Social differentiation and land use at an Early Iron Age “princely seat”: bioarchaeological investigations at the Glauberg (Germany)

Excavations at the late Hallstatt/early La Tene (6th–4th century BC) “princely seat” of the Glauberg (Hesse, Germany) revealed exceptionally furnished graves in monumental mounds, simple inhumations in associated ditches and non-normative burials of up to eight individuals in conical storage pits. The study presented here addresses bioarchaeological characteristics of these burials and their implications for social differentiation and the sphere of influence of the “princely seat”. It includes osteological, aDNA, and multi-isotope analyses of 27 human individuals and faunal remains. One of the outstandingly rich graves (tumulus 1/grave 1) contained the skeleton of a young man (the “prince”)…