Talk:Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave

Talk

Discussion for: Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave • View • Links • Related changes

Use this page for verification notes, disputes, and action items. Keep narrative content on the article.

Page scope

Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave covers the late Hallstatt burial mound at Eberdingen-Hochdorf as a cannabis site: the hemp-bast fabrics on the bronze couch, how they were identified and how they have been read. The other grave goods are mentioned only where the textile study uses them.

Data verification

Record source conflicts, dating problems and sources not used here. Keep narrative content on the article.

Discussion

Sources

Banck-Burgess, "Die organischen Reste im Kontext der Bronzeliege", chapter 9 of Hochdorf X, pp. 111–123, open access from Propylaeum (Heidelberg, 2023; print edition Reichert, Wiesbaden, 2021, doi 10.29091/9783752005714): the textiles on the couch, their identification, the mattress and the author's readings.
Biel, chapter 2 of the same volume (from p. 17): the mound, the excavation, the chambers.
Keefer, chapter 1 of the same volume (from p. 11): the discovery of the mound in 1977.
Krausse, foreword to the same volume (print edition): the date of the burial.
McPartland and Hegman (2018), Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 27, Online Resource 2 (the site table): the review's entry for the site.

Works cited at second hand

U. Körber-Grohne (1985), "Die biologischen Reste aus dem hallstattzeitlichen Fürstengrab von Hochdorf, Gemeinde Eberdingen (Kreis Ludwigsburg)", in Hochdorf I (Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg 19, Stuttgart), pp. 87–162. This is the botanical identification of the hemp bast (pp. 102–103, 130–136, as cited by Banck-Burgess). Its findings are given here as Banck-Burgess summarises them.
U. Körber-Grohne (1988), "Microscopic methods for identification of plant fibres and animal hairs from the Prince's tomb of Hochdorf, Southwest Germany", Journal of Archaeological Science 15(1): 73–82, doi 10.1016/0305-4403(88)90020-9. McPartland and Hegman say the identification is "elaborated" there. Nothing is cited from it here.
J. Banck-Burgess (1999), Hochdorf IV, the full catalogue of the grave's textiles. Chapter 9 summarises it and in places corrects it.

Source discrepancies

Date. The foreword gives "um 530/520 v. Chr." as the probable date of the burial and does not say how it was reached. McPartland and Hegman give 530 BCE and Hallstatt phase D. The infobox follows the foreword.
Badger pelts. Körber-Grohne (1985) identified some of the material as badger pelts, from the hairs alone. Banck-Burgess (2021, p. 112) found them to be hemp-bast fabrics with badger hairs stuck to them. The later study is followed.
Use of the fabrics. Körber-Grohne took the stiff hemp-bast fabrics to be for decoration only; Banck-Burgess notes that she did not yet know how they lay on the couch (p. 116, n. 37). Banck-Burgess also withdraws her own 1999 view that the folds showed supple cloth (p. 119, n. 47).
Stripes. Körber-Grohne explained the light and dark stripes by thread from different parts of the stem; Banck-Burgess, after experimental work, allows other causes (pp. 116, 118). Both explanations are given.
Labels. Chapter 9 calls the padding "Textilkomplex C" on p. 111 and heads its section "Textilkomplex A" on p. 115. The groups are described here without letters.

Infobox values

Dates of the find. 530 to 520 BCE, the foreword's probable date for the burial. The textiles were made around the time of the death (Banck-Burgess, p. 112). No method is given for the date, so the dating method is empty.
Analysis. Microscopy: Körber-Grohne's identification of the fibres and hairs, as the title of her 1988 paper and McPartland and Hegman ("microanalysis", "many photomicrographs") describe it.
Site type. Burial mound. Biel describes a large mound over a double timber chamber.
Period. Late Hallstatt period, the volume's "späthallstattzeitlich". No culture is entered.
Excavated and excavators. 1978–1979, led by Jörg Biel (Biel, p. 17; foreword).
Province. Left empty: the wiki has no page for Baden-Württemberg. The district is given as written.
Where the finds are now. Left empty: the chapters cited do not name a holder.
Disputed. Not set. No cited paper questions that the fabrics are hemp.

Georeferencing

The point is 48.89, 9.01. The chapters cited print no position. Two gazetteers place the mound itself within about 0.02 km of each other: Wikidata Q641907, first coordinate value (48.888611, 9.009722), and OpenStreetMap way 27430466 (tagged as a tumulus, linked to Q641907). The item's second coordinate value (48.889167, 9.003333) marks the museum, not the mound, and is not used. Éloise 19:07, 30 October 2026 (+07)