that as much as 400 hours of work would be needed to get fibers into the form of a ribbon braid just a few feet long.

The ribbon on the left is about 2 inches wide and a foot and a half long and is a reproduction based on a fragment found. The photo of the fragment is next, followed by a drawing to enhance detail and finally on the right a plan for the final look.

Humans have accomplished so much over time. I have taken for granted the hard work of ancient generations that lead to all the developments that allow me to wear Hawaiian shirts. The intricate interconnectedness of so many ideas and developments that lead to our lives today leaves me humble.

Celtic Archeology -1

This week I began visiting Celtic Archeology sites. There are so many words I could say. I have been taking in tons of information. I'll try to keep the words to a minimum and promise some good adult forums to come.

Halstatt, Austria

I left at about 5 am and 8 hours later rolled into Hallstatt. I went directly to the museum, via lots of stairs, of course. The museum's main focus is the salt mine and the miners. The salt mine has been actively mined for at least 7000 years. About 200 BC there was a collapsed of a mountainside that resulted in people and things being trapped inside the mine. The salt environment did a great job of preserving lots of organic matter. As a result, this location has given great insight into the Celtic culture that was present from about 1200 years before Christ until about 500 years after.

The most interesting to me was the clothes and tools of the miners. They had distinctive conical birch bark hats lined with fur and leather shoes. The fellow who was found preserved in the salt from about 200 BC had a pick, a carrying bag made of goatskin and maple wood and leather shoes.

Celtic Salt Miner

They have excavated hundreds of grave sites and many buildings. I find it surprising that the structure below looks like it could be at home in Colorado in the mountains. Log cabins for a long, long time ago. It is made of original materials that have been reassembled indoors.

I there are tons of artifacts. One thing that makes Hallstatt famous is how early excavations began there - 1846. The reason early iron age Celts are known as Hallstatt people is this is where the first significant archeological evidence of their existence was found.

In town I walked around a bit and found a 1st communion class in a church. So Cute!

Also in that church I found a Crucifix from 1500 with such an unusual halo. It is a life sized Jesus so it is pretty impressive.

After a very full day, I went to bed in a beautiful valley. This was what I saw at sunrise the next morning.

More soon!

Heidelberg Part 1

What I have been up to:

The last week was lots of visiting with relatives. There are so many and they are all very loving and kind. We have had many lunches and dinners together. It is delightful. Earlier you saw pictures of my uncle and his friend. Here are some of my cousins and nieces and nephews.

In the backyard with Christoph, Lewin and Almina, Jona. What a loving family!

At the end of a lovely evening with Bernhard, Claudia, Alina and Joshua. So much joy!

Wisteria are blooming everywhere. We are on a third story of an observation deck/parking lot and behind us is HUGE wisteria. Claudia, Joshua, Joshua and Kristina and I spent the day at a big market. It got up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

I have been walking. A big part of the plan is to walk and think. The longest walk so far was up the Philosophers Way. I started across the river by the bridge monkey - more rightly a baboon. You can see in the distance, in the gap at the top, the hill has a tower.

The Heidelberg bridge monkey.

There is lots of history in and around the tower. Celts were in the area. The Romans built fortifications nearby. In 1090 a benedictine monastery was built just back from where the tower now stands. That monastery lasted until the 16th century. It was one of two monasteries that were built on the holy mountain. The tower, cool as it is, is not nearly so old. It was built in 1885-6. The view from the top of the tower is spectacular and from below the tower only slightly less so. Lots of time to think and pray on this walk.

The tower does not look daunting, but after a 1 hr hike, the 97 steps inside were tough enough.

The view from on top the tower. The Heidelberg Castle is in the distance

As a fun side note across the river from the old monastery, my grandfather attended Heidelberg U. as the first of his family to got to a university. His PhD thesis was on The Rule of Saint Benedict. I now have a copy and am working on translating it. I expect that will make for a good Adult Forum some day.

With all the visiting, I have had no time until today to just rest. I started the day by reading some of the wonderful cards that were given to me before I left. Your thoughts and prayers really mean so much to me. I wrote the last thank you cards out and will send them this week.

Later today I went to the baths in Baden-Baden literally "bath-bath". (So good they named it twice like New York, NY.) It was an hours drive for 3 hours of serious relaxation, followed by a long walk around the town and many, many stairs. Springtime here is wonderful. Many pictures of flowers to come.

I tend to climb to the highest point in whatever direction I go. This is the view from above the Lutheran Cathedral. Of course I spent time inside. I'm a bit of a church geek.

So many stairs. No rule of 17 in sight.

The older baths in Baden-Baben

Tomorrow I wake early and drive 6 hours to Hallstatt, Austria to visit the museum there and learn what the earliest period of Celtic life was like. If you would remember me in your prayers, I would be grateful. Particularly for safety and that God reveals what I need to learn.

Peace my friends!