CELTIC CITY’S DISCOVERY MAY REOPEN LOST HISTORY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23288, 24 June 1950, Page 3

CELTIC CITY’S DISCOVERY MAY REOPEN LOST HISTORY

(By a Reuter Correspondent)

VIENNA

Two Austrian scientists. Professor Rudolf Egger and Dr. 11. Vetters, are impatiently waiting for the thaw in the Carinthian mountains wiiicli will enable them to continue excavating the remains of what promises to be the best preserved and most important Celtic city yet discovered.

Work already carried out since the war indicates that remains on the top of the Magdelensberg, 3000 ft. above sea level and 20 kilometres (about 13 miles) north-east of Klagenfurt, may be those of Noreia, capital of the ancient Celtic kingdom of Noricum. Once a prosperous and progressive State. Noricum was absorbed into the Roman Empire peacefully by Caesar Augustus in 15 B.C. and its history has since been almost entirely lost.

by double walls, built some Bft. apart and the interspace filled up with rubble to form a wall which was in many places almost 16ft. thick. Near this wall, in what may once have been a moat, was found the clay statue of .a naked man in a boat, believed to have ben a primitive representation of the local god “Mars Latobius.” On the higher terraces of the Magdelensberg, where later Roman artistocrats had their villas, palisades like those of “Mums Gallicus" mentioned by Caesar have been found. On these higher slopes, the remains are covered only by a thin layer of soil and erosion by wind and water has caused considerable damage. Lower down and on the fertile Zollland. the layer of soil is as much as 15 to 16ft. deep. This has kept many of the remains in a wonderful state of preservation.

If the present remains prove to be Noreia, it is hoped that the relics may reopen the pages of lost history and throw light upon the life and culture of what appear to have been very progressive people.

Although Professor Egger insists that excavations have barely begun, traces have already ben found of a great parliament building with central heating and a special room for archives; a huge banqueting hall where delicacies brought from distant lands and preserved in a gigantic primitive refrigerator were consumed; cultural and economic relations with all parts of the classical empires of Greece and Rome: and a “gold rush" of classical times when rich finds of alluvial gold brought adventurers from all parts of the Roman Empire pouring into the city. Knives Sought After Noreia seems also to have been the Sheffield of its day, for Noreian knives are often mentioned in classical history as precious presents much sought after by wealthy households throughout the Roman Empire. The first indication of the presence, deep under the fertile meadow-land of the Zollfield. of valuable Roman and pre-Roman remains was the discovery of a beautiful Greek bronze statue in 1502. This statue puzzled archaeologists for centuries, because when found, a bronze shield and a Celtic axe were lying near to it —which made people think it was the statue of a Celtic god, probably that of “Mars Latobius, much venerated in Noricum. Yet the statue itself was of the best Greek period dating back to the fifth century before Christ. Only in 1893, nearly four centuries after its discovery, was the Austrian archaeologist, Robert Von Schneider, able to decipher an inscription on the right leg of the statue which proved that two former Roman slaves had presented the statue to a Celtic Temple on the Magdelensberg, and had added the axe and shield out of courtesy to the people of Noricum, to transform the Greek boy into a Celtic god. The most recent excavations on the Magdelensberg were begun in 1948 under the auspices of the Carinthian Provincial Government. They have already shown that long before Noricum became a Roman province, Magdalensberg was the site of one of the greatest Celtic cities so far known to science. Buildings Under Soil Preserved. Not even in France, classical home of Celtic culture, have such remains of such extent and such excellent preservation been discovered. Tire settlement covered an area of more than four square kilometres and contained some fine buildings which, preserved under a layer of up to 15ft. of alluvial soil, promise to reveal many of the secrets of Noricum's lost history. The centre of the city was protected

In 1949. for example, a large building with walls 30ft. high was found almost nitact save for the roof. • The central chamber of this building seems to have been a meeting place for the local government. Its floors show that iron bars were used to reinforce the cement, the building had central heating, and there was a specially heated recess surrounded by couches, which seems to have been reserved for the use of nobles —an ancient “House of Lords" gallery. Unused Parliament Archives

Another room was used, it is believed, to house tlie archives of the parliament. This room has 13 niches in its walls which are thought to have been used to house the archives of the 13 provincial cities of Noricum mentioned in the geographical works of Strabo. Several of the smaller rooms in this great building have well preserved murals painted in the third Pompeiian style, which date them pretty accurately as between 30 B.C. and 14 A.D.

One of the most interesting finds was the banqueting hall and the kitchens in the south wing. Here there were also amphoras which had contained oil and wine, pottery of various makes, indicating trade relations with many neighbouring countries, and bronze dippers with which wine was taken from the amphoras. Great interest has been aroused by the discovery of a cellar built into the mountain side near the parliament building, which can be claimed to be the first “ice box” in Austria. The storage chamber, in which shells of oysters and whelks prove that it was used to keep such delicacies fresh, consisted of a well-like structure with double wooden panelling which was probably packed with ice during the winter. This was preserved into the summer by a system of insulation similar to that of the modern hay-box. Professor Egger and Dr. Vetters claim that only a very small part of the treasures of Magdelensberg have yet been examined and that the most valuable and important * r ork remains to be done. A large Celtic palace and a series of other buildings have still to be excavated. The work may last for another 20 years, especially if it has to be carried through entirely on limited funds of the Carinthian Provincial Government and the Austrian Archaeoloseries of other builidngs have still to gical Institute.