Hochdorf Prince: Birch-bark Hat

The birch-bark hat was found at the head of the couch, together with the remains of the comb. The hat is simple and conical in shape; not very regal to our eyes. 

However, it was very carefully decorated with row upon row of stamped designs. It is now recognised that the Hirschlanden "warrior" wears a very similar hat. Undoubtedly more than a sun-hat, this delicate headgear must have formed some part of the Prince's regalia.

Halstatt Tartan

This is a real piece of Hallstatt tartan.

Elizabeth Barber uses a cleaned up piece for the cover of her book. 

Hochdorf Prince Wagon

Drinking and banqueting vessels were placed on or in the cauldron, and stacked on the bed of a chariot or wagon that occupied the eastern portion of the chamber. The chariot had four wheels each wheel had ten spokes. The chariot had a draught pole 7 feet long (2.38m) and the height of the box was just above its axles. The wagon box was not attached to the axles, so it was removable. It was decorated with iron sheathing. He had been carried by this chariot to the grave site

Hochdorf Prince

The Celtic Burial ground of the Hochdorf Prince was one of the few undisturbed royal burials of the Early Celtic Period. The passage grave was in an excellent state of preservation and allowed the first detailed insights into the world of the Celtic princes to be gathered. 

The Outer Timber Log Grave Chamber

The Hochdorf prince's appearance could be reconstructed as well as certain aspects of his way of life.The barrow was found to contain two wooden burial chambers one situated inside the other. In the inner chamber was found the remains of a man and a number of burial gifts. 

The man who occupied the log cabin-style burial chamber had been an impressive figure in life. Visibly striking he stood 6'3" tall (1.92 m) towering over his contemporaries. He was about 45 years of age when he died and was laid out in state on an elaborately decorated bronze couch thought to be of Greek origin. The couch was held up by cast bronze human figures riding unicycles.

One of the legs of the couch

Hochdorf Prince Kline

In 1977, an amateur archaeologist wandering the fields near Hochdorf, Germany stumbled across an ancient burial mound that had been plowed away to the point that the burial chamber itself was exposed. He reported his find to the authorities, and a major archaeological excavation followed.   The burial turned out to be that of an Iron Age magnate who died around 530 BC. He was laid to rest on a bronze couch 9 feet long, which rests on wheels shaped as female unicyclists.

The "chieftain" was laid out on the couch(Kline), with his head toward the south, on thick layers of plant material and animal furs.

Front View

Back View

There is a theory that the Hallstatt Celts adopted the Greek symposion in a conscious and strenuous attempt to become Hellenized. They did not, the theory goes, observe and imitate the Near Eastern practice of reclining and the Scythian-Eurasian use of the drinking horn directly; instead, they imitated the Etruscan and Greek symposion. The path of the kline is from Asia Minor via Greece and Italy into the centers of West Hallstatt culture. In the context of the large amount of Etruscan and Greek bronze dinnerware the was placed in the tomb with the Hochdorf "Celtic prince," it is not surprising that not only portions of the sets of drinking dishes, but also Mediterranean drinking practices, such as the reclining on klinai, were also adopted.

Hochdorf Prince: Museum Display

Hochdorf Prince

Gilded in preparation for the afterlife, this 42cm long, bronze and iron dagger was carried by the prince in life. The blade was protected by a richly decorated sheath. The gold coating made for the burial consisted of 16 parts, all precisely fitted onto the dagger without any fold.

The Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave is a richly-furnished burial chamber. Regarded as the "Tutankamon of the Celts", it was discovered in 1977 near Hochdorf an der Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany). A man of 40 years old, 6 ft 2 in (178 cm) tall was laid out on a bronze couch. He had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, and most notably, thin embossed gold plaques were on his now-disintigrated shoes.

Hochdorf Prince

The east side of the tomb drinking horns, like the one above,  were found on the walls enough to serve nine people.

Hochdorf Prince

Instead of weapons and armor,  the Prince was surrounded by the makings of a fabulous feast: a giant cauldron bronze that was half full of mead, gold and silver dishes, drinking horns.

At the foot of the couch was this large cauldron decorated with three lions around the brim.

Hochdorf Prince

The Prince had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, and most notably, thin embossed gold plaques were on his now-disintigrated shoe.

Hallstatt Celts of the Early Iron Age

The Hallstatt culture spanned central Europe, with its center in the area around Hallstatt in Central Austria and spread westward through Europe.

These elegant shoes were found in what is now called the Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave, circa 530 B.C. (about thirty years prior to the discovery of the Krater of Vix, in Burgundy, France. in 1953). 

An amateur archaeologist brought this rich burial site to light in 1977. By then, the originally 20 ft (6 m) high burial mound covering the grave, which is about 200 ft (60 m) in diameter, had been compressed to about 3 ft (1 m) height and was hardly discernible due to centuries of erosion and agricultural use.

This "prince",  as he is sometimes called, was a man, roughly 40 years of age and 6 ft 2 in (187 cm) tall. His final resting place was a long, richly decorated 9 ft (275 cm) bronze couch on wheels inside the burial chamber. Judging by other objects found there, this man probably had been a Celtic chieftain. These Celts had a thriving trade with the Etruscan tribes of Central Italy, and the couch is regarded as Etruscan manufacture.