Wagon or no Wagon: Insights into Early Iron Age Burial Customs

Grave mound 2 in Sankt Helena, community of Simmelsdorf, has provided insights into Early Iron Age burial practices. Due to the preservation of small organic material attached to bronze and iron artefacts, mound 2 quickly became one of the focal points of our research project (No 57601170). In addition, several wagon- and horse-gear-related objects were discovered in this burial mound, which led us to the question of whether a wagon was placed in this grave in Sankt Helena. To investigate this, the organic residues attached to several bronze objects were analysed using gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC/MS). This allows the sample to be divided into its components and evaluated separately. The aim of this paper is to experimentally verify the presence of a wagon using chemical analyses of the organic material, in order to perhaps, for the first time, come closer to interpreting whether the burial mound contained a wagon or not.