Waldenbuch pillar

The Waldenbuch pillar is a four-sided sandstone monument of the early to middle La Tène culture.

The pillar, which probably originally extended to an anthropomorphic bust akin to the Holzgerlingen figure, only survives in a fragmentary form.

It was found 2km from the La Tène archeological site of Federlesmad near Echterdingen, and only 10km from the supposed findspot of the Holzgerlingen figure.

[5][3] Paul Jacobsthal classifies it within the early La Tène period[2]: 281  and J. V. S. Megaw conjectures a similar date, between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, on the basis of the slender tendrils which recall the early La Tène Waldalgesheim style and other such analogies of design elements.

[2] Archaeologist Josef Röder has noted marks of both pointed and flat chisels on the stone, which he claims was not possible before the Hellenistic period (that is, before the 4th century BC).

[2]: 279 Given the proximity of the find spots and the resemblance between the arms of the Waldenbuch pillar and the Holzgerlingen figure, the two stones have often been compared to one another.