Discovering a Celtic Tut

Ancient chieftain's tomb is dug up in Germany

They were often tall and fair-haired, with great drooping mustaches through which they guzzled goblets of wine. Known as much for their ballads as for their bellicosity, they held sway over Central Europe for 700 years, from about 800 B.C. until the 1st century B.C. Who were these roistering, rambunctious warrior-poets, these so-called Celts? Contemporary Greek and Roman writers disdained them as crude barbarians, and the early Celts did little to correct the slander. Preferring to pass on their exploits in heroic song and verse, they left no written history or literature and, alas, many questions about their culture. But more and more Celtic remains are being uncovered across Europe, the latest one a remarkable burial site discovered this summer near the West German city of Stuttgart. From these finds the extraordinary breadth and depth of Celtic civilization is slowly emerging.

A loose-knit, often warring group of tribes speaking different dialects of a common language, the Celts occupied a territory that spread from Ireland to the edges of the Black Sea. Although they were avid hunters, they set a standard of orderly farming and cattle raising that has left its impact on European agriculture to this day. They were also expert ironsmiths who fabricated plowshares, scythes and even a primitive reaper two millenniums before Cyrus McCormick. They cut roads through the forests, sometimes paved them with timber and stone and rumbled over them in carriages that had wheels rimmed with iron. Above all, the Celts were superb storytellers who bequeathed a literary legacy ranging from the Arthurian legend to Tristram and Isolde.

In addition to the classical writings, much of what is known about the ancient Celts comes from the medieval Irish monks who lovingly transcribed the oral tradition of their ancestors. Firsthand evidence of Celtic accomplishments is more elusive. It is derived largely from ancient grave sites, many of which were ravaged by plunderers. Thus, a year ago, when farmers in the village of Hochdorf, 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Stuttgart, began plowing up curious stones that had clearly been assembled at the site in ancient times, archaeologists quickly converged on the scene. What they uncovered was the collapsed remnant of a burial mound 60 meters (197 ft.) wide, protected by massive bulwarks that hid the ornately appointed and undisturbed tomb of a Celtic chieftain who died around 550 B.C.

Inside the underground room, the diggers found a wheeled bronze couch adorned with geometric patterns and supported by eight figurines, each 30 cm (12 in.) high, in positions of adoration. On the couch lay the skeleton of a powerful man, nearly 2 meters (about 6 ft.) tall and between 30 and 40 years of age, obviously a chief. Encircling his neck was a gold-covered wooden band that was probably a symbol of royalty. At his feet was a heavy bronze kettle more than a meter in diameter, decorated with three lions. Imported from Greece, the kettle had apparently been filled with wine for this Celtic Tut's burial. In it was a gold goblet.

More treasures lay near by: gold shoe fittings, snake-shaped brooches, a ceremonial gold dagger, a quiver and arrowheads of iron and bronze, and an iron drinking horn that the excavation leader, Joerg Biel of the Baden-Wuerttemberg state antiquities service, believes may be the oldest found so far in this part of Europe. The chamber also contained a wooden four-wheeled chariot equipped with a leather bridle, bronze chains and a wood-and-bronze yoke. Though crushed in a cave-in, this Cadillac of Celtic vehicles was obviously intended to demonstrate the dead chiefs status and to afford him a comfortable ride to the beyond.

While more digging is planned, the tomb's significance already seems indisputable. It sheds new light on the extent of trade and other contacts that early Celtic tribes in Germany had with the Mediterranean world and indicates that they were even more sophisticated than historians had suspected. Says Gerhard Jacobi of West Berlin's German Archaeological Institute: "Now we can measure the richness of this culture."

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