Landscape of Ancestors project excavations in two tumuli near Heuneburg hillfort, Speckhau group; CT-scans pioneered grave goods analysis.

Landscape of Ancestors project excavations in two tumuli near Heuneburg hillfort, Speckhau group; CT-scans pioneered grave goods analysis.

THE “LANDSCAPE OF ANCESTORS” PROJECT carried out excavations in two ­tumuli in the “Speckhau” group between 1999 and 2002, which were the first systematic investigations in mounds under 50 meters in diameter near the Heuneburg hillfort. Such mounds provide information about how society was organized at a critical time in the evolution of social complexity in the region, which was increasingly connected with other areas of Europe. In addition to providing the first evidence for Early Iron Age mortuary activity predating the founding of the Heuneburg, the project ­pioneered the use of CT-scan technology in the analysis of fragile metal and organic grave goods that revealed previously unknown technological details. The material culture recove- red from 21 inhumation graves links the “Speckhau” population with northern Italy, Britain and the Iberian Peninsula, indicating that such external connections were not limited to the elites in central chambers in the mega-mounds of the region. ISBN 978-3-7520-0921-7 x!7ID7F2-aajcbh!