Early La Têne Burials from Petronell-Carnuntum (Eastern Austria)

UD: March 2019

 

 

Popularly known as the site of a major Roman military camp and capital of the province of Pannonia Superior, recently published archaeological discoveries from the Petronell-Carnuntum area of Lower Austria have thrown new light on the pre-Roman (Celtic) population in this part of central Europe.

3-D Reconstruction of the later Roman city at Carnuntum

 

Excavated in 2003, but only recently published (Ramsl 2016), research at the Heideweg site in Petronell-Carnuntum revealed, besides 140 Roman burials, 7 graves from the La Têne B2 period, i.e. late 4^th/early 3^rd century BC. Of the 7 Celtic graves containing 8 burials, most notable included grave #7 where both cremation and inhumation burials were identified – a rare example of a bi-ritual burial from this period.

Burial #7 at the Heideweg site in Petronell-Carnuntum

 

A further remarkable burial at the site was burial #2A which furnished a rare example of the burial of a Celtic child. Aged between 3-6 years old the child was buried orientated s-n and grave goods included ceramic vessels, mutton and two bronze fibulae.

 

Child’s Burial 2A

 

Grave #35 at the Heideweg site provided a fascinating example of a Celtic warrior burial, complete with iron lance head, knife and sword. Other grave goods in the burial, of a man in his 40’s (orientated s-n), included ceramic vessels and an iron fibula. In 4 of the burials weapons were recorded and, with the exception of the child in burial #2A, all the deceased were men. This would tend to indicate that the excavated area represents only a small section of a much larger Celtic burial complex.

 

Warrior burial in grave #35, and detail of iron sword

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Report (Ramsl 2016/In German):

 

https://www.academia.edu/26796236/P.C._Ramsl_Lat%C3%A8nezeitliche_Gr%C3%A4ber_in_Petronell-Carnuntum_Krieger_bewaffnete_M%C3%A4nner_oder_einfach_Rollenbilder_einer_Gesellschaft_Beitr%C3%A4ge_zum_Tag_der_Nieder%C3%B6sterreichischen_Landesarch%C3%A4ologie_2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Celtic Warrior Burial from Srednica (Northeastern Slovenia)

UD: Feb. 2019

 

 

 

 

The area of the modern city of Ptuj (ancient Poetovio) in eastern Slovenia has yielded a massive amount of material pertaining to the Celtic culture, uncovered at multiple sites around the city. While the majority of this archaeological material has hitherto tended to relate to the immediate pre-Roman and Roman periods, recent discoveries have also furnished fascinating information regarding the earlier phases of Celtic settlement in this part of Europe.

 

( after Lubšina Tušek M., Kavur B. 2009 = https://www.academia.edu/1379528/LUB%C5%A0INA_TU%C5%A0EK_Marija_KAVUR_Boris._A_sword_between_the_Celtic_warriors_grave_from_Srednica_in_north-eastern_Slovenia._V_TIEFENGRABER_Georg_ur._KAVUR_Boris_ur._GASPARI_Andrej_ur._._Keltske_%C5%A1tudije_II_papers_in_honour_of_Mitja_Gu%C5%A1tin_Protohistoire_Europ%C3%A9enne_11_._Montagnac_%C3%89ditions_Monique_Mergoil_2009_str._125-142 )

 

Relief of the Celtic Matres from Ptuj/Poetovio (LIMC, vol. 6.2, p. 620, n°4)

The Brogdos Pot from Poetovio
The most extraordinary Celtic inscription to be found at Poetovio is undoubtedly that found on a beaker at the site. Dated to the 2nd/3rd c. AD, and written in a Celto-Etruscan script, this inscription reads ARTEBUDZ BROGDUI which has been translated as ‘Artebudz for Brogdos’. Both names are Celtic, and the vessel was a votive offering to Brogdos – a deity guarding the border between the world of the living and the after-world.

 

 

SREDNICA

 

In 2007 four Early La Tène (LT B2) graves were discovered in Srednica on the outskirts of Ptuj, three female burials and that of a warrior. The most interesting of these burials (#9) was that of the Celtic warrior, dating to the late 4th/ early 3rd c. BC, which was accompanied by ceramic vessels, a Middle La Téne iron fibula, socketed spearhead, knife and a Hatvan-Boldog/Münsingen type sword.

 

Celtic Warrior Burial (#9) from Srednica

 

Spearhead, knife and fibula from burial #9

 

The most spectacular discovery in the burial is undoubtedly the sword/scabbard, richly decorated with tendrils, s-scrolls and triskele motifs, combining many Celtic stylistic elements of this period.

 

Upper plate of the Srednica scabbard

 

Suspension loop of the Srednica scabbard

(After Kavur B. (2014) = http://www.hippocampus.si/ISBN/978-961-6832-74-8.pdf)

(The sword is 69 cm long with the blade measuring 56 and the handle 13 cm. The scabbard is up to 4.4 cm broad. The clamps of the scabbard reinforcement are 5.3 cm broad and 1.8 cm long. The discs on the frontal reinforcement are 1.5 cm broad. The suspension loop is 7.4 cm long. The loop plates are 2.6 and the arch is 1.5 cm broad. The chape is 10.3 cm long and 5.9 cm wide)

 

 

From a wider perspective, the Srednica burials represent the first phase of Celtic migration into this part of Europe. In the initial phase only a few inhumation burials are known, such as burials 63 and 111 at Karaburma /Belgrade from Scordisci territory, to which we may add one of the female burials from Srednica, indicating that by the late 4th century BC eastern Slovenia was already settled by Celtic populations (Lubšina Tušek, Kavur 2009). While it has traditionally been thought that the initial Celtic settlement in the Central Balkans was connected with the ‘Brennos Invasion’ of 280/279 BC, it is becoming increasingly clear that this campaign was only the culmination of an ongoing migration which had begun decades earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(On the initial phase of Celtic expansion on the Balkans see also: https://www.academia.edu/10763789/On_The_Celtic_Conquest_of_Thrace_280_279_BC_ )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Mac Congail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LITTLE METAL MEN – Celtic Pseudo-Anthropomorphic and Anthropomorphic Swords

UD: Jan. 2020

 

 

Some of the finest examples of Iron Age metalwork are to be found on the anthropomorphic hilts of swords which appear in the 2nd c. BC, produced by the pan-Celtic tribes across Europe. In late Iron Age artistic compositions human heads become increasingly frequent and realistic, and appear to have had talismanic significance. The hilts of middle to late La Têne swords become truly anthropomorphic, with the figures body as sword grip and the arms and legs as cross bars. 

 

Celtic sword from Switzerland and detail of hilt (Iron blade, copper alloy hilt and scabbard)

(ca. 60 BC)

 

Celtic anthropomorphic sword hilts from Mouriès (Bouches-du-Rhône) and Tesson (Charente-Maritime), France

(2/1 c. BC)

 

 

Celtic anthropomorphic sword in the Reichstadtmuseum Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany (2nd c. BC)

 

The head of an anthropoid hilt from a Celtic sword, discovered at Besançon, France (2 c. BC)

 

Such anthropomorphic representations are not confined to swords, but are also to be found on a number of Celtic daggers from this period. The more realistic depiction of the human head in the late La Têne period, possibly under Roman influence, is also to be observed on other artifacts, notably eastern Celtic helmets of the Novo Mesto type.

 

Short iron sword with X-shaped hilt,  from the Celtic settlement in the Gališ-Lovačka hills, western Ukraine (3/2 c. BC). It is from such X-shaped hilts that the Celtic anthropomorphic hilts are believed to have evolved.

 

Ritually ‘killed’ Celtic sword with proto-anthropomorphic hilt from Szendrő, northern Hungary (3rd c. BC)

 

Hilt of a Celtic dagger from Zalaegerszeg, Hungary.
(2nd c. BC)

 

Human heads from the front and rear of the Novo Mesto type Sava helmet from Croatia

(1st c. BC)

(see: https://www.academia.edu/5463297/The_Power_of_3_-_Some_Observations_On_Eastern_Celtic_Helmets)

 

Celtic swords (and daggers) with anthropomorphic hilts were produced during the La Têne C/D period (2nd c. BC – early 1st c. AD), and have been found across the continent stretching from northwestern Ireland to the Balkans, indicating that they gained popularity among all the pan-Celtic European tribes during this period.

 

Celtic sword with anthropomorphic hilt from Saint-André-de-Lidon (Charente-Maritime) France (2/1 c. BC)

 

Celtic sword with anthropomorphic hilt, from a warrior burial at North Grimston (Yorkshire), England

(late 2nd century BC)

Bronze Celtic sword hilt from Ballyshannon Bay (Donegal) northwestern Ireland

(1st c. BC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ACCIDENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY – Celtic Swords from Northwestern Bulgaria

(UD: November 2018)

Of the later Celtic material from Thrace, most remarkable is a dense concentration of La Têne C/D swords recorded over the last 100 years between the Timok and Iskar rivers in today’s northwestern Bulgaria (Popov 1922, 1924; Mikov 1932/33, 1933; Velkov 1957; Milchev 1958; Nikolov 1965, 1981, 1990, 1993; Alexandrov 1975, 1983; Wozniak 1975; Werner 1977; Petrov 1978; Tacheva-Hitova 1978; Domaradski 1984; Torbov 2000 with cited lit.; see also Paunov 2012). By the end of the 20^th century over 60 of these swords had been registered in this area of northwestern Bulgaria alone – the largest concentration of such Celtic material in Europe….

FULL ARTICLE:

https://www.academia.edu/5385798/Scordisci_Swords_from_Northwestern_Bulgaria