North

Sea

GERMANY

Heuneburg
First city north of the Alps

Frankfurt
Nuremburg

Munich

HEUNEBURG

Were there cities in Central Europe before the Romans? Yes, say Manuel
Fernndez-Gtz and Dirk Krausse. And Heuneburg was the first. Long-believed
to be little more than a hillfort, it is, they claim, the oldest urban settlement north of
the Alps and one of the most important sites in European prehistory.
below 3D reconstruction of Heuneburg
at the height of its prosperity in the first
half of the 6th century BC.

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germany

above The Hohmichele, one of the largest burial

mounds in Central Europe.
above right Reconstruction of a section of the
mudbrick wall seen from the Danube valley.

ALL IMAGES UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED: Landesamt fr Denkmalpflege Baden-Wrttemberg

raditionally, archaeologists
considered the Late Iron
Age oppida large fortified
sites of the 2nd and 1st
centuries BC to be the first
cities north of the Alps. Today, large-scale
research projects in Germany and France
are challenging this long-established
view. We now know that the first urban
and proto-urban centres developed
here between the end of the 7th century
BC and the 5th century BC, in an area
stretching from Zvist in Bohemia to Mont
Lassois and Bourges in central France.
The best-known and most intensively
investigated site is Heuneburg, near
Herbertingen in southern Germany.
At about the middle of the 5th century
BC, the Greek historian Herodotus of
Halicarnassus wrote in his famous work
Histories (II, 33): The Istros [Danube] river
arises among the Celts and the polis of
Pyrene, cutting Europe across the middle.
It has been suggested that Pyrene, the polis
mentioned here, is Heuneburg, and that
this is the first time that a city in Central
Europe is mentioned by name.
While this reference cannot be proved,
we can show that the site, located 50 miles
(80km) downstream from the source of
the Danube, is exceptional. Excavations

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at Heuneburg are proving that this was

the site of one of the most important
centres of power in the early Iron Age, a
substantial settlement that flourished
politically and economically, and which
had extensive connections with areas as
far away as Etruria and the Greek colonies.

Revisiting Heuneburg
Research into the prehistoric landscape
around Heuneburg began in the 19th
century, when a number of burial mounds
with rich grave goods were discovered at
Giebel-Talhau. They included gold neck
and arm rings, the remains of wagons,
and bronze vessels. In the first half of
the 20th century, further archaeological
work concentrated on the tumuli, and
in 1937/1938 extensive excavations were

below Fragment of Greek pottery

from Heuneburg.

conducted on the Hohmichele mound; at

43ft (13m) in height and with a diameter
of 263ft (80m), it is one of the largest
tumuli in Central Europe.
The first systematic excavations
on the 3ha of the Heuneburg plateau,
overlooking the Danube, began in 1950.
It was soon clear that the results would
surpass all expectations. The discovery of
a mudbrick wall based on Mediterranean
prototypes and probably erected in
about 600 BC was spectacular, attracting
international attention. The excavations
were continued until 1979, above all by
Wolfgang Kimmig and Egon Gersbach,
and produced further, substantial results.
The archaeological material is unusually
rich, and allows the reconstruction of
14 building phases of the Late Hallstatt
period, together with 10 phases for
the fortifications, thus providing a
remarkable insight into the development
of the settlement on the hilltop plateau,
which, in the early Iron Age, was a
genuine acropolis. The stratigraphy is
extensive, and archaeologists often refer
to the settlement as a tell.
For a long time it was thought that the
settlement at Heuneburg was mainly
confined to this central hilltop. Although
as early as the 1950s it was clear that there
was also an exterior settlement beneath
the tumuli of the Giebel-Talhau
necropolis, this appeared to be no larger
than a few hectares. However, new work
in the last 20 years has radically changed

CurrentWorldA rchaeology 29

left High-resolution LIDAR scan, with the citadel,

lower town, and exterior settlement marked.
below Timbers from the ditch at Heuneburg
during excavation.

this picture. The focus is no longer just

on the central hilltop, but has been
extended to the further surroundings in
search of traces of settlement there. The
combination of field walking, large-scale
excavations, geomagnetic prospection,
and high-resolution airborne LIDAR
scans has extended our understanding
enormously: old theories have been
disproved, new ones proposed. The central
hilltop was only the tip of the iceberg. The
entire settlement at Heuneburg was, in
fact, divided into three areas: the citadel
(hilltop plateau), the lower town, and the
exterior settlement.
The first discovery that changed the
picture completely was the realisation
that the defences of the lower town were
not Medieval, as earlier scholars had for
a long time thought. They were, in fact,
constructed in the Late Hallstatt period.
Evidence for this came partly from
stratigraphical observations in the area
of what is now a car park of the open-air
museum; but above all from the discovery
of large quantities of wood in one of
the ditches that were dated through
dendrochronological analysis to the

30 CurrentWorldArchaeology

first quarter of the 6th century BC. The

timbers were part of a bridge that was built
around 590 BC, and remained in use for
at least ten years. Evidence suggests it was
modified or repaired on several occasions.
A further sensation came with the
excavation in 2005-2008 of a monumental
stone gate of the Hallstatt period. It was
built in the 6th century BC, and, just
like the wall on the plateau, it comprised

mudbricks on a stone foundation. The

gatehouse was extremely impressive: it
was more than 52ft 6ins (16m) deep and
some 33ft (10m) wide, while internal
transverse walls reduced the opening to
about 8ft (2.5m). This was a deliberate
demonstration of power by the local elite:
the gatehouse, integrated as it was into
the 16ft-high (5m) rampart, set behind
a V-shaped ditch some 46ft (14m) wide
by up to 20ft (6m) deep and crossed by a
wooden bridge, was clearly designed to
make as monumental an impression as
was possible.
In addition to all this, work in the
area of the lower town has revealed that
it was densely settled. Indeed, even
unsuitable, steeply sloping areas were
carefully terraced so that they could be
used to build houses, suggesting that the
population here was heavily concentrated,
and that there was a shortage of space
in the area. As a result, a whole series
of artificial terraces were constructed
which provided level surfaces for the
construction of houses and workshops.
The discoveries relating to the exterior
settlement are also of fundamental
importance for our understanding
of Heuneburg. The results of the new
excavations and surveys by Siegfried Kurz
indicate that at least during the first half
of the 6th century BC, a huge area of some

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above 3D reconstruction of the monumental stone

gate, in the background the towers of the mudbrick wall.
left The monumental stone gate that formed the
entrance to the lower town of Heuneburg.

100ha to the west, north, and south-west

of the hilltop plateau was taken up by
closely spaced farmsteads, enclosed by
rectangular palisades. This huge exterior
settlement was divided into smaller
quarters by an extensive system of banks
and ditches. These, in turn, then enclosed
various properties of between 1ha and
1.5ha that were surrounded by massively
built timber fences.
Areas of the exterior settlement that
were suitable for occupation would have
provided sufficient space for about 50
such units, being inhabited by most of the
various groups who gradually merged to
form a single community. The division
of this exterior settlement into separate
quarters may also be evidence for the
existence of different kinship groups,
each inhabiting one of these quarters.

Heuneburg in
a new light
Rather than a small hillfort of just a few
hectares, as once believed, we can now see
that in the first half of the 6th century BC
Heuneburg was an enormous settlement of

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100ha and at least 5,000 inhabitants.

Both Heuneburg and other contemporary
sites like Bourges or Mont Lassois should no
longer be described as princely seats. These
are the first urban or proto-urban centres
of temperate Europe, ruled by kings and
aristocrats whose power and social position
is reflected in rich burials such as those
at Hohmichele, Bettelbhl, Hochdorf,
Sainte-Colombe, or Vix.
Thus we can conclude that Heuneburg
constituted the central place of an
important early Iron Age polity, comparable
in power and influence to Etruscan
city-states of the Archaic Period such as
Tarquinia, Veii, or Orvieto. And, given its
early date, Heuneburg can therefore be
described as the first city north of the Alps.
Of course, a city is not only defined
by the size of its population or the area
it covers, but also by other factors, such
as the exercise of functions typical of a
central place for the surrounding area.
However, the extent of the settlement,
the presence of imposing monumental
structures the mudbrick wall, stone gate,
large building with several rooms nearly
1,000ft (300m) in size beneath GiebelTalhau Mound 4, for example as well as
indications of significant differences in
social status and specialised production,
justifies categorising Heuneburg as a
town, at least for the period of the

mudbrick wall, c.600/590 to 540/530 BC.

It is important to realise that the
extent and the significance of the Late
Hallstatt Heuneburg continued to
change throughout its less than 200-year
occupation. Indeed, the various building
phases, fires, and constant restructuring
are testimony to an eventful existence
with dynamic social changes.
Extensive surveys have revealed that
for the 7th to 6th centuries BC there was
a scattering of farms and hamlet-like
agricultural settlements in the region
around Heuneburg.

below Map showing how the exterior settlement

was divided into smaller quarters, each one including
several farmsteads.

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above Reconstructed buildings from the mudbrick wall phase at the Heuneburg
open-air museum.
right Plan of a large building that was later covered over by Mound 4 of the
Giebel-Talhau necropolis.

of the 6th century BC with relatively

uniform, small buildings set in rows,
some of which served as workshops.
During the mudbrick-wall period, an
enormous structure with several rooms
was erected outside the citadel on the
later site of Mound 4 of the GiebelTalhau necropolis. This building, covering
1,050ft (320m), shows structural

As the farming settlements prospered,

so the population grew and local elites
developed. The circle of the most
important families and settlement groups
was surely responsible for triggering the
construction of Heuneburg in the second
half of the 7th century BC. The heads of
different households and lineage groups
must have joined together in a process
that led to the construction of the exterior
settlement at Heuneburg.
After a first phase of settlement and
fortification based on a traditional
pattern, a mudbrick wall was built around
the 3ha hilltop plateau sometime around
or soon after 600 BC. This wall was clearly
inspired by Mediterranean prototypes and
was unique north of the Alps. It consisted
of mudbricks set on a stone base, with
rectangular towers incorporated into the
defences along the north and west faces
(see illustration on p.31).
In contrast to the exterior settlement,
the actual citadel at Heuneburg was
densely built up during the first half

32 CurrentWorldArchaeology

left 3D reconstruction of Wagon Burial 6 from

the Hohmichele mound.
below 3D reconstruction of the newly discovered
burial from the Bettelbhl necropolis.

similarities with the Etruscan palaces

of Murlo and Acquarossa.

Landscape of ancestors
From the beginning, the settlement at
Heuneburg was surrounded by numerous
burial mounds which served as last
resting places for members of the social
elite and their relatives. The monuments
that comprised this extensive landscape
of ancestors functioned as a mnemonic
system that was central to issues of kinship,
territoriality, and social memory. Death,
identity, and social memory would have
been fundamentally linked, as they

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right Some of the finds from the

newly discovered rich burial in the
Bettelbhl necropolis.
are in most ancient cultures. In
this context, the placing of grave
mounds in the landscape could
imply a strategy of tying the
dead of particular households or
lineages to specific parcels of land.
Moreover, it would have played a
key role in the construction and
maintenance of social memory and
power relationships both within and
between groups.
It is interesting to note that the
burials of the early phase were situated
at some distance from the settlement.
Many of the large mounds and princely
burials are arranged in larger cemeteries
that include not only rich, but also normal
or simply furnished graves. An example
of a rich chamber burial from the period
is Wagon Burial 6, from the Hohmichele
mound. It dates to about the first quarter of
the 6th century BC. Unfortunately, most
of the central graves in the mounds were
robbed in ancient times, so probably most
of the richest burials are lost.
It is for precisely this reason that
the latest results from the Bettelbhl
necropolis, 1.5 miles (2.5km) south-east
of Heuneburg in the Danube valley, are
of such enormous scientific interest. In
2005, the secondary burial of a two- to
four-year-old girl was found in Mound
4. It was furnished with two gold-plated
fibulae and two gold pendants, and is one
of only a handful of rich child burials of
the Hallstatt culture. Such a wealthy burial
of a young child suggests that at this time
the concept of inherited status was being
established at Heuneburg.
But the main highlight is the central
burial in the same Mound 4 of the

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two rich burials. So far, about 30 gold

objects (including an earring, fibulae,
pendants), and more than 100
pieces of amber have been recovered.
Dendrochronological analysis places
the grave in the early 6th century BC,
meaning that it is one of the oldest
known rich burials of a woman from
the early Iron Age.

The great fire

Bettelbhl necropolis, which was
recovered at the end of December 2010
as a 80-ton block: it is a shaft grave with a
14ft 9ins (4.5m) x 11ft 9ins (3.6m) timber
chamber. The floorboards and some of
the side planks were excellently preserved,
thanks to the extreme humidity of the soil.
Although excavation in the laboratory
has not yet been completed, it is already
clear that this is the unrobbed burial of a
woman. The gold jewellery and the fibulae
are very similar to the gold objects in the
childs grave, so we must assume that there
were strong social connections between the

This early 6th

century BC
grave is one
of the oldest
known rich
Iron Age burials
of a woman.

A dramatic break in the history

of the settlement at Heuneburg came
after the mid-6th century BC following
a devastating fire. The cause of this
catastrophe is difficult to ascertain:
whether external attack or internal
conflict; or problems with supply and
exploitation of resources; or simply the
emigration of part of the population.
Whatever the reason, we know from
excavations in recent years that within
the enormous external settlement most
of the material dates to the period of
the mudbrick wall, while material from
the end of the 6th and the beginning
of the 5th centuries BC is restricted to
just a few isolated areas. Heuneburg was
fundamentally restructured soon after the
middle of the 6th century BC: the external
settlement was abandoned and the
Giebel-Talhau cemetery, which dates
from 540/530 BC, was placed over it.
The large Giebel-Talhau necropolis
mounds make up an isolated cemetery for
the social elite, and were not incorporated
into a larger necropolis emphasising the

Below left Burial mounds at Giebel-Talhau.

Below Reconstruction of a monumental building
from the phase after the mudbrick wall in the
Heuneburg open-air museum.

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special status of the ruling elite at

Heuneburg.
At about the same time as the
exterior settlement was abandoned
and the Giebel-Talhau necropolis
was initiated, there is a fundamental
change in the architecture of
the citadels fortifications: the
mudbrick wall is replaced in
c.540/530 BC by a traditional earth
and timber rampart. The fact that
the mudbrick wall was never rebuilt
after the fire suggests that there
was an iconoclastic reaction to the
exotic building technique.
The buildings in the citadel also
underwent a complete reorganisation at
this time. Instead of the rows of relatively
uniform houses from the mudbrick phase,
buildings of varying size and function
now appear, including prestigious 1,312ft
(400m) structures, which may be regia,
aristocratic residences, or assembly halls.
The lower town, meanwhile, saw an
intensification of settlement: densely built
terraced areas, occupied in the last quarter
of the 6th century BC and the early part
of the 5th century BC, have produced
large quantities of finds that suggest this
area was occupied by artisans and others
involved in service activities.
It appears, then, that during the
mudbrick phase, buildings within the
citadel were mostly uniform and set
closely together, while outside it structures
were more scattered and varied. In the
following period, this was reversed, with
less dense and more varied construction
within the citadel, while outside in the
lower town structures were more crowded
and the architecture was probably more
uniform. Interestingly, most of the
Mediterranean imports, including several
Greek vases, belong to the period after the
end of the mudbrick wall.

New times?
Unfortunately, although we know
that occupation of the citadel and the
lower town did not continue beyond
the mid-5th century BC, we still do not
know why Heuneburg was so abruptly
abandoned. However, if we consider
the development of central places
between Burgundy and Wrttemberg
at this time, we can at least identify a

34 CurrentWorldArchaeology

ABOVE A 16ft-deep (5m) shaft for cult activities

at the Alte Burg site, near Langenenslingen.

The mudbrick
wall was never
rebuilt, suggesting
an iconoclastic
reaction to the
exotic building
technique.

distance of 1.2 miles (2km).

In the thick layers of gravel,
a number of prehistoric finds
were made that had been
deposited there secondarily,
including two Early La Tne
bronze fibulae found directly
below Heuneburg. Since the
settlement at Heuneburg more
or less ceased at the end of the
Hallstatt period, but the two
fibulae belong to the La Tne
period that followed and so
are later they seem to indicate
previously unrecognised activity within
the direct vicinity of Heuneburg.
One possibility is that the two fibulae are
related to practices of ritual deposition in
or near the Danube. Whether they are or
not, the new finds are confirmation of the
enormous potential for further research
and discoveries in and around Heuneburg.
With regard to this, it should be noted that
Alte Burg hillfort near Langenenslingen
just 5.6 miles (9km) from Heuneburg was
apparently a sacred place for people at this
time, and there is evidence here for cult
activities well into the La Tne period.

below An early La Tne mask fibula from the

Danube valley.

pattern. Heuneburg appears to have

been abandoned at about the same time
as similar centres such as Mont Lassois
in Burgundy. At the same time, in a zone
further to the north, central places like
Bad Drkheim and Glauberg became
more important, and a new elite burial
zone emerged between Champagne
and Hunsrck-Eifel.
The reasons behind these structural
displacements and shifts in power from
the south to the north remain uncertain.
But that we must still expect surprises is
shown by finds made during a watching
brief at construction work below
Heuneburg in 2009-2010. During work to
environs of the Danube, a new river bed
131ft (40m) wide was excavated over a

source DrManuel Fernndez-Gtz, Heuneburg-Project of the State Office for Cultural Heritage
Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, [email protected]
Prof. Dr Dirk Krausse, head of the Archaeological Heritage Department at the State Office for Cultural
Heritage Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany, [email protected]

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