Hohmichele
The Hohmichele is a Celtic prince grave mounds of the late Hallstatt period on the district Heiligkreuztal the town of Altheim in the district of Biberach . It belongs to the complex of the Heuneburg near Hundersingen , near the Danube . With a diameter of 85 m and a height of 13.5 m, the burial mound is one of the largest in Central Europe.
location
The Hohmichele is located about 3.5 km west of the Heuneburg fortress and is directly related to its settlement history. In the area around the Heuneburg there are around 50 such burial mounds, the so-called "Hohmichele Group" , which do not, however, reach its imposing height. 14 of them can still be recognized as such, as they are located within a small wood. Not far east of the foot of the Hohmicheles, a small square hill was archaeologically examined.
The burial mound
With a diameter of 85 m and a height of 13.5 m, the burial mound is one of the largest in Central Europe. It was scientifically researched for the first time in 1937/1938 by Gustav Riek , who had the hilltop, the center and part of the eastern half of the hill of the Hohmichele excavated. The hill was occupied from the end of the 7th century to the 2nd half of the 6th century BC. Chr.
In the center of the hill there was a floor-level wooden plank chamber lined with oak planks, 5.7 m long, 3.5 m wide and 1 m high (grave I). This main grave, in which a man and a woman were buried, was almost completely looted shortly after the burial. What remained were the remains of the horse harness and almost 600 glass beads from a valuable chain. The finest gold threads are part of a brocade fabric interwoven with gold . The floor of the burial chamber was covered with cowhide. A 5 m high core mound with a diameter of around 40 m was heaped up over the central grave.
12 m southeast of the central grave, about 2.20 m above the old surface, was an intact wooden chamber grave (grave VI). It was 3 m long, 2.40 m wide and 1 m high. A man and a woman were also buried. The equipment included a four-wheeled carriage with harness parts for two horses, bronze dining and drinking utensils, a quiver with 51 iron arrowheads, an iron cutting knife and rich chain jewelry made of glass and amber beads. The glass pearl necklace included around 2,300 sea-green pearls. The woman was buried in the carriage, the man on the wooden planks. The bronze vessels from grave VI: The kettle and the scoop had been placed at the feet of the dead, the bowl was next to the head. The fabric remnants found show simple embroidery.
About 1 m above grave VI was grave IX, a so-called pyre grave. The woman, who died between the ages of 18 and 30, was given two bronze bracelets as well as 20 incised and stamped clay vessels with red paint and graffiti .
Six other graves (graves II – V, VII, VIII) are corporal burials. 22 fireplaces, which were created on the surface of the various stages of the filling of the hill, are likely to be related to the cult of the dead.
Research history
In 1936 the head of the Prehistoric Research Institute of the University of Tübingen, Gustav Riek , initiated the excavation at Hohmichele on behalf of the SS-Ahnenerbes . No further investigations took place during the war. Around 15,000 m³ of earth were moved, which corresponds to a third of the pile of mound. The top of the hill was removed halfway up and the central grave exposed.
From 1954 to 1956 Siegwalt Schiek carried out further investigations on the Hohmichele. In 1960 the Hohmichele was raised again to its last height of 13.5 m.
13 burials were found in the hill, of which numerous grave goods testify. The main grave turned out to be anciently looted.
The war memorial
On the hilltop of the Hohmichel, the Tübingen Forestry Directorate and the State Forestry Administration had a war memorial erected in memory of the victims of the two world wars. The stone cast stele bears the inscription on the east side:
The Hohmichele a celtic memorial listed in the 6th century BC.
1936 and 1937 partially excavated
1955 to the old height piled up
forest directorate Tübingen
The inscription on the west side reads:
In memory of their relatives who died in two world wars
1914–1918
1939–1945 The grateful state forest management
The stele stands in a tree circle consisting of eight trees, between which there are benches. The war memorial on the hilltop can be reached via stairs.
Confirmation of findings and remains
The burial mound is located as an overgrown ground monument in a small clearing in the forest. In addition to the vessels shown, other finds were found during the excavations, such as valuable chains as gifts from the dead, arrowheads that suggest objects of everyday life, a cauldron, wheel hubs, which are the only remains of the burial of complete wagons, which is common with the Celts Point out horse harness, as well as bronze plates from a funeral meal. Most of the finds are in the holdings of the State Museum of Württemberg and in the "Heuneburg Museum" in Hundersingen.
gallery
Hohmichele burial mound
War memorial on the hilltop
Grave mound field Gießbühl der Heuneburg
foreground: grave I,
background: grave II
literature
- Bettina Arnold, Matthew L. Murray, Seth A. Schneider: Investigations on a Hallstatt-era burial mound belonging to the Hohmichele group in "Speckhau", Heiligkreuztal mark, Gde. Altheim, Biberach district. In: Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 1999. Theiss, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8062-1469-7 , pp. 64–68.
- Bettina Arnold, Matthew L. Murray, Seth A. Schneider: Final examinations on a Hallstatt burial mound belonging to the Hohmichele group in the “Speckhau”, Heiligkreuztal mark, Gde. Altheim, Biberach district. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 2000. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1518-9 , pp. 67–70.
- Bettina Arnold, Matthew L. Murray, Seth A. Schneider: Investigations on a second Hallstatt-era burial mound of the Hohmichele group in "Speckhau", Heiligkreuztal mark, Gde. Altheim, Biberach district. In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 2002. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1780-7 , pp. 80–83.
- Leif Hansen, Roberto Tarpini, Dirk Krausse, Andreas Striffler: The excavations at the Viereckschanze at Hohmichele . In: Archaeological excavations in Baden-Württemberg 2014. Theiss, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3212-7 , 163–167.
- Siegfried Kurz , Siegwalt Schiek: Burial places in the vicinity of the Heuneburg. In: Forsch. U. Ber. Prehistory and early history. Baden-Württemberg. 87. Stuttgart 2002
- Gustav Riek : The Hohmichele. A princely grave mound from the late Hallstatt period. Heuneburg Studies 1. In: Roman-Germanic Research 26. Berlin 1962
See also
Web links
- Heuneburg open-air museum of the Herbertingen-Hundersingen community
- Hohmichele (grave I) in the TOMBA Internet image database of the RGZM
- Hohmichele (grave VI) in the TOMBA Internet image database of the RGZM
Coordinates: 48 ° 5 '38 " N , 9 ° 23' 1.4" E