Pancake Cylinder-Shaped Sheet Iron Boxes of the Middle and Late La Tène Period from Rhine Hesse and the Hunsrück

Abstract

Upon restoration at the RGZM, two finds from Dromersheim and Ober-Hilbersheim (both Lkr. Mainz-Bingen) are the starting point of this contribution on Younger La Tène period sheet iron boxes, a small group of objects which mainly appear in woman’s graves and have their main area of distribution in Rhine Hesse and the Hunsrück. The boxes consist of a pancake cylindrical body the single parts of which are rivetted to one another, and a small door with hinge to close an opening at the side. They differ in detail only such as the existence of a circular eyelet, and were obviously produced in few specialised workshops. The front side of the box from Ober-Hilbersheim is decorated with a punched ornament. Since the contents of the boxes have not survived, their function as storage for valuable organic substances remains
speculation.