Wederath - Grave field

Ranging across the plateau of the Hunsrück, between Hochscheid and Hundsheim, are three large fields of tumuli.
With more than 100 tumuli the grave field of Wederath/Götzeroth is the largest of the three.
Not far from the street settlement, or vicus, of Belginum this extensive tumuli field was discovered during forestry work. Between 1954 and 1982 500 burials were excavated.
Thanks   to Prof. Dr. A. Haffner not only was the grave field excavated and surveyed, but also the temple construction belonging to the Roman settlement..
The grave field is located on a junction of the paths just next to the Hunsrück high road. It was the Roman street, lined by several hundred metres of graves that originally ran here.  
The enormous amount of finds from the grave field were scientifically surveyed, preserved and restored in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum. Part of the horde can be visited in the museum of the Belginum Archaeological Park near Morbach.
More than 500 grave complexes can be attributed to the pre-Roman Celtic population, from the 3rd century B.C. to the time of Christ.   Most of the graves – approximately 2000 – were laid during early Roman times, up to the 4th century A.D. There are only 15, late antiquity, 3rd to 4th century inhumation graves.
Roman antiquity, essentially, had two types of funeral, inhumation and cremation.
Until the end of the 3rd century A.D. the deceased were cremated but following these times – probably in consequence of the Christian idea of the resurrection – inhumations prevailed.
The body, together with gifts, was laid on a pyre and cremated and through this process the deceased was thought to be purified.
Subsequently the cremated remains were picked from the funeral pyre, sometimes deposited in an urn and buried with their gifts in a grave cavity.
Important knowledge about the Roman burial ritual is gleaned from the so-called ash-cavities in the tombs. In approximately 500 cavities broken pots and spilled ashes– the remains of burmt offerings –  were found.
It is not only burial gifts that inform us about the social status of the deceased and the ideas they entertained about the hereafter; most knowledge comes from studying rituals. Graves were marked with steles or monuments made from stone.  The monuments marked family graves and these were bordered by ditches and lightweight fences, later replaced by more permanent walls.
The smaller burial areas, enclosed by square or rectangular ditches were already laid out in Celtic times and were part of  a Romano-Celtic funeral custom. Within the approximately 300 bordered grave areas family members, and affiliates, were buried.
A large amount of finds were saved from graves, ash cavities and cremation sites. The main part of the horde is the thousands of clay pots.
Included among the jewellery and dress items are   hundreds of rings, bracelets, belt buckles and amulets. Brooches, used to fasten robes, with more than 1000 examples found, make up the largest group.   
Approximately 1500 metal items, among them weapons, tools and home appliances provide a glimpse into the technical world of ancient handicrafts.
Finally, more than 773 coins facilitate dating of the graves. In accordance with a Mediterranean custom the deceased was provided with a coin, with which he was supposed to pay the ferryman Charon who, according to ancient myth, rowed him across  the river Styx , which divided the upper world from the underworld, the living from the dead.
It was the Celts – the so-called Treverians – who first buried their dead in Wederath. In Roman times use of the grave field continued for centuries, which is of particularly interest here; the occupation of the necropolis for all together 8 centuries is impressive proof of the successful Roman integration of the local Celtic population.

[Martin Thoma]