
Magdalenenberg is the name of an
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
tumulus
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones ...
near the city of
Villingen-Schwenningen in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. It is considered the largest tumulus from the
Hallstatt period
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European culture of Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries B ...
in Central Europe with a volume of 33.000 cubic meters.
History

The central tomb, where an early
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
Prince (''Keltenfürst'') was buried, has been
dendrochronologically dated to 616 BC. The mound, which is still distinctly silhouetted against the landscape, once possessed a height of 10–12 m (now about 8 m) and a diameter of 104 meters. Little is known about the people who erected it, and current research focusses on the identification of their settlement. In the decades after the Prince's death, 126 further graves were mounted concentrically around the central tomb. At around 500 BCE, this tomb was plundered by
grave robber
Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefacts or personal property. A related act is body snatching, a term d ...
s, whose wooden spades were later found by archaeologists.
During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and the
Early Modern period, the Magdalenenberg was still seen as a significant landmark, although knowledge about its former purpose had been lost. In the 1640s, when Villingen was shaken by a series of
Witch trials
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...
, several women confessed under torture to have danced with the devil on the top of the hill.
Archaeologists began to be interested in the site in as early as the 1880s. In 1890, a team led by forest official Hubert Ganter dug a cone from the top of the hill into the central tomb, expecting to find hidden treasures. However, because of the ancient robbery of the tomb, only few finds turned up. Among those were parts of a wooden carriage, the Prince's bones, and the skeleton of a young pig.
From 1970 to 1973, the archaeologist
Konrad Spindler
Konrad is a German (with variants ''Kunz'' and ''Kunze'') given name and surname that means "bold counselor" and may refer to:
People Given name
Surname
* Alexander Konrad (1890–1940), Russian explorer
*Antoine Konrad (born 1975), birth name ...
led another scientific exploration, now not only focussing on the central tomb, but on the surrounding graves as well. By excavating the whole hill, all 127 graves could be explored and finds like bronze daggers, spearheads, an
iberia
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a la ...
n belt hook and a precious amber necklace were unearthed. Some of those objects are proof for trade connections to the
Mediterranean area
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...
and the eastern
alpine region
The main valleys of the Alps, orographically by drainage basin.
Rhine basin (North Sea)
High Rhine
* Aare
**Limmat
*** Linth ( Glarus)
**** Lake Walen
***** Seeztal
**** Klöntal
**** Sernftal
**Reuss
*** Lake Lucerne
**** Sarner Aa ( Brün ...
, others allow rare insights into the Celtic burial rites. They are now on display in the
Franziskanermuseum (Franciscan Museum) in Villingen, along with the Prince's wooden burial chamber (one of the largest wooden objects from the era in any museum).
Recent Developments

Since 2011, the Magdalenenberg attracted new international attention as the possible site of an early
moon calendar. The archaeologist Allard Mees of the
Romano-Germanic Central Museum (Mainz) Romano-Germanic may refer to:
*Romano-Germanic culture of ancient Germanic peoples subject to the Roman Empire
*Romano-Germanic law, a family of legal systems
*Romano-Germanic Empire, more commonly called the Holy Roman Empire
*Romano-Germanic Museu ...
suggested that the alignment of the graves represents the
stellar constellation at the time of their erection. Another part of his theory is based on large wooden poles that were found inside the hill and whose function remains a mystery. He interprets them as markers directing to the position of the
lunar standstill
A lunar standstill or lunistice is when the moon reaches its furthest north or furthest south point during the course of a month (specifically a draconic month of about 27.2 days). The declination (a celestial coordinate measured as the angle ...
, thus allowing the Celts to prognose
lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Eart ...
s. His theory is hotly debated among scholars and has been criticized by some for lacking scientific evidence,
while others welcomed the new approach.
Since September 2014, a hiking trail called ''"Keltenpfad"'' (Celtic Path) connects the Magdalenenberg with the Franziskanermuseum. Along the road, panels inform about the site's history and significance. In this context, some of the wooden poles were reconstructed at their historical position.
See also
*
Alte Burg (Langenenslingen)
Alte Burg is a large Celtic hilltop fortification, or hillfort, that may have been used as a cult or assembly site for the regional population. It is located 9 kilometers from a major settlement of the Hallstatt and early La Tène period, the Heu ...
*
Glauberg
The Glauberg is a Celtic oppidum in Hesse, Germany consisting of a fortified settlement and several burial mounds, "a princely seat of the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods." Archaeological discoveries in the 1990s place the site amon ...
*
Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave
The Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave is a richly-furnished Celtic burial chamber near Hochdorf an der Enz (municipality of Eberdingen) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, dating from 530 BC in the Hallstatt culture period. It was discovered in 1968 by an ...
*
Heuneburg
The Heuneburg is a prehistoric hillfort by the river Danube in Hundersingen near Herbertingen, between Ulm and Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, in the south of Germany, close to the modern borders with Switzerland and Austria. It is considered ...
*
Hohenasperg
Hohenasperg, located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg near Stuttgart, Germany, of which it is administratively part, is an ancient fortress and prison overlooking the town of Asperg.
It was an important Celtic oppidum, and a number ...
*
Ipf (mountain)
The Ipf is a primarily treeless mountain ( high), near Bopfingen, Ostalbkreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with a prehistoric hill fort on its top.
The fort is situated on an isolated hill, with a flattened summit surrounded by a stone wall, ditc ...
*
Vix Grave
The Vix Grave is a burial mound near the village of Vix in northern Burgundy. The broader site is a prehistoric Celtic complex from the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène periods, consisting of a fortified settlement and several burial mounds. ...
References
{{Authority control
Celtic archaeological sites
Tumuli in Germany
Iron Age sites in Europe
Geography of Baden-Württemberg
Villingen-Schwenningen