Vix Grave

In 2006, a large complex with five large buildings was discovered at the centre of the site. The main building measured 35 by 22 m, with an estimated interior height of at least 15 m.

The many individual finds from the Lassois oppidum clearly demonstrate the settlement's long and wide-ranging trade contacts, as well as its own role as an economic centre. The most common finds are shards of pottery, with more than 40,000 recorded to date. Many are local products, decorated with simple geometric motifs (checkerboard patterns) and occasional depictions of animals. There also have been finds of imported

Jewellery included

Mont Lassois has all the features of a high-status settlement: large fortifications, the presence of a citadel and a lower town, rare and fine imported materials, as well as numerous rich burial mounds in the vicinity.^[4]

The burial of "the Lady of Vix" took place around 500 BC Although decomposition of the organic contents of the grave was nearly total, the gender of the individual buried has been interpreted as female: she is accompanied by many items of jewellery, but no weaponry. Her social status is not clear and other than "Lady," names such as, Queen, Princess, or Priestess of Vix have all been used in various articles involving conjecture. There can be no doubt of her high status, as indicated by the large amounts of jewellery. She was between 30 years and 35 years old at the time of her death.

The

Her body was laid in the freestanding box of a cart, or chariot, the wheels of which had been detached and placed beside it. Only its metal parts have survived. Her jewellery included a 480 gram 24-carat gold torc/diadem, a bronze torc, six fibulae, six slate bracelets, plus a seventh bracelet made of amber beads.

The grave also contained an assemblage of imported objects from Italy and the

The largest and most famous of the finds from the burial is an elaborately decorated bronze volute krater, 1.64 metres (5.4 ft) in height and weighing 208.6 kilograms (460 lb).^[11] Kraters were vessels for mixing wine and water, common in the Greek world, and usually made of clay. The Vix krater has become an iconic object representing both the wealth of early Celtic burials and the art of Late Archaic Greek bronze work.

• The krater was made of seven or more individual pieces with Greek alphabetical markings,^[12] indicating that it probably was transported to Burgundy in pieces and assembled in situ.
• The vase proper, made of a single sheet of hammered bronze, weighs about 60 kg. Its bottom is rounded, its maximum diameter is 1.27 m, and its capacity is 1,100 litres. Its walls are only 1 mm to 1.3 mm thick. The krater was found crushed by the weight of the tumulus material above it. It had telescoped completely: the handles were found at the same level as the base. It was restored after excavation.
• Its foot is made of a single moulded piece, its diameter is 74 cm, its weight 20.2 kg. It received the rounded bottom of the main vase and ensured its stability. It is decorated with stylised plant motifs.
• The three handles, supported by
  gorgon
  , a common motif on contemporary Greek bronzes.
• A frieze of
  hoplites decorates the neck of the vessel, which is made of a bronze ring inserted into the main vase and supporting the handles. It depicts eight chariots, each drawn by four horses and conducted by a charioteer (depicted smaller than the hoplites for reasons of space), each is followed by a single fully armed hoplite on foot. The frieze is an important example of early Greek bronze relief
  art, which has rarely survived.
• The lid was a hammered bronze sheet, weighing 13.8 kg and shaped to fit the krater's opening. It is concave and perforated by multiple holes, probably because it also served as a strainer for purifying wine. A protrusion at its centre supports a 19 cm statuette of moulded bronze, depicting a woman with one outstretched arm, which once may have held some object such as a
  plastinx. She wears a peplos, the body-length Ancient Greek
  garment worn by women, and her head is covered by a veil. The statuette appears of a somewhat older style than figures on the rest of the vessel.

The enormous variety of apparently Mediterranean imports indicates wide-ranging trade connections; in particular, the Mediterranean material might have come to Vix with Greek or Etruscan traders (the krater may have been produced in Sybaris^[13]). The wealth of imported luxury goods at Vix is, so far, unique in La Tène Europe. It has been suggested that the krater, the largest known Greek bronze vessel, should be seen in a context of high-status gift exchange connected with the trade of wine from the Mediterranean for raw materials from northern Europe.

A reconstruction of the grave and the original finds are on display in the museum at Châtillon-sur-Seine.^[11]

Apart from this woman's grave (mound I), there are five further known large burial mounds in the area. Three of them have been excavated so far.

• Mound II had a diameter of 33 m; its central chamber contained an urn with cremated human remains, dated by accompanying finds to c. 850 BC.
• The mound of La Butte probably dates to the mid-sixth century. As in its famous neighbouring grave, it contained a woman laid in a cart, or chariot, accompanied by two iron axes and a gold bracelet.
• A third mound, at La Garenne, was destroyed in 1846. It, too, contained a cart, as well as an Etruscan bronze bowl with four griffin or lioness handles. It is not known whether it contained skeletal remains.

In 1994, fragments of two stone statues, a warrior, and a figure of a woman, were discovered in a small enclosure.

In the area, as elsewhere in central and western Europe, the early Iron Age led to changes in social organisation, including a marked tendency toward the development of social hierarchies. It seems that at the top of these hierarchies was an aristocracy that had developed in the context of the increasingly important trade in iron ore and iron. Whether they really were "princesses" or "princes" in a modern sense (i.e., a noble or religious aristocracy) or simply represented an economic or mercantile elite is still the subject of much discussion.

Evidence for these changed social conditions is seen in the richly equipped graves of this period, which stand in sharp contrast to the preceding habit of uniform simple urn burials. It is also seen in the changing settlement patterns of the region. Whereas large open settlements had previously served as central places, smaller enclosed settlements developed, often in locally prominent locations (so called manors or "princely sites"). Several of these sites are known from Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène Europe, for example, the burials at Hochdorf and Magdalenenberg, the Heuneburg settlement and the Glauberg settlement and burial complex.

Iron ores were far more widespread than the more rare copper and especially tin ores needed to produce the previously dominant bronze. Thus economic success ceased to be determined simply by access to the raw materials, but started to depend on infrastructure and trade. The increasing economic surplus in well-situated places was invested in representative settlements (and fortifications), jewellery, and expensive imported luxury materials, a differentiation not previously possible.

• 
  Gold torc detail
• 
  Reconstruction of the Vix burial chamber
• 
  Vix palace model, Musée du Pays Châtillonnais
• 
  Vix palace model
• 
  Excavation of a wall at Mont Lassois
• 
  Artefacts from the Vix grave
• 
  Artefacts from the Vix grave
• 
  Silver phiale
• 
  Ceremonial wagon wheel hub
• 
  Ceremonial wagon model
• 
  Ceremonial wagon model
• 
  Etruscan oenochoe
• 
  Greek pottery
• 
  Vix krater
• 
  Vix krater detail
• 
  Vix krater lid

• Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave
• Graves of Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine
• Lavau Grave
• Heuneburg
• Glauberg
• Hohenasperg
• Ipf (mountain)
• Burgstallkogel
• Alte Burg
• Vorstengraf (Oss)
• Grächwil
• Grafenbühl grave
• Reinheim grave
• Princely Grave of Rodenbach
• Mitterkirchen Keltendorf
• Lingons
• Oppidum of Manching