Pfalzfeld obelisk

The obelisk, removed from its original site to the churchyard of Pfalzfeld, is believed to have been a funerary monument from one of the nearby burial grounds.

[1]: 9  The stone has been identified as within the stylistic bounds of the Iron Age La Tène culture.

[1]: 1  Near Pfalzfeld are multiple burial grounds, identified as belonging to the early Hunsrück-Eifel culture, from which the obelisk could have been removed.

The stone therefore appears to have undergone significant damage in the latter half of the 19th century, caused by weathering in combination with frequent relocation.

[1]: 6 The Pfalzfeld obelisk is carved from a brown-violet quartz sandstone, probably sourced from the Saar-Nahe Basin.

All four sides of the obelisk are carved with the same basic pattern, with slight differences in execution and the orientation of some elements.

Each head wears a Celtic leaf-crown (German: Blattkrone), made up of two asymmetrical teardrop-shaped leaves.

[7]: 109  Joachim has identified them with beards; Michael J. Enright with tasselled torcs; and Armit with plinths upon which the heads (supposedly severed) rest.

[1]: 14 The Pfalzfeld obelisk is widely thought to have been a funerary monument due to its proximity to several Iron Age burial grounds.

[1]: 9  Furthermore, the S-shaped curls which decorate the obelisk are unknown within the early La Tène culture.

[2]: 77 [8]: 269 Some scholars have suggested that the obelisk was intended as a phallic symbol, with the dome base identifiable with the phallus's glans[2]: 78 [9]: 22  Celticist Anne Ross, for example, thought the obelisk was influenced by Etruscan phallic tombstones.