Space as the Stage: Understanding the Sacred Landscape Around the Early Celtic Hillfort of the Glauberg

Abstract

The Early ‘Celtic’ hillfort of the Glauberg in Central Germany, some 40 km northeast of Frankfurt, is renowned for its richly furnished burials and particularly for a wholly preserved sandstone statue of an Early Iron Age chief, warrior or hero with a peculiar headgear – one of the earliest life-size figural representations north of the Alps. Despite a long history of research, the basis for the apparent prosperity of the place (i.e., of the people buried here) is still debated, as is the meaning of the settlement site as part of its surrounding landscape. The phenomenon known as ‘princely sites’ is paralleled in the area north and west of the Alps, though each site has a unique set of characteristics. This paper focusses on investigations and new excavations that put the Glauberg with its settlement, burial and ceremonial features into a wider landscape context, including remote sensing approaches (geophysics and LiDAR) as well as viewshed analyses which define the surrounding area based on the Glauberg itself and other burial mounds on the mountains in its vicinity.

Keywords

• sacred places
• calendar building
• viewshed analyses
• hillforts
• ‘princely seats’