Date(s): 2006+. Photos by aymar. 1 - 22 of 22 Total. 3292 Visits.
1 Hochdorf find, funeral chamber Kline, funeral wagon, cauldron and gold rimmed drinking horns. The whole funeral chamber may have been covered with 'winding sheets'. > LMS (Landesmuseum Stuttgart).
The Celts never had much use for vaults and arches and that despite close Etruscan contacts. Their tomb chambers were certainly crude post and beam affairs. Predictable drawbacks, frequent cave ins once the superstructure had became rotten (the cave ins may have had some unintentional camouflage value). Fertile Crescent perspective: Those Celts are just spoilt rotten by the availability of so much cheap timber. Their renowned 'murus gallicus' certainly an astounding wood guzzler. Contractor, I can give you only a 10 year warranty for any of these but I can offer an advantageous servicing contract. Slightly recast, built in obsolescence. The bearded stock market guru: we will take duly note of that. Celtic business cycles admittedly still somewhat virgin territory even to me.
2 Hochdorf, Funeral wagon Wagon platform with a set of 'picnic plates'. The Celtic sombrero figure is part of an unrelated wall display. Reflections are plentiful. The non flashlight policy is strictly enforced. > LMS
The wheel to wheel distance of the funeral wagon is given very precisely as 1,13 m. Apparently the Celtic narrow gage standard at the time. Sufficient space for charioteer and 'gunner' standing abreast. Basically a Piggott tenet. Rutting is forwarded as a self reinforcing standard. Certainly remarkable if true. Would certainly make it one of the first technical norms in history. Main problem, sunken lanes are rather common but how many of the Celtic oppida were actually paved. No standard is required for mud hole driving. [The axle trees were obviously still true wooden axle trees at the time. None did survive.]
Function of the ornate 'rear bumper' is uncertain. - Personal guess, a hitching rail for severed heads and handcuffed POWs. On the double. Teuta...
3 Hochdorf, Funeral wagon the unforked hitching pole
4 Hochdorf, Funeral wagon All heavy duty parts , wagon pole, spokes and even the felloe (inner ring) are banded. In sympathetic extensions: What is good for my hubs will also be good for my 'pythons'. The Celts did wear lots of bracelets.
Old cartwright books recommend ash woods for the felloes and the spokes. The Celts also used elm and maple. There was no shortage of suitable hardwoods. Rule of thumb, whatever is good for my lance will also perform adequately if used as spoke. (Walnut, teak and mahogany should also do in a pinch. Fairy tale world of big, urgent government contracts where cost is no issue.) Standard requirement regardless of hardwood, well seasoned. Nobody likes warped wheels. Fir and spruce were used for the wagon floor where some degree of elasticity was desired. Pleated hazel switches might have worked even better.
5 Hochdorf, Funeral wagon Upskirts view. It remains unclear how the T-shaped wagon tongue was exactly attached to the wagon frame. Present display wiring (by Biel et al) is somewhat uncommitted. An unhinged front axle is however assumed. Problem, the reconstructions of the nearly contemporary funeral wagons of > Mount Lassoix-Vix (500 B.C) and of Mitterkirchen assume a pivoting front axle. Could have been a transition period. The Etruscan funeral wagon of the > Regolini-Gallasi tomb, 7th cent. B.C., has a non pivoting front axle. Piggott also opts for a fixed front axis in his often reproduced ground plan of a four wheeled Celtic wagon.
Circumstantial evidence for a non pivoting front axis: The iron trimmings of the superstructure do not show any telltale scuff marks from the front wheels. (The wheel clearance of the present rec...
6 Hochdorf, the wagon hubs The size of the wagon hubs look over-proportioned, be it only by present day viewing habits. It is unlikely that the 'bug-eyed' fashion will ever come back.
The strongly protruding axle hub, total core length easily a foot, is probably one of the most eye catching features of old wagons and carriages. (Tentative diagnosis: Basedow's disease - now thyroid orbitopathy - in its advanced stages.) State of the art war chariots will have been equally 'bug eyed'. Rough terrain would otherwise have played havoc with your wheel alignment. Worse case scenario: One daredevil Jehu ride and your chariot will good for a general overhaul in Megiddo. Precursor of the protruding axle hub, the lentil shaped wheel.
So why the hubs. Short answer, to prevent the thing from becoming x-legged. Well known affliction in a leverage orientated world. Problem classification: One could envisage two wheeled stunt driving (the catamaran act). The latter will certainly pu...
8 mortised hub Partially reconstructed hub on a 'hub last'. >LMS
9 Hohmichele in situ > LMS
10 Hohmichele, mortised hubs with linchpin > LMS
11 Hochdorf , the kline warrior Problem with the spear brandishing figure on the back of the bronze kline: Lack of any firm foothold. Just imagine a decent jousting match. One blow and the poor guy would tumble overboard. And some things should simply not be done from milk floats. Possibly just some sort of semaphoring from an observation hill. Deployment of two wheeled war chariots in any case more likely. One can just see them threading through the thick of things, rough going (minimal suspension) so it may have been. Boudicca lore (1st cent A.D.)
12 Hochdorf , personal belongings gold laminated boots (looks that way), the latest in Celtic Adidas fashion. > LMS
13 Celtic heartlands The map shows well known sites of Celtic wagon burials. Time frame: Late Hallstatt, early LaTene period. [Hallstatt time (late bronze, early iron age), roughly 1100 BC to 500 BC. LaTène period, 500 BC to Common Era, with a slight lag for the British Isles.]
Reincarnation angle. Superimpose a map of the Continental LaTene culture with early 20th century car manufacturing regions and you will get a decent match. From Skoda to Ferrari to Renault. Age old cutting room wisdom: Give me enough suitable time windows and I can make everything fitting.
14 Hochdorf, the actual burial mount Russian Elves: From a Briefing of 'Fairy Gold International'
An Elfin burial mount in the Toscana is called a 'tumulus', in Scythia (Ukraine and beyond) a 'kurgan'. Tempting to include suttees (some gypsy variants, RVs as funeral pyres). Well attested Celtic variant, side burials in the master burial mount were permitted. Shield bearers and destitute family members may have been eligible. The side burials will probably have been deferred until said 'beneficiary' died of natural causes. Could in that case be regarded as a 'fringe benefit'. Age of exploration footnote: The systematic despoiling of kurgan treasure will fall into the reign of Peter the Great. A variable amount, Cortes might have called it the crown share, had to be handed over to the samoderzhets (rough translation 'sovereign') to remain in good standing. (The Czar may nevertheless have deplored the vandalism occasionally. Royalty can be surprisingly ...
15 Hochdorf the funeral hill with unmarked stele
16 Hochdorf agricultural panorama with post Celtic farm equipment
17 Hochdorf, Asperg view Picture is somewhat hazy and cluttered up with power lines. Still somewhat of a must. The Asperg is regarded as the center of the local Celtic clan rule (tentative term) of the 6th century B.C. The fortifications on top are definitely post Celtic. The Asperg served as state prison in the time of Carl Eugen. Celebrity case Schubart. (Facetiously, the highest mountain of the whole country. A stretch of 2 years is the minimum. Some climbers disappear forever. Bright side, you will have a fair chance to find a ready made Celtic get away vehicle when you dig your personal escape tunnel.)
18 Hochdorf Flowering (goat) willow, male
19 Goat willow, fem
20 Hochdorf Goat Willow fluff caught in a cobweb.
21 Hochdorf rolling fields of oilseed rape
22 Hochdorf More cultivation space set aside for bioethanol production. (Could also be earmarked for salad dressing.) Comment of a Celtic Achilles, very considerate, but ordinary clover will be quite sufficient for the grazing needs of my steeds.
