Kleinaspergle

The artefacts uncovered attest to the scale of cultural transfer possible in Central Europe at this time (with Etruscan and Greek artefacts represented) and, furthermore, how Mediterranean material culture was embraced and adapted by Celtic elites and early La Tène craftsmen.

[a] Fraas believed he had found the remains of a burnt body in the side chamber, but this material has not come down to us.

[5]: 40 [6]: 372  Paul Jacobsthal thought the presence of alcoholic residue in the stamnos ruled out an elite woman and Konrad Spindler felt that the drinking horns indicated a male burial.

[4] Kimmig has dated this burial to just after the transition from late Hallstatt to early La Tène, around 430-420 BC.

The bronze flagon and gold drinking horns, though locally made, betray Etruscan influence.

[5]: 39–40  Dennis Harding has noted that the geographical distributions of such imported items above the Alps do not otherwise intersect, suggesting that this burial represents a society with an uncommon command of "trans-alpine communications".

[3]: 62  Harding has suggested that such finds indicate a society in which "feasting and drinking on a sumptuous scale for at least ceremonial occasions" occurred.

Instead, the repairer has chosen to incorporate La Tène design elements into the kylikes through the gold embellishments.

Though of no especial aesthetic value, the kylikes are vivid testaments to the scale of cultural transfer possible in the early La Tène period.

[b] The kylikes probably do not represent trade directly from Greece since other works of the Amphitrite Painter have been found in Italy, suggesting an Italic intermediary.

At the base of the handle, a face with pointed ears and a large beard suggests an Italic satyr.

[11]: 375  The two S-shaped scrolls which adorn the head of the satyr-like face perhaps represent an early Celtic leaf crown.

[3]: 27, 64 This flagon strongly resembles the Etruscan beaked-flagons produced from the mid-6th to late-5th centuries BC, known from many Hallstatt period graves.

[3]: 64 [5]: 38  Vincent Megaw has described it as "the most striking and probably the earliest surviving example of the ability of Celtic craftsmen to transmute imported forms and styles".

[3]: 61–62 [5]: 40 Megaw identifies these as products of a workshop whose goldwork is also evidenced in grave finds from Schwarzenbach [de] I and Eigenbilzen.

Kleinaspergle.
Oscar Frass's excavation of Kleinaspergle.