Station: [38] Woman of the Urn Field Culture

In the mid-20th century, the grave of a wealthy woman from 12th century BC was discovered in Glockengasse in Weißenbrunn, in the Nürnberger Land region. The dead woman had been buried in a carefully built stone box. The grave goods that accompanied her to the afterlife included a tiered vessel and rich jewellery. Her robe was fastened with an elaborate plate fibula, or clasp, while a double spiral pendant and a spiral ring completed her costly ensemble. Given her elaborate tomb and its rich furnishings, she may have been a member of the social elite.

During the Bronze Age, more and more settlements are built on distinctive hilltop sites, and grave furnishings are elaborate. Researchers believe the two things are linked: 

According to their interpretation, the social elites settled on high ground – people who led the society of the period due to their wealth, family affiliation or a loyal following. Trade and long-distance contacts afforded them a chance to acquire sought-after goods and to control the trade routes. Arable farming and animal husbandry, which provided for the elites, were practised in the surrounding countryside.

Such elites can be identified by their rich burials. These surround the hilltop settlement and thus establish a link to the place where those buried there once lived. For the Weißenbrunn burial, the place in question may be a nearby hill called Moritzberg. 

An individual’s power would be reflected in the richness of the grave – in other words, in the ability to extract values from society and make those values permanently available in the afterlife. The purpose would be to underpin the claim of the grave’s occupants to the same position there as in life.