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.