Cool Finds

Construction in Germany Revealed the ‘Princely Grave’ of a Celtic Warrior Who Was Buried With Weapons and a Two-Wheeled Wagon

Archaeologists say the find proves “the previously only assumed presence of a local Celtic elite.” Grave goods also included gold jewelry and a jug imported from modern-day Tuscany

Meilan Solly | Senior Associate Digital Editor, History

June 12, 2026 4:21 p.m.

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In the middle of the first millennium B.C.E., a high-ranking Celt was buried in what is now Hessen, Germany. The Iron Age individual was laid to rest with a rich array of grave goods, including gold jewelry, an Etruscan jug and a two-wheeled wagon. Based on the assortment of artifacts found in the grave, experts think that it once held the remains of an elite male warrior.

Archaeologists discovered the burial while conducting excavations tied to the construction of a solar farm near the town of Bad Camberg. According to a statement, the “princely grave” proves “the previously only assumed presence of a local Celtic elite.” The wagon—accompanied by wheel hub fittings, iron wheel rim fittings and metal axle caps—is a particularly rare find: Just three comparable burials have been recorded in Hessen to date, and none come close to the quality of the newly identified grave.

Funerary goods recovered from the site speak to the deceased’s wealth and status. Archaeologists found solid gold rings that the man likely wore on his fingers, arms and neck, as well as a beak-spouted jug that may have been imported from present-day Tuscany, Italy, the German Press Agency reports. No bone fragments or teeth survive, so the researchers based their proposed identification of the grave’s owner on the artifacts buried alongside him, especially weapons such as spearheads and a knife.

The Etruscan jug is similar to specimens found at Glauberg, a Celtic settlement also located in Hessen. Collectively, the discoveries testify to far-reaching Iron Age trade networks that extended from modern-day Germany to the Mediterranean, Jan Dönges writes for Spektrum.de.

The newly discovered grave dates to roughly the same period as the “Glauberg prince,” a life-size sandstone statue discovered in a burial mound in 1996. Both are associated with the La Tène culture, which thrived in Central and Western Europe between roughly 450 and 50 B.C.E. Still, differences between the two “princes” remain: As Spektrum.de points out, the Glauberg leader was buried with more valuable grave goods than the Bad Camberg one. Both, however, apparently lived in a hierarchical Celtic society governed by wealthy elites.

“The find from Bad Camberg fits into Hessen’s rich Iron Age heritage,” says Christoph Degen, state secretary for culture, in the statement. “Sites like Glauberg have long demonstrated the prominent role that present-day Hessen played in the Celtic cultural sphere. This new discovery can expand on that picture: It promises new insights into social elites, craft skills, supraregional contacts and burial customs in the late Iron Age.”

For now, archaeologists have only excavated a small section of the site. But X-rays and CT scans suggest that more grave goods remain hidden underground. Doris Ammelung, chair of the Camberg Historical Society, tells Mittelhessen’s Petra Hackert that the artifacts already recovered from the burial need to undergo evaluation, but local historians are hopeful that they might one day go on view in the town where they were found.

Meilan Solly | Read More

Meilan Solly is a senior associate digital editor at Smithsonian magazine, where she oversees the online history section. Solly's specialties are Tudor England, medieval Europe and World War II.