Inside a Magnificent Celtic Tomb

New investigations of an Iron Age burial in France reveal the source of one woman's exceptional power 

- BENJAMIN LEONARD

MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIA ago, a richly outfitted Celtic woman was buried beneath a massive stone tumulus along the River Seine at a site known as Vix, in the Burgundy region of central France. Laid on a wagon whose wheels had been removed and propped up against the tomb's eastern wall, the woman's body was adorned with luxurious bronze jewelry and ornaments made of jet, amber, and coral. An intricately crafted gold torc with globe-shaped terminals at both ends, each decorated with a lion's foot and the winged horse Pegasus, was placed around her neck. Also in her grave were objects imported from across the Mediterranean and Baltic regions, including a five-foot-tall Greek bronze krater used for mixing wine and water. The vessel's surface was decorated with warriors in horse-drawn chariots, its handles with Gorgons' heads, and the top of its lid with a figure of a woman. The krater is the largest metal vessel known from the ancient Mediterranean.

This high-status woman's grave was first discovered in December 1952, and was partially excavated in January and February 1953 by amateur archaeologists. During this especially wet winter, snow and rain left the ground covered in frost and the burial itself was deluged with water. The men worked hurriedly, digging a trench that led straight to the mound's central chamber, where the woman, who came to be known as the Lady or Princess of Vix, was buried. Aside from some photographs of the artifacts, including the krater and torc, and a plan of the burial chamber recording the placement of the objects and most of the woman's skeleton, the excavators did not document their work in detail. They reported their finds to French cultural authorities but did not explore the rest of the burial monument, which had been mostly dismantled and mined for its stone by the first century A.D.