Große Heuneburg

The Große Heuneburg is an early Celtic hill fort on a forested ridge near Upflamör in Baden-Württemberg. It stands two kilometres southwest of the village and five kilometres northeast of another Celtic site, the Alte Burg in Langenenslingen. The ridge is part of the Zwiefalten district, surrounded by woodland and rising above the surrounding countryside. Archaeologists recognise it as one of the earliest hill forts in southern Germany. Gerhard Bersu’s 1921 excavations proved its early Celtic date, and recent work in 2016 placed its construction between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. The site belongs to the same period as the Alte Burg and the better-known Heuneburg at Hundersingen. Visitors walk along the earth-covered stone walls that still mark the main fort’s trapezoidal plateau. The northern side has an extra ditch, while broad terraces flank the plateau’s base on the west and south. The smaller northern annexe, or Vorburg, has low ramparts on three sides and a single ditch separating it from the main fort. The terraces were once walled, making the whole complex visible from afar across the open landscape.