A Visit to Glauberg

Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to take a trip to a little village called Glauberg. The village today is quite small and really has nothing significant to it as far as I know, but the hill which lies behind was home to an oppidum (a fortified settlement, typically found on a hilltop or defensible location) during the Iron Age. In addition to the settlement, a large rampart and multiple burial mounds were found around the hill too.

To get to the site, The German (whom I will now call John as this is his new nickname from me) and I had to take a train to Frankfurt from Mainz, and then another train from Frankfurt to Glauberg. We were quite lucky with our first trains – one was nearly brand new and still had the fresh scent to it! It took about two hours to get out there and luckily the ride was pleasant and we even saw some deer!

We arrived in the little village which is located at the foot of the large hill. We started working our way through the village and followed a muddy path up the hill, parallel to some freshly turned fields waiting for new crops. It was a bit tricky getting up because, well, my studious bum has been planted in a chair for the past few months, so to say I am out of shape is an understatement to say the least, but also we have had so much rain and snow in Germany this spring that everything is a bit muddy and soft in general. We made it to the top nonetheless and had to spend about five minutes cleaning the mud off of our shoes before entering the museum.

Sometimes referred to as the Mickey Mouse statue

Visiting the museum first seemed to be the best option because the weather was questionable and it sprinkled a bit while we climbed the hill. The museum, opened in the late 2000s, was not very large, but it holds most of the finds recovered from the excavations, including the famous princely burial in one of the mounds. This find was rather famous in the world of European archaeology. Statues and sculptures are typically rare prior to the Roman Period, so to find this incredible, life-size sculpture associated with one of these wealthy burials was an exceptional find to say the least. It is believed that sculptures like these were found on top of the burial mounds and served as a form of grave marker.

In addition to the sculpture, many marvelous objects were found in the burial mound of the prince. These objects are also exceptional, well, the whole situation is exceptional, because the objects found in the grave are also found on the sculpture itself. This very close connection between the sculpture, the objects, and the burial, allow archaeologists to argue that the sculpture depicts the man found in the grave with these items. This is not something that happens very often in the world of European archaeology.

See? See? Too cool! A matching sword and a shield were also discovered.

I should also mention that these mounds are not simply small little bumps in the landscape that just cover the body. Some of these are several meters high, and tens of meters wide (the princess burial at Vix where I excavate is estimated to be at least forty meters wide!). This is the princely burial of Glauberg.

The sun decided to come out the moment I snapped this photo and I could not be more grateful! As the weather turned around, we decided it was a good time to see the archaeological park which had visible ruins from the Iron Age to the Medieval Period that have been excavated from the early 20^th century to the more recent times. The Iron Age ramparts were a highlight as well as many ruins of medieval houses and castle structures. It took about an hour or so to walk around the area, and while there may have been more to see, the sun seemed to want to retire for the night and I did not want to walk down the hill in the dark.

Nothing really remarkable happened on the way back, other than these two fat cats sitting in a window wanting to get in.

These fat cats make Mea look really thin...and less grouchy.

On the train ride from Frankfurt to Mainz I was blessed with the opportunity to listen to some German skaterpunk teens rap in English for a bit and then switch to raping about how awesome Frankfurt was in German. I use blessed sarcastically here. I survived and had a Schlappeseppel when I got back. Boy will I miss that beer.

Today was my last day in Mainz and I am actually finishing this post on the bus headed for Dijon. New country, new work, and new adventures await! Until we meet again, Germany!