Paris - 1

The Museum of Archeology

Gold from the Celts.

When one thinks of Paris, lots of different images might come to mind. The Eiffel tower, The Louvre, The Left Bank, the metro, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and so many others might start the wheels turning. I started my Paris adventure at the National Museum of Archeology. In some ways like others I have seen, in others so very different. To get to it, one takes an RER train - not a metro. It is located in an outlying suburb and so requires more than just a metro pass to get to it.  These trains stop inside the city center, but are a separate system with much heavier trains. On the bright side, exiting the station plops one across the street from the museum. They had a rigid security check, for just me. No line of people streaming in and out.

Bronze age chest armor. Six exquisite pieces in one cabinet.

The amazing part of this national museum is the wide variety of items they can choose to display and the depth of selection of items means what one does see is some of the the most excellent of it's kind. They have the ability to pull from finds all over France and even had some things from Hallstatt in Austria and Hochdorf in Germany.

Bronze age arm and neck rings.

Iron Age wrist and arm bands.

What became really clear in this museum was the relative wealth and influence of the Celts in the Bronze and iron ages.  The iron age brought greater prosperity to the Celts and they traded more widely with the help of the new technology. The tribes organized into bigger units to support leaders who could pile up more wealth. This made the group more effective at holding off the Germanic tribes to the north and east and the Romans to the south.

What an interesting assortment of Bronze art. It seems like every surface had some sort of dimpling, stippling or striping.

There were a few really unique pieces from the Bronze age on display too. There was a cone that I could not suss out its purpose apart from decoration and a display of wealth/power. As interesting as the bronze was, the iron stole the show. Anything you can imagine a blacksmith making, they were already hard at work making in those days.  Most curious to me were the 6 foot tall iron hoops that were the rims on chariot wheels. Rims in this context being the outside edges of the wheel, not the hub the tire is mounted on.

I'm in the picture to give perspective on just how tall these wheels were.

Everything the bronze smiths managed earlier, the iron smiths did even more intensely. There was a single exception that I found however. It is difficult for me to even imagine this, but apparently 600 years before Christ, there were people who had figured our how to polish bronze well enough to have - a mirror!

Not as shiny as it once was, but what an item!

Some clever types had also worked out needles of many types and sizes. Not surprising since neolithic man had worked out needles using bone way back in the day. But still awfully cool to see in bronze or iron.

Bronze needles of various types.

Then I went father back in time to the neolithic. There was such a gigantic variety of stone knives, spear tips, cutting and scraping tools, and arrow tips that were displayed to show off the progression in technique for making the objects. The stone objects got smaller, more refined and more effective as time went on. But then there was the neolithic art. Apparently wide hips were appreciated back in the day. Probably because it meant the risk of dying in childbirth went down.

Various neolithic art pieces.

There were examples of cave art made in a number of ways. But the object from neolithic times that impressed me the most was also the feature photo for the museum's advertising. It is about 25,000 years old. An amazing piece of art today.  From then, it just boggles my mind. It is about 1.5 inches tall. It is called - Venus of Brassempouy.

Venus.

Because I had a chance to return to the city before Notre Dame had closed, I stopped to see her as well.  It is looking much better inside. Lighting improvements and restorations are continuing and showing off what they own to greater effect. Notre-Dame de Paris translates to Our Lady of Paris. There is a lot of what can be shown of the Cathedral, but I'm going to limit myself to just two objects to see. These are statues of the patrons saints of France.

Joan of Arc.

You might recognize the above as Joan of Arc. She has such a well know look about her.  The sign next to her proclaims she was burned as a witch and a heretic, but later the decision to rehabilitate her was made in this Cathedral. I'm always amazed at the judgments we pass on each other. In the superstitious frightened world of 1431, I understand how she was betrayed and convicted wrongly. But gee golly, she was "rehabilitated"? The men who killed her were wrong and the men who rehabilitated her don't impress me much either. I'm skeptical of anyone proclaiming that in the name of God someone else is good, or bad or deserving punishment or murder. The sins of the ancient church still echo to us today.

Will you be able to pick out my all time favorite saint over my shoulder?

Denis is the fellow with his head in his hands, not the person texting.

If you guessed St. Denis (pronounced Sanct Den-Knee).  You are correct. He preceded Joan by a very long time. Denis was sent to the area of Paris back in the early 200's. When he was beheaded, it is said he picked his head up and carried it about 6 miles, preaching the whole way. My favorite bit about this particular statue is how the halo remains above his neck indicating a belief that the sacred soul resides in the person, not the brain or head.

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.