Archäologisches Hegau-Museum

Description

In the historic Schloss Singen the Archäologische Hegau-Museum presents the regional cultural history from the end of the last Ice Age to the Early Middle Ages. The municipal museum in Singen (Hohentwiel), Baden-Württemberg, documents the interactions between humans and the environment over a period of roughly 15,000 years.

The collections trace back to the work of a Singen pharmacist who carried out excavations from 1925 and assembled numerous finds; his mineral, fossil and butterfly collections are accessible in a cellar room. Since 1951 the archaeological holdings have been presented to the public in the castle. With loans from the state of Baden-Württemberg the exhibition extends across 13 rooms and displays the prehistory and early history of southwestern Germany. Educational programmes are aimed at children and school classes.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically: for the Palaeolithic, finds from the Petersfelshöhle near Engen indicate repeated occupation by Palaeolithic hunters and gatherers; the Neolithic is illustrated, among other things, by finds from Hilzingen, where at least sixteen longhouses attest to the rise of arable farming and animal husbandry. Early metalworking in the Bronze Age can be traced through finds from Singen’s northern district (Singener Kultur); Atlantic daggers and numerous burial finds with metal and ceramic grave goods document sustained prosperity.

The Iron Age is represented by Celtic remains of the Hallstatt and La Tène periods, including an early iron object referred to as the Singener sword, as well as the characteristic Alb-Hegau pottery. From the Roman imperial period there are remains of numerous estates; the fully excavated estate at Büßlingen yielded components of a hypocaust heating system, pottery, jewellery, tools and a hidden hoard of coins. From the Early Middle Ages, finds from Alamannic graves, such as those from the station forecourt in Singen, provide burial inventories; particularly noteworthy is the grave of a woman of high social standing from Güttingen with millefiori beads, vessels, gold jewellery and a Coptic bowl from Egypt.

The former museum library, together with holdings from the city archive, formed the foundation of the Hegau Library in 1955.