Horses were buried in their bridles and collars, and like humans with their heads facing east towards the rising sun.

The Germanic practice of killing any animals belonging to a high-ranking deceased and burying them alongside him was imported by Alemanni from Thuringia and the Franks. It was a way of showing off the extraordinary wealth of those being buried. The animals were sacrificed but they were also intended to be of service to the deceased in the beyond. Their remains thus provide evidence of the Frankish elite’s perpetuation of heathen practices alongside Christianity even as late as 600 A.D.