The Lavau Grave is princely burial dating to the middle of the 5th century BC, located by the town of Lavau in the

Aube Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The grave was discovered in 2014. Excavations revealed a

chariot burial Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with their chariot, usually including their horses and other possessions. An instance of a person being buried with their horse (without the chariot) is called horse burial. Fin ...

containing a single male aged over 30, buried with exceptional gold treasures and imported artefacts including an ornate bronze cauldron of

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan ...

origin and fine Greek painted pottery. Other items include a belt decorated with silver threads, an ornate belt clasp made from iron and coral, and an amber necklace. The burial was placed within a large chamber built from oak and covered with a huge

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

40 metres in diameter and 6 metres high. It formed the main part of a larger funerary monument containing burials dating back to the Late Bronze Age

Urnfield culture The Urnfield culture ( 1300 BC – 750 BC) was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and p ...

. The whole ensemble was surrounded by rectangular ditches up to 3.5 metres deep and 6-7 metres wide, the corners of which were aligned with the

cardinal directions The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are a ...

. The findings indicate that the buried individual, dubbed the 'Prince of Lavau', belonged to the highest levels of society. The Lavau grave contained artefacts dating from the

Hallstatt Hallstatt ( , , ) is a small town in the district of Gmunden, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif, the town lies in the Salzkammergut ...

D3 period, but later items place the burial itself in the early La Tène A1 period. An associated elite residence or 'princely seat' similar to

Mont Lassois The Vix Grave is a burial mound near the village of Vix in northern Burgundy. The broader site is a prehistoric Celtic complex from the Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène periods, consisting of a fortified settlement and several burial mounds. ...

has not yet been identified, but researchers suggest it may have been located on a nearby elevated site, or more likely at the current location of the city of

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

. Other elite burials and potentitally fortified sites have been discovered in the surrounding area, distributed at regular intervals across the landscape. This suggests an organized "sharing of territorial control" by regional aristocratic elites.

Gallery

File:Torque bracelets Lavau 76656.jpg, Gold torc and bracelets File:Torque prince lavau 76660.jpg, Gold torc, detail File:Olpé Lavau 6652.jpg, Bronze flagon File:Jatte Lavau 76575.jpg, Urnfield culture ceramic

References

{{reflist Celtic archaeological sites Prehistoric sites in France Pre-Roman Gaul Tumuli in France Celtic art Ancient Greek metalwork Chariot burials Individual vases La Tène culture Ancient Celtic metalwork

Gallery

See also

References