Chariot queen's grave unearthed
Submitted by TimPrevett on Friday, 13 April 2001 Page Views: 1219
Other Archaeologyhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk Saturday 7 April 2001 - Chariot queen's grave unearthed, By David DerbyshireTHE grave of a powerful Iron Age queen who was buried alongside her richly decorated chariot in the fourth century BC has been unearthed by archaeologists.
The aristocratic Celt died in her mid to late twenties, hundreds of years before Boudicca, making her grave the oldest of its kind ever discovered. Researchers say the find, which included remains of a harness, will shed light on the puzzling links between the Celts of East Yorkshire and tribes living in northern France at the time.
The remains were discovered during excavations funded by English Heritage in Wetwang, East Yorkshire. They have been donated to the British Museum. Iron Age burials were relatively rare. Most people were left outside to rot after death. But the Celts of East Yorkshire had distinctive death rituals. Ordinary people were placed in simple graves, sometimes with a brooch, while leaders were buried with their chariots.
The newly discovered queen's chariot was particularly ornate, and was decorated with coral from the Mediterranean. Although chariots played an important role in warfare, the Wetwang find may have been the Iron Age equivalent of a state coach, used to take the queen to her final resting place. It may have been placed in the grave to help her pass to the afterlife.
The grave contained remains of a harness for two horses, including two bronze bits with iron cores and five bronze rein rings. Bronze and iron bands used to strengthen the wheels of the chariot and the iron tyres also survived.
The wooden cart, which was probably around 5ft square, had rotted away along with the wooden parts of the wheels, the 9ft long pole and yoke. However, the yoke had left clear traces in the clay, allowing researchers to recreate its shape.
David Miles, the chief archaeologist at English Heritage, said: "This is one of the most significant and exciting Middle Iron Age burials ever found in Britain. The person was clearly very important and was buried with a rite that is almost exclusive to East Yorkshire and has links to the continent. It may be the earliest chariot burial so far and could help us solve the mystery of who these people were and why they buried their dead in a way that was different from other Iron Age Britons."
It is thought that East Yorkshire was a tribal centre for Celts who became known as the Parisi in Julius Caesar's time. The same name was given to tribes living in the Champagne region at the time, who went on to found Paris. Like the Gallic Celts, the Yorkshire Parisi buried their dead with chariots.
The team will analyse teeth and bones to discover whether the woman was descended from Gaul immigrants. Dr Jeremy Hill, curator of the Iron Age collection at the British Museum in London, said the woman may have been a leader in her own right and was almost certainly a queen. He said: "There are societies in prehistoric Britain where women were powerful leaders."
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