Hallstatt culture
The
Hallstatt culture was the predominant
Central European culture during the local
Bronze Age, and introduced the
Iron Age. It is named for its
type site,
Hallstatt, a lakeside village in the
Austrian
Salzkammergut southeast of
Salzburg.
In
1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a large
prehistoric cemetery which he excavated during the second half of the
19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials.
The community at Hallstatt exploited the
salt mines in the area, which had been worked from time to time since the
Neolithic, from the
8th to
5th century
BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery is very distinctive, and artifacts made in this style are widespread in
Europe.
The Hallstatt culture, extending from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, is divided by archaeologists into four phases: Hallstatt A and B correspond to the late
Bronze Age (
c.1200â€"800 BC), while Hallstatt C refers to the very early
Iron Age (
c.800â€"600 BC) and is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, only daggers are found in graves ranging from
c.600â€"500 BC. There are also differences in pottery and the
brooches.
An eastern Hallstatt cultural zone including
Croatia,
Slovenia, western
Hungary,
Austria,
Moravia, and
Slovakia can be distinguished from a western cultural zone which includes northern
Italy,
Switzerland, eastern
France, southern
Germany, and
Bohemia.
Exchange systems or folk movements (probably both) spread the Hallstatt cultural complex into the western half of the
Iberian peninsula,
Great Britain, and
Ireland. It is probable that some if not all of this diffusion took place in a
Celtic-speaking context.
Trade with
Greece is attested by finds of
Attic black-figure pottery in the Ă©lite graves of the late Hallstatt period. It was probably imported via Massilia (
Marseille). Other imported luxuries include
amber,
ivory (
Gräfenbühl) and probably
wine. Recent analyses have shown that the reputed
silk in the barrow at
Hohmichele was misidentified. Red
dye (
cochineal) was imported from the south as well (Hochdorf burial).
In the central Hallstatt regions, and toward the end of the period, very rich graves of high-status individuals under large
tumuli are found in association with fortified hilltop settlements. They often contain chariots and horse bits or yokes. Well known chariot burials include
Býčà Skála,
Vix and
Hochdorf. A model of a chariot made from lead has been found in
Frögg,
Carinthia.
The defended sites frequently include the workshops of bronze-, silver-, and goldsmiths. Typical sites are the
Heuneburg on the upper
Danube surrounded by nine very large grave tumuli,
Mont Lassois in eastern France near
Châtillon-sur-Seine with, at its foot, the very rich grave at
Vix, and the hill fort at
Molpir in the
Slovakia.
Artwork includes elaborate jewellery made of bronze and gold, and stone stelae, like the famous
warrior of Hirschlanden.
The succeeding culture in much of Central Europe is the
La Tène culture.
*Barth, F.E., J. Biel, et al.
Vierrädrige Wagen der Hallstattzeit ("The Hallstatt four-wheeled wagon" at Mainz). Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum; 1987. ISBN 3884670166
*Bichler, P. (ed.)
"Hallstatt textiles: technical analysis, scientific investigation and experiment on Iron Age textiles." Oxford: Archaeopress; 2005. ISBN 1841716979
*Eibner, A.
"Music during the Hallstatt period. Observations on Mousike as depicted on Iron Age circumalpine vessels." Paris: Maison des sciences de l'homme; 1996. ISBN 2735105776
*Potrebica, H.
"Some Remarks on the Contacts Between the Greek and the Hallstatt Culture Considering the Area of the Northern Croatia in the Early Iron Age." Oxford: Archaeopress; 1998. ISBN 0860548945
*Pydyn, A.
"Exchange and cultural interactions : a study of long-distance trade and cross-cultural contacts in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in Central and Eastern Europe." Oxford: Archaeopress; 1999. ISBN 1841710261
*Rom, W.
"AMS 14C Dating of Equipment from the Iceman and of Spruce Logs from the Prehistoric Salt Mines of Hallstatt." from
Radiocarbon 41, #2; 1999: 183 (16 pp.) ISSN 0033-8222
