Only real heroes

In the Iron Age it was customary to cremate the deceased. Most of them were given a neat, modest burial mound over the urn containing their remains (1). Sometimes a burial gift was added (2). But also in the Iron Age not everyone was equally important: real heroes were given huge burial mounds and many beautiful burial offerings, such as situlae (large ‘buckets’ for wine) (3) or a horse harness to symbolize the deceased’s power (4).