Migration, war and deserted landscapes: The end of the La Tène culture in southwest Germany and its significance for the Gallic War in the 1st century BC

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• Gerd Stegmaier (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
• Tuesday 11 March 2025, 17:00-18:30
• McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Seminar Room.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jinoh Kim.

During the last few years, large-scale excavations and linear construction projects have revealed numerous new sites of the Later La Tène period in Baden-Wuerttemberg, which today shed a completely new light on the picture of late Celtic settlements in southwest Germany. In addition to the already known oppida and „Viereckschanzen“ (square enclosures), smaller unfortified farmsteads and larger open settlements have been discovered. Besides that new excavations took place in the large fortified settlements such as the oppidum Heidengraben, the settlement and fortification complexes of Kirchzarten “Tarodunum”, the oppidum of Creglingen-Finsterlohr and the oppidum of Altenburg-Rheinau. Likewise, targeted excavations and research projects were carried out in numerous „Viereckschanzen“ that were newly discovered or had already been known. The results of these investigations show a differentiated and structured settlement pattern which was regionally adapted and tailored to specific geographical areas. Always recurring is the evidence for the destruction and abandonment of settlements during LT D . The new excavation results suggest that there is something that could be called a “destruction horizon” which in its nature and uniformity goes far beyond individual damage fires. The intentional fire and demolition events rather testify to deliberately destroyed and systematically cleared settlement areas and range from the burning of buildings and fortifications to the destroying and “ritual” backfilling of wells. As a result, most of the settlements seem to have been abandoned around 100 BC and were not reoccupied again during the Latène period. Correspondences with antic and historical written sources are becoming increasingly obvious, such as the “Helvetian Wastelands”, mentioned by Claudios Ptolemaios, which points to the migration of Celtic tribes from southwestern Germany. These movements could be related to the passage of the Germanic Cimbri and Teutons, which were also joined by Celtic populations. The phenomena described above also show numerous parallels to the “exodus of the Helvetii” from the area of present-day Switzerland described by Caesar, which he used as justification for the necessity of the invasion of Roman troops in central Gaul in 58 BC and marked the beginning of the Gallic War. The presentation will analyse how these phenomena are related to each other and what the consequences are for the interpretation of the historical traditions of the Gallic War.

This talk is part of the Later European Pehistory Group (LEPG) series.

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• Later European Pehistory Group (LEPG)
• McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Seminar Room

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