Viereckschanzen and Feasting: Socio-Political Ritual in Iron-Age Central Europe

Abstract

This paper summarises the present state of research concerning late-Iron-Age rectilinear enclosures of central Europe known as 'Viereckschanzen'. For several decades these large earthen enclosures were believed to be Celtic temples or sanctuaries. In the context of recent excavations, multiple social, political, and religious functions have been suggested, but these arguments are rarely linked to detailed study of archaeological materials and features at the enclosures. Critical analysis of presumed 'cultic' features and objects at thirty-six excavated Viereckschanzen reveals little support for the suggestion that all enclosures were religious sanctuaries. A functional study of ceramic finds indicates important differences in pottery assemblages between the enclosures and contemporary settlements. The enclosures are then examined within a dialectical landscape context, and it is suggested that they may have functioned as feasting places that often made reference to traditional forms of socio-political organisation represented at earlier cemetery sites.

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