The Hegau region in south-west Germany and small parts of Switzerland lies north-west of Lake Constance. Here the cemeteries of Singen "Nordstadtterrasse" and Hilzingen "Beim Steppbachwiesle" are located in close proximity to each other. Both are characterised by a long period of occupation from the Late Neolithic or Late Bronze Age to the Middle Latène Period. They allow us not only to trace burial customs and their development through almost the entire Iron Age, but also to deal with questions of cultural continuities and discontinuities to earlier phases of occupation. This is the aim of my PhD project. It also seems worthwhile to compare the two cemeteries, which likely contain mostly flat graves, with each other, because despite their close spatial proximity there are clear differences. These include not only the number of burials, but also the burial customs themselves, such as the choice of grave goods or the type of burial. Together with the surrounding groups of barrows, this reveals a variety of burial customs in the Iron Age Hegau region. The talk will present some initial results from these two sites, especially with regard to the type of burial, the grave construction and the grave goods, and thus give an overview over the development of Iron Age burial customs and their similarities and differences.

In this lecture I will present the Early Bronze Age settlement activity at the southern edge of the Erdinger Moos, in the Munich gravel plain, with the multi-phase settlement of Aschheim and the cemetery of Kirchheim near Munich. The settlement of Aschheim was formerly located at the edge of the alluvial forest in the low moor. During the Early Bronze Age it extended like a belt across the southern part of todays municpial area. Thanks to extensive excavations during the past two decades, a multi-phase Early Bronze Age settlement with at least 124 house plans has been uncovered on an area of 26 ha, the chronological sequence of which is currently being investigated. With no nearby water sources, the inhabitants relied on wells. This living area also contains three groups of burial groups with between two and 13 graves. Approximately 700 metres east of the previous excavation boundary, 43 burials were discovered in one of the most extensive Early Bronze Age cemeteries in southern Bavaria.