Station: [42] The Gaisheim Wagon

The wagon excavated in Gaisheim over a century ago was truly magnificent!

Gaisheim is a small village, part of the municipality of Neukirchen near Sulzbach-Rosenberg. The first excavation of burial mounds from the early Iron Age, that is, the Hallstatt Period, was undertaken in the late 19th century. The graves of wealthy men and women were discovered. But one burial mound in particular stood out. It contained the remains of a wagon decorated with bronze fittings, along with horse tack, a rich pottery ensemble, knives, a goad to spur on the horses, and a sword. If you look at the display case on the right, you can see the original finds.

According to current knowledge, wagons like this one were used during the funeral ceremonies of rich and important individuals, women as well as men. The reconstruction you see here is based on the Gaisheim finds as well as on similar finds in southern Germany and Austria. Sketches of such wagons from the Hallstatt period have also survived, as has a small model made of lead.

Feel free to bend down and look underneath the wagon. You’ll discover a shaft made from a single length of natural grown ash! The rest of the body is made of ash and oak. Then have a look at the wheels. The inner of the two rim rings is made of a single piece of wood bent to form a circle, which increases the wagon’s load-bearing capacity. In other words, it can cope with a load that far exceeds the weight of a dead body and its grave goods. So it’s fair to assume that these wagons served as a means of transport.

If you walk around to the back of the wagon, you’ll see that it’s richly decorated with bronze fittings and iron suspension rattles.

On the bed of the wagon, there’s the reconstruction of a sword and a large graphitised ceramic bowl. Both were probably prestige objects. 

During the Hallstatt period, almost all grave goods were wrapped in cloth. However, no textiles were preserved among the finds. The cloth you see here was specially woven based on a find from Hochdorf near Stuttgart.

We don’t know whether wagons like this one were painted. However, if you look at the model of a Hallstatt manor house by the rear wall of this part of the exhibition, you’ll see a reconstruction of what such a painted wagon might have looked like.