LBV Magazine English Edition a surprising funerary garden from the early Celtic period containing 18 burials has been uncovered This is an unprecedented discovery in Baden-Württemberg as no similar funerary structure has been documented in this region The team of archaeologists identified a funerary garden enclosed by a square ditch measuring 15 x 15 meters the remains of 18 individuals were distributed across 17 burial pits The layout of the graves is particularly striking as they appear to be arranged around a central sepulcher containing a double burial a grave was discovered outside the garden’s perimeter and another at the base of the surrounding ditch carried out between April and July by the company ArchaeoTask GmbH under the supervision of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege was conducted as part of the necessary measures prior to the expansion of a storage area in the region Since the presence of archaeological remains was expected at the site excavations were undertaken to document and preserve these traces before construction began According to a preliminary assessment of the skeletal remains the buried individuals include adults (at least eight) as well as young people and children there appears to be a separation within the garden between areas designated for these groups The preservation of the remains is remarkably good enabling detailed analyses of aspects such as the deceased’s age Although the funerary objects found were mostly looted previously (over 60% of the graves) they are still valuable for determining the period and status of the burials and a bracelet crafted from a rare organic material These items date back to the early Iron Age specifically to the La Tène Culture (450–250 BC) The detailed analysis of this funerary garden will provide valuable insights into the lives of the Celtic communities that inhabited the southern Upper Rhine including DNA and isotopic composition analyses will allow researchers to reconstruct information about diet such as a contemporary funerary garden in Alsace containing only two graves the one in Endingen stands out for both its size and complexity Baden-Württemberg Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email The Parthenon temple on the Acropolis of Athens housed a colossal statue made of gold and ivory carved by the famous sculptor Phidias in 438 BC Two thousand years before the Inca Empire extended its dominion over the Andes a much less known yet culturally influential society—known as the Chavín Phenomenon—had already developed numerous artistic expressions,… while the Byzantine Empire was mired in a succession crisis sought to take advantage and launched his conquest Archaeologists from universities in the United States and Denmark found deep within the Actun Uayazba Kab cave in Belize two small stone tools dated between 250 and 900 AD that… men and women gathered to play a game called Cuju A team of researchers has succeeded in recreating for the first time in a laboratory experiment a phenomenon that until now only existed as a theory in the realm of… the Cantonal Archaeology of Aargau carried out a rescue excavation between early May 2024 and the end of March 2025 The Egyptian archaeological mission affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the discovery of a group of defensive structures and a system of moats that could indicate… In the southeastern area of the city of Rome archaeologists excavating inside the Triton Baths within the monumental complex of the Villa di Sette… Why did some animals from ancient eras become fossils while others simply disappeared without a trace Receive our news and articles in your email for free You can also support us with a monthly subscription and receive exclusive content LADIn Endingen am Kaiserstuhl wurde bei einer Rettungsgrabung ein einzigartiger frühkeltischer Grabgarten mit 18 Bestattungen entdeckt Die archäologischen Funde werden Einblicke in die Bestattungskultur und das Leben der frühkeltischen Bevölkerung am südlichen Oberrhein bieten Vergleichbare Grabanlagen sind in Baden-Württemberg bislang nicht bekannt Bei einer Rettungsgrabung im Gewerbegebiet Hölderacker in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl haben Archäologinnen und Archäologen eine eisenzeitliche Grabanlage aufgedeckt Es handelt sich um einen sogenannten Grabgarten 15 mal 15 Meter großes Grabenwerk gebildet wird Hierin waren 18 Individuen in insgesamt 17 Grabgruben bestattet Die Grabungen wurden von April bis Ende Juli dieses Jahres von der Fachfirma ArchaeoTask GmbH aus Engen unter der fachlichen Begleitung des Landesamts für Denkmalpflege (LAD) im Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart ausgeführt Grund für die Rettungsgrabung war die geplante Erweiterung von Lagerflächen einer Firma Da an dieser Stelle mit archäologischen Funden zu rechnen war mussten diese vor den Erdarbeiten ausgegraben und dokumentiert werden „Die meisten Bestatteten lagen in oval bis rechteckigen Grabgruben die sich augenscheinlich um ein zentrales Grab mit einer Doppelbestattung gruppierten“ Eine Grablege habe sich außerhalb des Grabgartens eine weitere auf der Sohle des umfassenden Grabens befunden Mit Blick auf eine vorläufige anthropologische Skelettdiagnose noch während der Ausgrabung dürfte es sich laut El-Kassem bei den Verstorbenen etwa jeweils zur Hälfte um erwachsene Personen (mindestens acht Individuen) sowie jugendliche Erwachsene und Kinder handeln Offenkundig waren diesen beiden Gruppen auch unterschiedliche Areale innerhalb des Grabgartens vorbehalten „Über 60 Prozent der Gräber waren bereits beraubt“ „unter den Trachtbestandteilen fanden sich Fibeln darunter ein bronzenes Exemplar mit Koralleneinlage ein Armreif aus organischem Material (Kaustobiolith) sowie ein Fingerring aus Silber“ Nach Ausweis dieser Funde stamme der Grabkomplex aus der frühen Eisenzeit (450 bis 250 vor Christus Gräber aus dieser Zeit sind in Baden-Württemberg bislang entweder als Nachbestattungen in älteren hallstattzeitlichen (750 bis 450 vor Christus) als isolierte Einzelbestattung oder in kleineren Flachgräberfeldern bekannt Grabgärten mit eindeutigen Umfassungssystemen sind zwar in späteisenzeitlichen und frührömischen Kontexten nicht ungewöhnlich „Der frühkeltische Grabgarten aus Endingen ist jedoch für Baden-Württemberg einmalig; nicht zuletzt auch wegen der guten Erhaltung der Körperbestattungen“ Aus dem benachbarten Elsass ist aktuell nur ein zeitgleicher deutlich kleinerer Grabgarten mit lediglich zwei Bestattungen bekannt insbesondere anthropologische sowie zusätzliche bioarchälogische Untersuchungen Krankheit und Ernährungsgewohnheiten der bestatteten Individuen ermöglichen Darüber hinaus werden hierdurch wichtige Kenntnisse über die frühkeltische Bevölkerung am südlichen Oberrhein gewonnen Um unseren Internetauftritt für Sie optimal gestalten und verbessern zu können, verwenden wir Cookies. Weitere Informationen zu Cookies erhalten Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklärung Diese Cookies werden für eine reibungslose Funktion unserer Website benötigt Social-Media-Elemente von Facebook und Google werden auf der gesamten Webseite aktiviert This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page but Not Without a FightFor three centuries the Jews of Switzerland were only allowed to live in two villages This is their unique story of resistance and survival in the face of persecution 2018Get email notification for articles from Ariel David FollowOct 14 most of the Jews in the Swiss villages of Endingen and Lengnau are found underground 18 Miles northwest of Zurich are two shtetls whose homes synagogues and cemetery survived World War II Only a vanishingly small number of the villages’ once thriving Jewish population remain in the area and the culture they supported is on life support Haaretz reports that in the Swiss towns of Endingen and Lengnau whose populations number around 20 Jews altogether major efforts are underway to restore the localities’ 300-year-old Jewish character with the financial support of the Swiss government inviting Jews from all over the region to sit in a sukkah or have a seder But maybe the most exciting project in the works is a 20 million franc outreach effort called “Double Doors” which will make Aargau a hub of Jewish education complete with a visitor center presentations on Jewish history and more guided tours The project’s name refers to one of the towns’ most interesting features Many of the buildings in Endingen and Lengnau have two entrances the result of restrictions that governed the towns’ Jews beginning in the early 17th century In the 16th century a few Jewish families settled in the area because it was under the jurisdiction of the Habsburgs and not an official part of Switzerland When more Jews settled in Aargau in the 1600s sold the deeds to Christians and lived there as tenants to gentile landlords The rub: Jews and Christians couldn’t live in the same house The history of the canton is rich with these little loopholes. Haaretz reports that Jews were afforded rights of citizenship and were only allowed to stay on because of the tax dollars they gave the government for Barred from many occupations they worked as peddlers and cattle sellers – taxed vocations that filled the coffers of the Swiss Federation In an effort to curb the Jewish population of Aargau (half the population of Endingen and a third of Lengnau at its peak in 1850) marriage licenses were also taxed and often denied the father of mining magnate Meyer Guggenheim and a resident of Lengnau was denied a license for a second marriage and moved to the United States both abroad and to more metropolitan areas of Switzerland became a hallmark of the shtetls’ modern history especially after Switzerland’s 1874 Constitution gave Jews full rights Unsurprisingly the towns were subject to a pogrom following Napoleon’s invasion in 1798 The Swiss were outraged by the French effort to emancipate their Jews and responded by ransacking Jewish homes and brutalizing the Jewish population in 1802 “There were perhaps 2,000 Jews in the country at the time and yet this attempted emancipation aroused such great passion and controversy that it helped start a nationwide revolt,” Simon Erlanger a Jewish history lecturer at the University of Lucerne told Haaretz But even with the many regulations and persecutions encountered by the Jews, they were able to build a life. Haaretz reports the villages have two standing synagogues dating from the 19th century as well as mikvehs While Jews originally had to bury their dead in a marshland beyond the Swiss border when the cemetery flooded in 1750 they were allowed a plot of land between Legnau and Endingen This plot is still intact with around 2,700 graves; it is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Switzerland now preserved by the Swiss government (the shul in Endingen still holds irregular services) But perhaps the most curious revival by the handful of Jews still living in the twin shtetls is that of cattle trading Haaretz reports that Jules Bloch a 71-year-old retired banker in Endingen has started selling off heifers to honor his forebears in the town Bloch wasn’t optimistic about the future of the Jewish residents of Legnau and Endingen many of whom are getting on in years and living in a retirement home endowed by the Guggenheims “It would be nice to have a small community with a few families to keep alive our traditions,” Bloch told Haaretz “But I fear that in a few years there will be no Jews left here.” The forthcoming Double Doors project may educate the Swiss public about Jewish history but whether it will court more of Switzerland’s 18,000 Jews back to the land of their ancestors remains to be seen PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected] PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.[email protected]@pjgrisar I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association