"The Lady"

[Chris]

Happened across an article in today's paper. Evidently, the women ("the Lady" as she is being called) was fairly important, had quite a bit of gold and jewelry with her.

Anyway, instead of typing bits and pieces of the newspaper article, I thought I would try to provide the link:

http://www.livescience.com/57637-treasures-found-in-iron-age-grave.html

Hope it works.

Cheers,

Chris

[Andreas Johansson]

I confess to mild confusion how they get from the presence of fossils to the conclusion she was a priestess.

(The train of thought does presumably involve the time-honoured archaeologist's rule of thumb that anything without an obvious use probably served cultic purposes - but one needn't be a priest or priestess to engage in such.)

[Imperial Dave]

true (unless there is precedent ie another burial with said fossils etc and other priestess type accoutrements!)....she may just have had a liking for ammonites! 

[Patrick Waterson]

Anyway, instead of typing bits and pieces of the newspaper article, I thought I would try to provide the link:

http://www.livescience.com/57637-treasures-found-in-iron-age-grave.html

Hope it works.

It does, Chris - thanks!

A more or less similar burial is the Vix Grave, in - guess where - Vix (Northern Burgundy).  No fossils, though.  As Andreas points out, the presence of fossils need not ipso facto identify the owner as a religious leader; were they considered indispensable for religious activity one might have expected the tradition to last into druidic times and be recorded by classical writers.

[Chris]

Relieved to see that the link did function as intended.

I just thought it was worth a mention (though I confess to not usually finding non-military items that interesting).

In the news article that was eventually cut out and filed away, there are remarks about not knowing her ("the Lady's" specific place in the ancient society), the fact that she was buried within sight of the first city north of the Alps - Heuneburg. (Not being an expert on the  development of ancient cities, I  defer to the experts.) The comment about the similar architecture in this place to buildings in "far-off Phoenicia in the eastern Mediterranean" was interesting.

I don't subscribe to Antiquity, but I may try to secure a copy or two just  for perusal from my local library. Anyway. Back to wargaming concerns.

Cheers -

Chris

[Tim]

Minor clarification Andreas, in English the term tends to be 'ritual' which does not have quite the same conotation as 'cultic'...