Reconstruction of the burial chamber from Eberdingen-Hochdorf
Photo: Landesmuseum Württemberg/FaberCourtial/Thomas Hoppe
The discovery of the two impressive graves in Eberdingen-Hochdorf and Asperg-Grafenbühl at the end of the 1970s was already an archaeological sensation. Due to their rich grave goods, which included a sofa-like throne, a chariot, bronze and gold eating and drinking vessels as well as amber jewelry, they were quickly given the name “princely graves.” The burial mounds had a circumference of 60 or 40 meters and were clearly visible on mountain ranges placed. This suggests that the princes buried here ruled a wide area.
Archaeologists suspected early on that there must be a closer relationship between the two grave complexes, which are around 2,500 years old. Culturally, they belonged to the Hallstatt culture, which is assigned to the Celtic peoples in today’s France, Switzerland and southwest Germany. There are no pictorial or written records from this period, but meticulous excavations showed that the burial mounds were only built after the death of the princes, which took several months. So both men must have enjoyed high status that their group went to so much work to bury them with dignity.
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Modern DNA technology has now made it possible to prove the suspected relationship between the two dead people. To do this, the scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology took samples from the teeth and ear bones of not only the two princes, but also the other people who were subsequently buried in their burial mounds, as well as from five other Celtic princely graves.
The genes of 31 people, 20 men and 11 women, were analyzed. It turned out that the princes of Eberdingen-Hochdorf and Asperg-Grafenbühl were uncle and nephew. Specifically, the mother of the prince’s nephew from Asperg-Grafenbühl was the sister of the Prince of Eberdingen-Hochdorf. Most of the other people were also related to each other as cousins or more distantly.
The reconstruction of the family relationships showed that the line of descent was traced through the female members of the family and that nephews were therefore preferred over sons. This is typically the case in societies where the ancestry of children cannot be clearly traced back to their fathers. This also indirectly says something about the status of women, who must have had certain sexual freedoms. However, the research group also emphasizes that matrilineality did not necessarily apply to the majority of the Celtic population. Ethnographers estimate that only about 10 to 17 percent of human societies were governed this way.
The essence of the study is that although men ruled, the inheritance of power came from the mother’s side in order to keep it in the family. The skeletons examined came from a period of around 130 years and from locations in Baden-Württemberg that were up to 100 kilometers apart. The family’s sphere of influence must therefore have been large and constant.
However, some of those buried who died in childhood were not related to the princely family, but came from other Celtic centers of power. This can be proven by the strontium analysis of the bones. The strangers in the princely tombs were probably a kind of foster children who were raised to strengthen family-dynastic ties. Later reports from ancient writers confirm this practice among the Celts, as well as the priority of nephews over sons.
The DNA researchers placed the results of their study in the context of known genetic conditions in southwest Germany. A stable population group lived here throughout the Bronze Age, whose composition only changed in the early Iron Age, i.e. between 100 and 200 BC. C.E., changed noticeably. During this time, the immigration of Germanic-speaking peoples from northern Germany and Denmark began, whose leadership replaced the old Celtic elite.
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