Pfalzfeld column
The Pfalzfeld column (also flame column ) is a Celtic stele made of sandstone , which probably originally served as a cult column on a burial mound. It is assigned to the Latène period and originated in the 4th century BC. Some barrows are known near the Pfalzfeld site ( Hunsrück ) , but an exact assignment can no longer be made.
Description and classification
Only the 1.48 m high lower part of an originally probably 3.50 m high stele made from a sandstone block is preserved. In the middle field, a mask-like human head with large eyes can be seen, which has a triple leaf, eyebrows and a horizontal band on its forehead, as well as a so-called palmette beard , which, like a similar statue from Glauberg, can be assumed to be the stylized pendant of one Neck rings (torques) could act. The head is surmounted by two bubble-shaped parts of a Celtic leaf crown. Maybe it's mistletoe leaves. The sacred mistletoe was able to cure all diseases and to cure sterility in humans and animals. So it strengthened all life and growth forces. This form of mistletoe leaves is also found on the handle figure of the Waldalgesheim jug . The head occupies an excellent position on the column and shows the special importance of the human head for the Celts: for them, the head was the center of being.
Historical illustrations and descriptions show that the stele probably had another (fully plastic and double?) Head depiction at the upper end and was seated on a round shaft.
The Pfalzfeld column probably served as the crowning of a barrow. With its four ornate, three-dimensional sides, it is one of the most important examples of early Celtic art. The plait, spiral and mask representations and the connection between the human face and the phallus shape show connections to the northern Italian-Etruscan region and had a disastrous and protective character for the socially superior buried.
Research history
The Pfalzfeld stone stele was first drawn in 1608 by Wilhelm Dilich . In 1648 the stele was found by the Hessian official Winkelmann during a visit to the overgrown churchyard of Pfalzfeld , which was largely depopulated as a result of the Thirty Years War . In 1736 the fortress commander General von Kutzleben had the stele brought to the Rheinfels fortress . In 1845 the sculpture was brought to Sankt Goar and in 1938 to its present location in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn .
The (modern) coat of arms of the municipality Pfalzfeld shows, slightly stylized, the stele in its present form. In the center of Pfalzfeld, on the so-called Backesplatz, there is now a cast of the original column , in 2008 a "Celtic experience and memorial site" was inaugurated outside the town (at the old train station), in the center of which a reconstruction of the column in its (presumed) Original condition.
similarities
Stylistically, the Pfalzfeld column is on the one hand close to the Celtic statue of Glauberg (or the four statues found there) and on the other hand a stone head from the Latène period that was found near Heidelberg. In the literature, the Heidelberg head was often reconstructed as the presumed "crowning" of the Pfalzfeld stele. However, this assignment was called into question by the finds on Glauberg. It is based purely on stylistic similarities; a workshop study is still pending.
Name of the stele
In the scientific literature, the terms “Pfalzfeld column / stele” or “column / stele von Pfalzfeld” are common. The term "pillar of flame" was already in use in the 18th century.
On the topic board no. 10 on the Schinderhannes cycle path , the stele is referred to as the “Obelisk von Pfalzfeld”.
literature
- Hans-Eckart Joachim : On the interpretation of the Celtic columns of Pfalzfeld and Irlich : In: Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 4, 1974, pp. 229–232.
- Hans-Eckart Joachim: A reconstruction of the Celtic column from Pfalzfeld . in: Bonner Jahrbücher 189, 1989, pp. 1–16.
- Hans-Eckart Joachim: In: Frank Günter Zehnder (Hrsg.): 100 pictures and objects. Archeology and art in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn . Cologne 1999, p. 30f.
- Hans-Eckart Joachim: In: The riddle of the Celts from Glauberg. Belief - Myth - Reality . Exhibition catalog Frankfurt. Stuttgart 2002, p. 319 Cat.-No. 135.
- Hans-Eckart Joachim: Pfalzfeld. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 23, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017535-5 , pp. 2-3. ( online ).
- Cliff Alexander Jost in: Jürgen Kunow , Hans-Helmut Wegner (Ed.): Prehistory in the Rhineland . Cologne 2006, p. 464f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See the report on the inauguration on the homepage of the local community Pfalzfeld: http://www.pfalzfeld.de/?p=193