Barrow "Goldkessel"

The barrow "Goldkessel" is located on a 462-meter-high wooded ridge in the eastern Hintertaunus (Rhein-Taunus Nature Park) within the municipality of Waldems (Hesse). Due to the Hessian administrative reform of 1972, the archaeological monument is situated in the border area of the historic districts of Reinborn, Steinfischbach, and Reichenbach. Together with the neighboring barrow "Totenkopf" (Death's Head) and the Celtic hillfort "Burg" (Castle) (a 459-meter-high fortification), the "Goldkessel" provides evidence of dense pre-Christian settlement in the region during the Bronze and Iron Ages. The archaeological area is embedded in a cultural landscape with a direct link to the settlement of Reinborn (historically consisting of only nine homesteads, including a protected three-sided courtyard from 1767). In the immediate vicinity, there is a Baroque cemetery church with a Romanesque chancel arch and Apostle frescoes, as well as the "Tausendjährige Linde" (Thousand-Year-Old Linden Tree). • Prehistoric Landmark: The "Goldkessel" was part of a barrow group along the prehistoric long-distance road "Landstraß" (High Road), which led from the upper Wetterau via Idstein to the Rhine. • Steel Construction for Natural Monument: The neighboring linden tree has a trunk circumference of nearly 15 meters. Its deeply split trunk is secured from breaking apart by an internal steel column and steel cables.