Magdalenenberg

Magdalenenberg is the name of an Iron Age tumulus near the city of Villingen-Schwenningen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany [1]. It is considered the largest tumulus from the Hallstatt period in Central Europe with a volume of 33,000 cubic meters [1]. The central tomb, where an early Celtic prince was buried, has been dendrochronologically dated to 616 BCE [1]. The mound, which is still distinctly silhouetted against the landscape, once possessed a height of 10–12 m (now about 8 m) and a diameter of 104 meters [1]. In the decades after the prince's death, 126 further graves were mounted concentrically around the central tomb [1]. At around 500 BCE, this tomb was plundered by grave robbers, whose wooden spades were later found by archaeologists [1].