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On the southern city limits of Villingen lies the Warenberg. The high
ground is quite visible from the confluence of the Brig, Wolfach and Brigach
rivers. Right on top of the Warenberg with its 769 meters (about 2500
feet) altitude there rises a gigantic Celtic
princely burial mound, the largest burial mound in Central Europe.
It is about 8 meters high and has a diameter of 104 meters. It was created
with 46,000 cubic meters of earth and stone. When it was heaped up again
in 1975, the workers employed bulldozers. When the burial mound was constructed
2500 years ago, they carried the material up in woven baskets mounted
on horseback.
During clear weather, there is a broad view into the countryside. To the
west tower the mountains of the Black Forest, to the north are visible
the steep slopes of the Swabian Jura which extend to the east. In between,
the Baar plateau is seen. To the south, during the Föhn, "a warm, southerly
wind characteristic of the region", one can recognize the Alps.
The prince had lived in the fortified settlement on a mountain crest at
the confluence of the Kirnach and Brigach, today called the Kapf. His
burial ground had to be right in the settlement area and noticeable from
a long distance. The region was in those days less wooded, and so one
could see from the residence of the dead prince to the selected site.
The Celtic settlers erected, along with the burial mound, as was customary,
a monument to their lord in the year 551 B.C..
In the middle of a circular field came the burial
chamber. With teams of oxen the people hauled oak logs to the construction
site; up to 90 trees were worked on the spot into squared beams just with
iron axes. The approximately 30 centimeter wide sides were so well planed
that when the beams were joined, not even a sliver would pass between
them.
For the floor of the burial chamber, 29 beams were needed. For the side
walls, they were notched out on end and then fitted together in log house
fashion. So there arose a burial chamber of wooden beams, about 6 meters
wide, 9 meters long, and 1.3 meters high. For the roof, a double layer
was planned, as these beams had to bear the entire weight of the hill.
The transport route of over 2 kilometers was likewise bridged with teams
of oxen. The Celts piled up stones around the wooden burial chamber.
It took weeks to reach this point. Only then did the burial of the dead
prince take place. From the south a path bordered with thick beams led
to the burial chamber: it was about 20 meters long. Over this path traveled
the men who carried their leader on a bier made of spruce wood. The Celtic
prince was dressed in his best costume, which included his personal arms.
In the burial chamber the Celts abundantly laid out gifts for the undisturbed
afterlife of their prince. Then they closed the chamber.
Now the grave diggers began to pile up the hill. They covered the chamber
over with the stones that had been hauled up. This cone of stone was ultimately
3.5 meters high and had a diameter of 40 meters. They filled in the uneven
surface with sod. Then the people labored for 15 years: basket by basket
they hauled earth to the grave and with each basket the burial mound grew.
Finally it was high enough that it looked like a mountain. The work was
very important for the Celts. The peaceful eternal rest of their prince
gave them the confidence that they had protected their leader's life even
after death.
The Celtic settlers lived for another 35 years in the vicinity of the
burial mound. In that time the people of the settlement on the Kapf buried
their dead in the prince's burial mound. Eventually 127 people lay there:
men, women and children. They probably marked the grave with long poles
that protruded from the hill covering. In this way, they avoided having
one grave on top of another or disturbing an earlier grave with a later
burial.
Part of the bodies were buried in full costume, part of the corpses were
cremated before burial. Then only the ashes from the burned out funeral
pile were buried. But the grave diggers always imitated the inner grave:
around the small wooden burial chambers or around the funeral pile a stone
packing was added. These as well were covered with tufts of grass and
then earth thrown over them.
As the Celts finally moved away from the region on the edge of the Black
Forest, the burial mound on the Warenberg had grown to be the largest
Celtic cemetery of the Celtic period in southwestern Germany. Through
all the ages since, this site has had a special position. A chapel on
the mountain dedicated to St. Magdalene gave it the name Magdalenenberg.
In the oldest depiction of Villingen, from the year 1704, a Cross of Lorraine
stood there. About 100 years earlier there was a place of execution on
the mountain. Today the Magdalenenberg is a protected cultural monument.
The peace of the grave on the hill was disturbed for the first time in
our era in 1890. A group of experienced excavators investigated the hill.
From the summit they put a vertical funnel downward and pushed through
to the wooden burial chamber. Water poured out at them and hindered their
undertaking. They were at least able to conclude that the grave was empty.
Despite the disappointment, with the discovery of the burial chamber the
dig was deemed a success.
Had grave robbers plundered the grave in an earlier era? Had the Celtic
settlers taken the dead prince with them when they moved away? Where did
the water come from?
The investigation of the burial mound since 1970 showed that the water
really must have forced its way into the chamber
in ancient times. If anyone had opened the grave about 50 years after
its construction was begun, that would have helped the water to come in.
The clay soil under the burial chamber and the stone fill became so dense
with the weight of the mountain that the water would be dammed up in there
and for two thousand years preserved the wood. Thus it was possible, due
to the discovery of the wood, to determine exactly how old the grave is,
how long they had built on it, and what the burial customs of the Celts
might have been like, as well.
As the Celts migrated into the area around Villingen about 600 B.C.,
they were already intimately familiar with iron. Ore in the region of
the Brigach, Breg and Salz rivers, near the modern cities of Schwenningen
and Bad Dürrheim were certainly the reason for the settlement.
The settlers from Kapf were cattle and swine herders and experienced artisans
as well. The raw climate allowed for little farming; growing grain was
certainly not possible. They were able to gain some prosperity, as is
known from other settlements, through commerce. A bronze belt hook from
southeast Spain found in a Magdalenenberg grave is evidence of that.
Prehistorical researchers place the Kapf people in the late Hallstatt
period. Out of the darkness of the graves, archaeologists have brought
to light a great deal about the clothing and jewelry of Celtic women and
about personal items of the men.
The women's graves showed two types of outfitting that reveal different
burial periods. The Kapf women liked to wear necklaces of simple pearls,
earrings and bracelets. They piled their hair up with pins, and held their
dresses together with clasps. Around the waist they gathered up their
garments with a wide belt: the belt plate to close the belt was beautifully
decorated. In the older women's graves the excavaters found massive neck
rings and sturdy armbands. These must have been very inconvenient to wear
while working, as they could not be slipped off the arm. From that researchers
concluded that such women must have been affluent and had the help of
maids and lackeys.
The women who were buried in the more recent graves bejeweled themselves
with arm rings and ear rings that were hollow and from which pendants
also dangled. That made these pieces of jewelry look more decorative.
They preferred wide necklaces; they did not wear a neck ring.
Even the men held their clothing together with clasps and belts. Many
men shaved themselves, as the discovery of many razors reveals. Further,
nail care was attended to. Even after two millenia the nail clipper from
a grave was still functional. A dagger with a finely worked haft and bejeweled
scabbard belonged to the Celtic man.
In a child's grave lay a small gold coil. This valuable burial gift makes
it clear that even for the people then, death was a painful event.
The Celtic settlers did not live long on the Kapf. Why they moved away
is not known. Left behind is the trace of their graves, as well as a trace
of their life and death.
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