The Iron Age tumuli field and the chariot grave of Bell (Rhein-Hunsrück district)

In January 1938 a tumuli field to the east of Bell was surveyed. Today the field is no longer recognizable as the tumuli were completely levelled in the years immediately following the war.
Examining and comparing the 29 tumuli remarkable developments in burial conventions through the ages were clearly evident.
For the most ancient inhumations a tomb cavity was excavated. These tomb cavities were sometimes lined with wood and, occasionally, the dead were laid down in tree coffins or on wooden biers.
Pots, spearheads, iron knives and jewellery would be added  to the burial.
Earth was then heaped up above the tomb cavity, forming a barrow.
Occasionally second burials were let in to the tumulus. It is possible that close relatives were buried alongside their ancestral dead.
In the western part of the field there were no inhumation graves, only cremation graves. Under these tumuli remains of pyres and fire discoloration was evident.
Situated at some remove from the others   was a barrow approximately 22 m wide, which clearly differed in construction and style of burial.
In one barrow the central, original burial had been joined and encircled by four later burials.
The wooden burial chamber of the central grave was set only 20 cm deep in the ground. Inside this burial chamber was a four-wheeled chariot.  The wheels stood in specially dug cavities and the dead were laid out beneath the chariot.
Next to the burial were a spearhead and the private jewellery of the dead, which included a bronze brooch, used to hold fast a robe.  Remains of a mat and some woollen material would seem to have come from some kind of underlay and the clothing of the deceased.
Discovered among the burial gifts was a bucket-shaped vessel. Bended and riveted from a single sheet of bronze and known as a Situla, it was used to serve alcoholic drinks. The Situla originates from Ticino and was brought from there directly to the Moselle area.
All that remains of the wooden chariot are the iron parts and the decorative bronze attachments but they suffice to accurately reconstruct the chariot. A reproduction of this chariot can be seen today in the castle museum in Kastellaun.
The Early Celtic chariot graves are characterized by affluence and elaborate construction. The four-wheeled chariot and its journey had, presumably, a religious function closely connected to, and only for, a small ruling group. At the same time the gift of the chariot served to honour and glorify the dead.
Further parallels to the Bell chariot grave can be found in similar graves in South Germany dating from the 6th and 5th century B.C.
As in the grave at Bell, excavated wheel cavities are also found in graves in the Marne area.
In Bell – along a very ancient highway, the Hunsrück mountain road – South-German influences merged with those of the Marne area and allowed for the extensive cultural interaction of people such as the nobleman buried in Bell.
The bronze Situla found in the tomb cavity was made by Etruscans in upper Italy. But, how did it come to the Hunsrück?
The Etruscans in Northern Italy had direct access to the main Alpine passes and took control over the northern tin trade. The Northern trade route went over several passes, all  of  which lead  from Ticino to the Rhine.
On the Middle Rhine a small group of commercially successful patriarchs had distanced themselves and demonstrated their higher social position in their style of armaments, celebrations and funeral rites.
During the 6th century B.C. this small group of patriarchs of the Hunsrück-Eifel-culture modelled themselves on the powerful elite of South-western Germany.  In particular, their preference for Mediterranean imports which served as symbols of status and prestige.

[Martin Thoma]