Situated in the Cote D’Or, France, the Vix burial is a Halstatt period wagon burial. It is exceptional because of its lavish grave goods and the fact that the body in the grave mound is a woman rather than a man.
Vix has provided archaeologists with important evidence on the nature of trade, interaction with other cultures and the position of women in Celtic society
The Celtic Oppidium of Vix.
Vix was a Celtic oppidium or settlement on of Mount Lassois near Chatillon sur Seine in modern France.
It occupied a strategic position on the Iron Age tin route between northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Vix was a nexus where the tin was unloaded from transports on the river Seine in order to continue its journey by land
It lends its name to the nearby burial mound which is also known as the Vix Princess tumulus or the Tombe Princiere. This burial is exceptional because of the range of Mediterranean artefacts it contains and the fact that the occupant of the tomb was not a warrior chieftain but a woman.
The Vix Burial
The burial discovered on 12th and 13th February 1953. It was dated to around 500BC, making it late Halstatt period. It had not previously been disturbed.
The burial consisted of a timber mortuary house with central room encased in a mound, 33 metres in diameter. Its central room measured 9 metres square and contained the body and grave goods. The body lay on a bronze decorated wagon at the centre of the room. The wheels of the wagon had been removed and placed against the eastern wall of the chamber.
The Princess of Vix
The body in the burial was of a woman estimated to be no more than 35 years of age. She appeared to be in good health apart from the fact that she suffered from tooth decay.
She was clearly high status and it has been suggested she was either a female ruler or else a priestess. Either way, she was a significant person in her society and became known as ‘The Princess of Vix.’
The body of the Princess was found dressed in a large torc, two armlets of gold and lignite and a bronze anklet. She also wore necklaces, one of amber, diorite and serpentine beads and a 24 carat gold necklace weighing 480g.
These items were both local and Mediterranean. The torc, whilst locally manufactured shows Mediterranean features in its design. Although the princess’s clothing did not survive, the fasteners did and the eight coral set fibulae have been identified as italic in origin.
Grave Goods in the Vix Burial
The other grave goods also showed the impact of Mediterranean culture. They included many imported items from Greece and Italy, including attic pottery cups and Etruscan basins. The most spectacular item was a bronze wine krater with lid which was over 1.5m high and one of the best archaic art pieces to survive from antiquity.
Importance of the Vix Burial
The Vix burial is important for a number of reasons:
- The importance of trade. This introduced not only new goods but new ideas. The finds in the grave indicate that Mediterranean imports were highly valued and readily obtainable as part of the trade network established at Vix, for those who could afford them. From the amount of goods related to wine drinking, it seems that this was perhaps one of many aspects of Mediterranean culture being embraced by the Celts.
- The status of Celtic women. Celtic women were important people in their own right and did not necessarily acquire status due to their relationships with men. Gold was a symbol of power to the Celts and the amount the princess took to her grave is an indication of her social standing. Although it is the earliest, the Vix burial is not the only high status Celtic female burial in the area. There are a series of burials spread over the Rhine and Moselle area where women were accorded burials sometimes more splendid than many male chieftains.
Sources
The Illustrated Dictionary of Archaeology
