European Archaeological Park of Bliesbruck-Reinheim - Finds and Excavations

Finds and Excavations

• Hoard from the 8th century BC, discovered in 1964 in Reinheim. Similar types of hoards found in the greater Saar/Moselle region suggest that such repositories from the Urnfield culture may have cult significance.

• The Tomb of the Celtic Princess of Reinheim, dating from the 4th century BC, is a woman's grave that was filled with exceptionally rich funerary objects. The burial chamber, constructed of oaken beams (3.5m x 3m x 1.2m) was covered over by a massive mound of earth (20m x 4.6m). It was excavated in 1954 by Alfons Kolling. Subsequent investigations in 1956-1957 revealed that originally there had been three burial mounds, of which the tomb of the princess was just the smallest. The other two mounds had diameters of 22 metres and 36.5 metres, respectively. All three mounds were surrounded by circular ditches of 0.6 metres and 1.2 metres. Over the course of the last two millennia, erosion and cultivation of the soil caused the barrows to smooth out into a single hump about 2 metres high, which neighbouring villagers referred to as the Katzenbuckel (cat's arched back). In 1952, while digging out sand and gravel, the entrepreneur Johannes Schiel found an incomplete skeleton, later identified as male, at a depth of one metre, along with only a simple bronze choker and pottery shards as funerary objects. While digging in 1954 the entrepreneur's shovel struck a bronze object that was later interpreted to be the handle of a bronze mirror in figurine form. The fact that Johannes Schiel reported the find to the government conservation authorities (Staatliches Konservatorenamt) meant that it was possible to commission a professional excavation, which commenced by the beginning of March, 1954. On the third day of work, excavators discovered, at a depth of 2.18 metres, the first funerary objects from the sumptuous Tomb of the Celtic Princess.

• A double tomb from the 4th century BC, located about 2000 metres away from the Tomb of the Celtic Princess. This tomb contains the skeletons of two children, thought to be a girl of about 15 years of age and a boy of about 14, together with rich funerary objects. The skeletons of both children were quite well preserved in the Muschelkalk soil of the Blies River Valley. The children had grown to a height of 1.5 and 1.55 metres, very tall for their time, which leads to the conclusion that they were well nourished and lived in relative prosperity. The excavation took place in 2005.

• Vicus (a provincial Gallo-Roman settlement) at Bliesbruck in France. The excavations consist of a western craftsmen's quarter of 14 buildings used for manufacturing and trade, a large public thermae complex and an eastern quarter and forum area which have yet to be fully excavated (2008).

• The Roman villa in Reinheim. The first excavations go back as far as the early 19th century, but the villa has only been systematically excavated and researched since 1987. It is a very large complex which includes courtyard walls enclosing an area 300 metres long and 135 metres wide, and to the north there is a main building measuring almost 80 by 62 metres. One portion of the building in the north end of the west wing is thought to have been the villa's private thermal baths, due to the layout its rooms, as well as the discovery of water channels and fragments of cylindrical tiles (tubuli) attesting to the existence of under-floor heating (hypocaust). The exact date of the initial construction of the villa, located in an area that was settled by Mediomatrics, a Celtic tribe, and conquered by the Romans in 50 BC, is not yet known. The complex reached its greatest size in the first half of the 3rd century AD. Following the first wave of destruction in the 3rd century there was a period of reconstruction. It was destroyed by fire in the 4th century, after which it was never rebuilt. However, artefacts indicate that in the second half of the 4th century the west wing of the main building was again inhabited to some extent. The most famous artefact from the excavation is the Equestrian Mask of Reinheim, found in 2000 near one of the outbuildings. This bronze-plated iron mask, in the form of a human face, most likely served as a hinged visor on a Roman cavalryman's helmet. As of 2007, 110 of these impressive masks have been found worldwide.

• Frankish burial ground from the Merovingian period. This burial ground, recovered in the years from 1974 to 1986, contained approximately 115 graves.

• In addition to ongoing excavations of the villa and the vicus, there is thought to be a prince's residence in the vicinity of the tomb of the princess, and archaeologists are also conducting exploratory excavations on the neighbouring heights in a concentrated effort to discover its location (2006).