Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The Great Torc from Snettisham, England, 1st century BC.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Statue de barde datant de La Tène, découverte lors de fouilles de la forteresse de Paule.

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Detail from the Agris Helmet

Casque celte et gaulois d’apparat dit casque d’Agris; à coque en fer, recouverte de bronze décoré de feuilles d’or repoussées, rivetées (rivets en argent à tête sertie d’un fleuron d’or), argent et éléments décoratifs de corail sertis dans les alvéoles de certains motifs. il a été découvert à Agris, en Charente dans la grotte des Perrats en 1981 ; probablement fabriqué par des artisans de l’ouest de la gaule. C’est l’une des œuvres majeures de tout l’art gaulois. Il est conservé au musée d’Angoulême. Il est daté du second âge du fer, vers 5ème siècle avant Jésus-Christ. L’or provenait sans doute du Limousin ou du Périgord. Des motifs réalisés avec du fil d’or bouleté ornent la pièce mobile qui protégeaient la joue. Le motif principal du pare-joue représente un serpent cornu à longue tête, le monstre des enfers, attribut du dieu gaulois Cernunos. Ce casque n’a probablement eu qu’un usage cérémoniel ou est simplement une offrande. Il n’a pas été trouvé dans une sépulture mais dans une grotte-sanctuaire, brisé volontairement (plusieurs parties ont été arrachée et le timbre a été enfoncé par un coup violent).

 

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Nachbildung der Pfalzfelder Säule

 

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Späteisenzeitlicher Helm aus London

 

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Meule à grains en basalte de la culture de La Tène.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The large imported Vix Krater from the Vix Grave

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Distribution of Celts in Europe from 800 BC to 250 BC.

La Tène

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Carnyx forgé en bronze daté du début du ii^e siècle av. J.-C., découvert sur l’oppidum d’Epomanduodurum, conservé au Musée archéologique du Château à Montbéliard.

Définition

Autres noms	2e Âge du Fer Culture laténienne
Lieu éponyme	Site archéologique de La Tène(Suisse)
Auteur	Hans Olof Hildebrand (1872)

Caractéristiques

Répartition géographique	Europe
Période	Âge du fer
Chronologie	Fin du ve siècle av. J.-C. (vers -450/ fin du ier siècle av. J.-C. (-25 )

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Subdivisions

La Tène ancien (-400 / -300, La Tène moyen (-300 / -100 ), La Tène récent (-100 / -25)

Objets typiques

Carnyx · torque · tombe à char · casque de Negau · poignard à antennes

La Tène ou second Âge du Fer est une culture de la Protohistoire qui se développe en Europeentre environ 450 av. J.-C. et 25 av. J.-C.Considérée comme l’apogée de la civilisation celtique, elle succède au Hallstatt (1300 av. J.-C. à 400 av. J.-C.) et s’achève avec la conquête romaine et les migrations germaniques. Son nom provient du site archéologique de La Tène découvert en 1857 à Marin-Epagnier, sur les bords du lac de Neuchâtel en Suisse. La Tène donne l’adjectif « laténien(ne) ».

Historique

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Meule à grains en basalte de la culture de La Tène.

Les fouilles de La Tène ont débuté en 1857, avant la correction des eaux du Jura qui a abaissé le niveau du lac de Neuchâtel de près de 3 mètres. Menées par Hans Kopp, pêcheur et collecteur d’objets, et conduites par le colonel Friedrich Schwab, elles ont permis la découverte de nombreuses armes (épées) et parures.

L’archéologue suisse Ferdinand Keller interprète en 1863 les vestiges comme ceux d’un village celtique sur pilotis (influence des travaux de Pierre Jean Édouard Desor sur la « civilisation lacustre »), publiant ses conclusions en 1868 dans son premier rapport sur les palafittes suisses (Pfahlbaubericht)¹. Édouard Desor, un géologue de Neuchâtel, considère le site comme une manufacture d’armes construite sur pilotis puis détruite par un ennemi. Émile Vouga met au jour quantité d’objets dans un paléochenal et publie en 1885 Les Helvètes à La Tène, synthèse suivie de La Tène, un oppidum helvète de Victor Gross en 1886. Les recherches officielles de la Commission des fouilles (1907-1917), dirigées par William Wavre, puis par Paul Vouga à partir de 1909, s’achèvent avec la publication en 1923 de La Tène : monographie de la station qui propose les hypothèses d’entrepôt, de poste de contrôle ou de douane². En 2007 un bilan documentaire financé par le Fonds de recherche suisse est réalisé et aboutit à la publication La Tène : la recherche – les questions – les réponses³.

Le musée archéologique Laténium, inauguré en 2001, a des « réserves ouvertes » pour voir les vestiges de La Tène¹.

Le site a livré une importante quantité d’objets et plusieurs habitats protohistoriques. Il a donné son nom au second âge du fer en 1872, lorsque l’archéologue suédois B. E. Hildebrand élabora une chronologie de la Protohistoire européenne, tandis que l’âge du fer ancien était nommé Hallstatt.

L’interprétation qui prévaut toujours aujourd’hui est qu’il s’agit d’un site de sacrifices : deux ponts qui passaient sur l’antique rivière Thielle sont les points d’offrandes jetées directement dans l’eau d’un vaste sanctuaire de plein air, ou bien le culte fut pratiqué à partir de plates-formes sacrificielles sur les ponts et sur lesquelles ont été immolés des guerriers³.

Systèmes chronologiques

Système de Tischler

En 1881, Otto Tischler proposa de subdiviser la période de La Tène en trois phases en fonction de la forme des épées et des fibules :

• phase ancienne -400 à -300 : fibule à pied libre (Duchkov) et épée à pointe effilée avec fourreau à bouterolle circulaire ;
• phase moyenne -300 à -100 : fibule à pied rattaché au sommet de l’arc, épée plus longue et fourreau à bouterolle pointue ou légèrement arrondie ;
• phase récente -100 à l’apogée de la République romaine préemptant du futur empire romain : fibule avec cadre en guise de porte ardillon, épée à bout arrondi, de taille uniquement.

Ce système a servi par la suite de base pour les chronologies régionales.

Systèmes allemand (Reinecke) et français (Déchelette)

La période a néanmoins été découpée à nouveau en quatre phases par Paul Reineckeen 1902 pour l’Allemagne, et par Joseph Déchelette qui corrige la chronologie de Tischler en 1914 pour la France. Déchelette ajoute notamment une phase « la Tène IV » pour les îles Britanniques :

• La Tène I (à partir de la seconde moitié du v^e siècle av. J.-C.)
• La Tène II/III (jusqu’à la conquête romaine)
• La Tène IV (réservée aux îles Britanniques)

Styles artistiques de Jacobsthal

En 1944, Paul Jacobsthal publie sa chronologie dans Early Celtic Art. Elle est fondée sur l’observation de quatre styles artistiques propres à l’espace celtique :

• Style ancien : -500 à -400
• Style de Waldalgesheim : -400 à -300
• Style plastique : début du iii^e siècle
• Style des épées hongroises : début du iii^e siècle

Synthèse

• 460 av. J.-C. – 400 av. J.-C. : La Tène A ou La Tène I précoce
• 400 av. J.-C. – 320 av. J.-C. : La Tène B1 ou La Tène I moyenne
• 320 av. J.-C. – 260 av. J.-C. : La Tène B2 ou La Tène I tardive
• 260 av. J.-C. – 150 av. J.-C. : La Tène C ou La Tène II
• 150 av. J.-C. – 30 av. J.-C. : La Tène D ou La Tène III
  • avec La Tène D1 : 150 – 70 av. J.-C. ; La Tène D2 : 70 – 30 av. J.-C.
    • La Tène D1a : 150 – 120 av. J.-C. ; La Tène D2a : 70 – 50 av. J.-C.
    • La Tène D1b : 120 – 70 av. J.-C. ; La Tène D2b : 50 – 30 av. J.-C.

Civilisation

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Statue de barde datant de La Tène, découverte lors de fouilles de la forteresse de Paule.

La civilisation celtique de La Tène atteint la Gauletout entière (entre la Garonne et la Seine, v. -500), l’Espagne (Celtibères, v. -500), les Balkans, la Grèce (prise de Delphes en -279), l’Asie Mineure (Galates en -275).

Conséquence d’une crise interne, de la réorganisation des circuits commerciaux ou des luttes entre Grecs et Étrusques pour le contrôle des échanges, les citadelles des Celtes du premier âge du fer, poumon des relations commerciales sont abandonnées les unes après les autres vers -500 au profit d’un mode de vie plus rural dominé par une chefferie guerrière. Des régions se distinguent comme les nouveaux centres de la civilisation celtique au v^e siècle : la Rhénanie (culture du Hunsrück–Eifel), la Bohême, la Champagne et les Ardennes. Une lente évolution se produit dans les coutumes et les productions. On trouve le stamnos étrusque (vase contenant le vin pur) dans les tombes riches du v^e siècle, à la Motte-Saint-Valentin(Haute-Marne) ou à Altrier (Luxembourg). Le miroir importé d’Étrurie, ou son imitation, est fréquent dans les sépultures féminines (Uetliberg, près de Zurich, la Motte-Saint-Valentin). Les mobiliers funéraires laissent entrevoir une moindre disparité sociale entre les puissants et le reste du peuple. Les importations méditerranéennes baissent, les bijoux sont moins somptueux. Les sépultures des chefs perdent de leur monumentalité, en conservant leur mobilier type : le poignard de parade fait place à la panoplie guerrière complète, le char à deux roues, plus léger et rapide, remplace le char de parade.

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

œnochoés étrusques découverts dans des tombes du nord de la Gaule

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Le Héros celtique de Bohème ou Tête de Mšecké Žehrovice

En Champagne, les vastes cimetières du second âge du fer comportent, signe d’un peuplement dense, des tombes plates sans tumulus, creusées dans le sol crayeux. Les tessons de céramique retrouvés présentent des caractères régionaux « marniens » (vase de la Cheppe). Des œnochoés étrusques (Somme-Bionne, Somme-Tourbe, Eigenbilzen et Sept-Saulx) attestent des relations avec l’Étrurie. Les hommes les plus importants (150 tombes) sont inhumés sur leur char à deux roues, généralement armés, et portent un casque pointu en bronze. Plus nombreux, les fantassins ne gardent que leurs armes : épées, lances et javelots. Les femmes ont des agrafes de ceinture, des fibules, des bijoux comme le torque, qui, porté dès l’adolescence, paraît investi d’une signification sacrée. Le v^e siècle et le début du iv^e siècle jouissent d’une grande stabilité, sensible dans les productions. La société semble assez égalitaire. La prédominance nette des tombes féminines marque cependant le départ progressif des hommes. Des oppida remontant à la Tène, ont été identifiés en Belgique, en Ardenne, à Canteleux, près de Chièvres, au lieu-dit Chession, près de Han-sur-Lesse, à Belvaux, Flobecq, Gilly-Ransart, Gougnies, Orchimont, Sinsin et à la Montagne Saint-Pierre. Le centre des hauts plateaux schisteux de l’Ardenne est densément occupé vers 480/470 avant notre ère par des Celtes. Leur civilisation nous y est essentiellement connue par les vestiges funéraires (les tombelles) qui constellent l’Ardenne. Quelque 150 sites totalisant près de 600 tertres ont été repérés. Venant de la moyenne vallée du Rhin et de la rive droite au nord du Main, les Belges arrivent dans la région vers -300. Ils y supplantent les Gaulois.

La fin de la période de La Tène est marquée par le début du principat d’Auguste en 29 av. J.-C.En effet, si la guerre des Gaules (entre 58 et 51 av. J.-C.) marque le basculement des peuples de Gaule interne dans l’orbite romaine, les archéologues considèrent généralement que les véritables changements culturels n’auront lieu qu’une génération plus tard à partir du règne d’Auguste et de la réorganisation administrative des Gaules. Dans les îles Britanniques, les archéologues font même descendre la civilisation laténienne au moins jusqu’en 43 apr. J.-C., date du début de la conquête de l’île.

Chronologie du second âge du fer

• vers -600 (Civilisation de Hallstatt). Fondation de la colonie phocéenne de Massalia sur le territoire des Segobriges.
• -396. Les Gaulois franchissent les Alpes à l’initiative d’Ambigat, le roi des Bituriges(Sénons, Andes, Insubres et Boïens).
• -386. Défaite des Romains face aux Sénons sur l’Allia. 30 000 Celtes menés par Brennusrançonnent Rome.
• -367. Des mercenaires celtes sont engagés contre les Thébains dans un corps expéditionnaire de Syracuse.
• -332. Traité de paix entre Rome et les Sénons.
• Vers -300. Venant de la moyenne vallée du Rhin et de la rive droite au nord du Main, les Belges arrivent en Gaule Belgique.
• -279. Sac de Delphes par les Celtes migrant vers l’Est.
• -232. Le territoire des Sénons (ager gallicus) est confisqué par Rome.
• -218. Incursion d’Hannibal en Gaule cisalpine. Soulèvement des Boïens contre Rome.
• -125. Conquête de la Narbonnaise par Rome.
• Vers -82 à -44. Les Boïens de Pannonie sont victimes de l’attaque des Daces menés par leur roi Burebista. Destruction de l’oppidum de Bratislava.
• -58. Début de la guerre des Gaules.
• -52. Défaite de l’armée gauloise de Vercingétorix à Alésia. Le chef gaulois est fait prisonnier par Jules César.
• -51. Défaite des vaincus d’Alésia qui s’étaient réfugiés à Uxellodunum : la Gaule est sous contrôle romain.
• -9 à -6. L’Oppidum de Stradonice (Bohême) est incendié, probablement par les Germains : invasion des Marcomans. Suivi du développement d’une civilisation germanique sur ces terres.

Tableau chronologique récapitulatif

Tableau récapitulatif des différents systèmes de datation en Europe au cours de la période celtique dite de Hallstatt^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10}

Système de datation archéologique de l’Europe	Chronologie	Évènements en Europe	Monde hellénistique	Monde italico – étrusque	Monde celtique
					Celtesd’Allemagne du Sud	Celtes de la Gallia comata/Gaulois	Celtesd’Europe de l’Est	Celtesgolasecciens/ Italie du Nord-Ouest
Âge du fer ancien	vie siècle av. J.-C.	Monarchie romaine(jusqu’en -509) / Fondation de Lattara / Fondation de Massalia(-600) / Bataille d’Alalia(-540)	Grèce archaïque	Culture étrusque	Hallstatt D	Hallstatt moyen à final	Hallstatt D	Golasecca 2A / 2B
Âge du fer moyen	ve siècle av. J.-C.	Première mention des Celtes par Hécatée de Milet et Hérodote	Grèce archaïque	Monarchies étrusques	Hallstatt D/Ha D	Hallstatt moyen à final /Ha moyen – final	Hallstatt D/Ha D	Golasecca 2B / 2C
	ive siècle av. J.-C.	Sac de Rome (-384) / Bataille de l’Allia / conquêtes d’Alexandre le Grand et extension de la koinèceltique, les Belgesarrivent en Gaule Belgique / Pythéasparcourt les côtes de la Gaule	Période classique	République romaine	La Tène A	La Tène Ancienne	La Tène A	Golasecca III
	iiie siècle av. J.-C.	Bataille de Sentinum(-295) / Expédition militaire celtepar le chef de guerre Brennoscontre Delphes(-279)	Période hellénistique(jusqu’en -227)		La Tène B	La Tène moyenne	La Tène B	La Tène moyen / La tène B
Âge du fer récent	iie siècle av. J.-C.	Guerre de Numance(-133) / Victoire romaine sur la coalition celte sur le Rhône des Arvernes et des Allobrogesmenée par le roi Bituitos(-121)	Grèce romaine		La Tène C	La Tène tardive	La Tène C	Romanisationde la Celtique Nord-italienne
	ier siècle av. J.-C.	Guerre des Gaules(-58/-50) / Création de l’Empire romain (-27)			La Tène D	La Tène récente	Romanisationde l’Europe celtique orientale et de laCeltique proche-orientale	Province de la république romaine

Armement

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Notes et références

1. ↑ ^a et b* Gianna Reginelli Servais, La Tène, un site, un mythe, vol. 1 : chronique en images (1857-1923), Hauterive, Office et Musée cantonal d’archéologie de Neuchâtel, coll. « Archéologie neuchâteloise » (n^o 39), 2007, 203 p.(ISBN978-2-940347-35-3).
2. ↑Gilbert Kaenel, « La Tène (site archéologique) [archive] » dans le Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse en ligne.
3. ↑ ^a et bThierry Lejars, « La Tène, site mythique de l’archéologie celtique : histoire d’une découverte » [archive] [viéo], sur savoirs.ens.fr, 7 juin 2012(consulté le 24 décembre 2016).
4. ↑Christine Lorre et Veronica Cicolani, Golasecca : du commerce et des hommes à l’âge du fer (VIII^e–V^e siècle av. J.-C.), Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 2009, 176 p.(ISBN978-2-7118-5675-6), p. 164.
5. ↑Brigitte Postel, « Golasecca : Celtes du nord de l’Italie », Archéologia, n^o 476,‎ avril 2010, p. 58-65 (ISSN0570-6270).
6. ↑Kruta 2000, p. XII-XIV
7. ↑Vitali 2013, p. 15.
8. ↑Megaw et Megaw 2005, p. 10-11.
9. ↑Patrice Brun, Princes et princesses de la Celtique : le premier âge du fer en Europe (850-450 av. J.-C.), Paris, Errance, coll. « Hespérides », 1987, 216 p.(ISBN2-903442-46-0), p. 27 ; 218-219.
10. ↑Buchsenschutz 2015, p. 30-46 ; 80-85 ; 178.

Bibliographie

 : document utilisé comme source pour la rédaction de cet article.

• Gianna Reginelli Servais et Arnold Béat, La Tène, un site, un mythe, Hauterive : Laténium – Parc et musée d’archéologie de Neuchâtel, 2007, Cahiers d’archéologie romande de la Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, 3 vols (ISBN9782940347353).
• Olivier Buchsenschutz (dir.), L’Europe celtique à l’âge du fer : VIII^e–I^er siècles, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, coll. « Nouvelle Clio », 2015, 437 p.(ISBN978-2-13-057756-0) 
• Venceslas Kruta, Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire : des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme, Paris, Robert Laffont, coll. « Bouquins », 2000, 1005 p.(ISBN2-221-05690-6) 
• Daniele Vitali, Les Celtes : trésors d’une civilisation ancienne, Vercelli, White Star, 2013, 207 p.(ISBN978-88-6112-467-7)
• Ruth Megaw et John Megaw, Art de la Celtique : des origines au Livre de Kells, Paris, Errance, 2005, 276 p.(ISBN2-87772-305-4)
• Sabatino Moscatiet al., Les Celtes, Paris, EDDL, 2001, 711 p.(ISBN978-2-237-00484-6)
• Albert Grenier, Les Gaulois, Paris, Payot, coll. « Petite bibliothèque Payot », 1970(ISBN2-228-88838-9)
• Françoise Le Roux et Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc’h, La Civilisation celtique, Rennes, Ouest-France, 1990, 219 p.(ISBN978-2-7373-0297-8)
• John Haywood, Atlas historique des Celtes, Paris, Autrement, coll. « Atlas-mémoires », 2002, 144 p.(ISBN978-2-7467-0187-8)
• Jean-Louis Brunaux et Bernard Lambot, Guerre et armement chez les Gaulois : 450-52 av. J.-C., Paris, Errance, coll. « Hespérides », 1988, 219 p.(ISBN978-2-903442-62-0)
• Guillaume Reich, « Les armes de la Tène, ou l’art des guerriers celtes », Archéologia, n^o 535,‎ septembre 2015, p. 48-53 (ISSN0570-6270)

• La Tène,

• « Les Gaulois d’Acy-Romance » [archive], sur gaulois.ardennes.culture.fr
• « Lattes en Languedoc, les Gaulois du sud » [archive], sur lattara.culture.fr
• « Les Gaulois en Provence : l’oppidum d’Entremont » [archive], sur entremont.culture.gouv.fr
• Notices d’autorité : Bibliothèque nationale de France(données) • Système universitaire de documentation • Bibliothèque du Congrès • Gemeinsame Normdatei • Bibliothèque nationale d’Espagne

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Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Bronze fitting from France in the « vegetal » style

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Overview of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures. The core Hallstatt territory (800 BCE) is shown in solid yellow, the area of influence by 500 BCE (HaD) in light yellow. The core territory of the La Tène culture (450 BCE) is shown in solid green, the eventual area of La Tène influence by 50 BCE in light green. The territories of some major Celtic tribes are labelled. Map drawn after Atlas of the Celtic World, by John Haywood (2001: 30–37).

La Tène culture

Geographical range	much of Western and Central Europe
Period	Iron Age Europe
Dates	circa 500 BCE. — circa 1 BCE
Type site	La Tène, Neuchâtel
Preceded by	Hallstatt culture « D »
Followed by	Roman Empire

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

A 1st-century BCE mirror found in Desborough, Northants, showing the spiral and trumpet theme.

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The large imported Vix Kraterfrom the Vix Grave

The La Tène culture (/ləˈtɛn/; French pronunciation: ​[la tɛn]) was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where thousands of objects had been deposited in the lake, as was discovered after the water level dropped in 1857.^[1]

La Tène is the type site and the term archaeologists use for the later period of the culture and art of the ancient Celts, a term that is firmly entrenched in the popular understanding, but presents numerous problems for historians and archaeologists.^[2] The culture became very widespread, and encompasses a wide variety of local differences. It is often distinguished from earlier and neighbouring cultures mainly by the La Tène style of Celtic art, characterized by curving « swirly » decoration, especially of metalwork.^[3]

La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 500 BCE to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BCE) in Belgium, eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, Southern Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and parts of Hungary, Ukraine and Romania. The Celtiberians of western Iberia shared many aspects of the culture, though not generally the artistic style. To the north extended the contemporary Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, including the Jastorf culture of Northern Germany.

La Tène culture developed out of the early Iron Age Hallstatt culturewithout any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from the Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul, the Etruscans,^[4] and Golasecca culture.^[5] Barry Cunliffe notes localization of La Tène culture during the 5th century when there arose « two zones of power and innovation: a Marne – Moselle zone in the west with trading links to the Po Valley via the central Alpine passes and the Golasecca culture, and a Bohemian zone in the east with separate links to the Adriatic via the eastern Alpine routes and the Venetic culture ».^[6] A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century.

La Tène cultural material appeared over a large area, including parts of Ireland and Great Britain, northern Spain, northern-central Italy,^[7] Burgundy, and Austria. Elaborate burials also reveal a wide network of trade. In Vix, France, an elite woman of the 6th century BCE was buried with a very large bronze « wine-mixer »made in Greece. Exports from La Tène cultural areas to the Mediterranean cultures were based on salt, tin, copper, amber, wool, leather, furs and gold. Although the La Tène culture had no writing of its own (rare examples of it using Greek inscriptions exist, and late Celtic coinage often uses Latin) there are several accounts of the culture and aspects of its history from classical authors, most very hostile and tending to stereotype.

History

The preceding « Halstatt D » culture, of about 650-475, was also very widespread across Europe, and the transition over this area was gradual, and is mainly detected through La Tène style elite artefacts, which first appear in the western end of the old Hallstatt region.

The establishment of a Greek colony, soon very successful, at Massalia (modern Marseilles) on the Mediterranean coast of France led to great trade with the Hallstatt areas up the Rhone and Saone river systems, and early La Tène elite burials like the Vix Grave in Burgundy contain imported luxury goods along with artifacts produced locally. Most areas were probably controlled by tribal chiefs living in hilltop forts, while the bulk of the population lived in small villages or farmsteads in the countryside.^[8]

By 500 the Etruscans expanded to border Celts in north Italy, and trade across the Alps began to overhaul trade with the Greeks, and the Rhone route declined. Booming areas included the middle Rhine, with large iron ore deposits, the Marneand Champagne regions, and also Bohemia, although here trade with the Mediterranean area was much less important. Trading connections and wealth no doubt played a part in the origin of the La Tène style, though how large a part remains much discussed; specific Mediterranean-derived motifs are evident, but the new style does not depend on them.^[9]

By about 400 the evidence for Mediterranean trade become sparse; this may have been because the expanding Celtic populations began to migrate south and west, coming into violent conflict with the established populations, including the Etruscans and Romans. The settled life in much of the La Tène homelands also seems to have become much more unstable and prone to wars. In about 387 the Celts under Brennus defeated the Romans and then sacked Rome, establishing themselves as the most prominent threats to the Roman homeland, a status they would retain through a series of Roman-Gallic wars until Julius Caesar‘s final conquest of Gaul in 58-50 BCE. The Romans prevented the Celts from reaching very far south of Rome, but on the other side of the Adriatic Sea groups passed through the Balkans to reach Greece, where Delphi was attacked in 279, and Asia, where Galatia was established as a Celtic area of Anatolia. By this time the La Tène style was spreading to the British Isles, though apparently without any significant movements in population.^[10]

After about 275 the relentless Roman expansion into the area occupied by La Tène culture began; it would never be complete, but lasted until the 1st century CE in Britain, leaving only the approximate areas of the modern Celtic nations(excluding Brittany) unoccupied. The Romans never attempted to invade Irelandand eventually decided that expansion into north Scotland was not worth the trouble, retreating from the line of the Antonine Wall to Hadrian’s Wall in 162 CE.^[11]

La Tène homeland

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The Hallstatt and La Tène Cultures.

Main article: Celts

Though there is no agreement on the precise region in which La Tène culture first developed, there is a broad consensus that the center of the culture lay on the northwest edges of Hallstatt culture, north of the Alps, within the region between in the West the valleys of the Marne and Moselle, and the part of the Rhineland nearby. In the east the western end of the old Hallstatt core area in modern Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland formed a somewhat separate « eastern style Province » in the early La Tène, joining with the western area in Alsace.^[12]

In 1994 a prototypical ensemble of elite grave sites of the early 5th century BCE was excavated at Glauberg in Hesse, northeast of Frankfurt-am-Main, in a region that had formerly been considered peripheral to the La Tène sphere.^[13] The site at La Tène itself was therefore near the southern edge of the original « core » area (as is also the case for the Hallstatt site for its core).

From their homeland, La Tène culture expanded in the 4th century to more of modern France, Germany, and Central Europe, and beyond to Hispania, northern and central Italy, the Balkans, and even as far as Asia Minor, in the course of several major migrations. La Tène style artefacts start to appear in Britain around the same time,^[14] and Ireland rather later. The style of « Insular La Tène » art is somewhat different and the artefacts are initially found in some parts of the islands but not others. Migratory movements seem at best only partly responsible for the diffusion of La Tène culture there, and perhaps other parts of Europe.^[15]

Periodization

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Detail of the Battersea Shield, insular late La Tène style

Extensive contacts through trade are recognized in foreign objects deposited in elite burials; stylistic influences on La Tène material culture can be recognized in Etruscan, Italic, Greek, Dacian and Scythian sources. Dateable Greek pottery and analysis employing scientific techniques such as dendrochronology and thermoluminescence help provide date ranges for an absolute chronology at some La Tène sites.

As with many archaeological periods, La Tène history was originally divided into « early » (6th century BCE), « middle » (c. 450–100 BCE), and « late » (1st century BCE) stages, with the Roman occupation greatly disrupting the culture, although many elements remain in Gallo-Romanand Romano-British culture.^[16] A broad cultural unity was not paralleled by overarching social-political unifying structures, and the extent to which the material culture can be linguistically linked is debated. The art history of La Tène culture has various schemes of periodization.^[17]

Ethnology

Our knowledge of this cultural area derives from three sources: from archaeological evidence, from Greek and Latin literary evidence, and more controversially, from ethnographical evidence suggesting some La Tène artistic and cultural survivals in traditionally Celtic regions of far western Europe. Some of the societies that are archaeologically identified with La Tène material culture were identified by Greek and Roman authors from the 5th century onwards as Keltoi(« Celts« ) and Galli (« Gauls« ). Herodotus (iv.49) correctly placed Keltoi at the source of the Ister/Danube, in the heartland of La Tène material culture: « The Ister flows right across Europe, rising in the country of the Celts », however, apparently misunderstanding his source,^[18] he also misplaced them as « farthest to the west of any people of Europe »^[19]

Whether the usage of classical sources means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes (Frey 2004) that in the 5th century, « burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions ».

The spread of the Celtic languages before and during the period is also uncertain. In the 19th century it used to be thought that these only reached Ireland and Britain in the 1st millennium BCE, but it is now thought likely that they were dominant before the arrival of cultural styles associated with Celts, perhaps long before.^[20]

Material culture

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

Detail from the Agris Helmet

Main articles: Celtic art and Celts

La Tène metalwork in bronze, iron and gold, developing technologically out of Hallstatt culture, is stylistically characterized by inscribed and inlaid intricate spirals and interlace, on fine bronze vessels, helmets and shields, horse trappings and elite jewelry, especially the neck rings called torcs and elaborate clasps called fibulae. It is characterized by elegant, stylized curvilinear animal and vegetal forms, allied with the Hallstatt traditions of geometric patterning.

The Early Style of La Tène art and culture mainly featured static, geometric decoration, while the transition to the Developed Style constituted a shift to movement-based forms, such as triskeles. Some subsets within the Developed Style contain more specific design trends, such as the recurrent serpentine scroll of the Waldalgesheim Style ^[21]

Initially La Tène people lived in open settlements that were dominated by the chieftains’ hill forts. The development of towns—oppida—appears in mid-La Tène culture. La Tène dwellings were carpenter-built rather than of masonry. La Tène peoples also dug ritual shafts, in which votive offerings and even human sacrifices were cast. Severed heads appear to have held great power and were often represented in carvings. Burial sites included weapons, carts, and both elite and household goods, evoking a strong continuity with an afterlife.^[22]

Site of La Tène

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

 

Reconstruction of one of the bridges at the La Tène site

La Tène is a village on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where the small river Thielle, connecting to another lake, enters the Lake Neuchâtel. It is an archaeological site and the eponymous type site for the late Iron Age La Tène culture. In 1857, prolonged droughtlowered the waters of the lake by about 2 m. On the northernmost tip of the lake, between the river and a point south of the village of Marin-Epagnier, Hansli Kopp, looking for antiquities for Colonel Frédéric Schwab, discovered several rows of wooden piles that still reached up about 50 cm into the water. From among these, Kopp collected about forty iron swords.

The Swiss archaeologist Ferdinand Keller published his findings in 1868 in his influential first report on the Swiss pile dwellings (Pfahlbaubericht). In 1863 he interpreted the remains as a Celtic village built on piles. Eduard Desor, a geologistfrom Neuchâtel, started excavations on the lakeshore soon afterwards. He interpreted the site as an armory, erected on platforms on piles over the lake and later destroyed by enemy action. Another interpretation accounting for the presence of cast iron swords that had not been sharpened, was of a site for ritual depositions.

With the first systematic lowering of the Swiss lakes from 1868 to 1883, the site fell completely dry. In 1880, Emile Vouga, a teacher from Marin-Epagnier, uncovered the wooden remains of two bridges (designated « Pont Desor » and « Pont Vouga ») originally over 100 m long, that crossed the little Thielle River (today a nature reserve) and the remains of five houses on the shore. After Vouga had finished, F. Borel, curator of the Marin museum, began to excavate as well. In 1885 the cantonasked the Société d’Histoire of Neuchâtel to continue the excavations, the results of which were published by Vouga in the same year.

All in all, over 2500 objects, mainly made from metal, have been excavated in La Tène. Weapons predominate, there being 166 swords (most without traces of wear), 270 lanceheads, and 22 shield bosses, along with 385 brooches, tools, and parts of chariots. Numerous human and animal bones were found as well. The site was used from the 3rd century, with a peak of activity around 200 BCE and abandonment by about 60 BCE.^[23] Interpretations of the site vary. Some scholars believe the bridge was destroyed by high water, while others see it as a place of sacrifice after a successful battle (there are almost no female ornaments).

An exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the La Tène site opened in 2007 at the Musée Schwab in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, moving to move to Zürich in 2008 and Mont Beuvray in Burgundy in 2009.

Sites

Reconstruction of a late La Tène period (1st century BCE) settlement in Altburg near Bundenbach.

Reconstruction of a late La Tène period (2nd/1st century BCE) settlement in Havranok, Slovakia.

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The Mšecké Žehrovice Head

Some sites are:

La Tène, Marin-Epagnier Bern, Engehalbinsel: oppidum Jolimont Manching: oppidum Mormont Münsingen, burial field Petinesca Basel oppidum Bibracte, oppidum of the Aeduiat Mont Beuvray in Burgundy Erstfeld hoard Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave Turicum–Lindenhof Bopfingen: Viereckschanze, a characteristic rectangular enclosure

Fellbach-Schmiden, near Stuttgart: Viereckschanze; ritual objects recovered from a well Kleinaspergle: elite graves of La Tène I Waldalgesheim chariot burial: an elite chariot burial, 4th century Glauberg, oppidum and elite graves Dürrnberg near Hallein: Burial field and earthworks of late Hallstatt–early La Tène Donnersberg: oppidum Vill near Innsbruck: remains of dwellings Sandberg Celtic city near Platt and Roseldorf in Lower Austria Vix/Mont Lassois: oppidum and elaborate graves Titelberg: oppidum in Luxembourg Reinheim: Tomb of a princess/priestess with burial gifts

Artifacts

Giacobbe Giusti, La Tène culture

The Great Torc from Snettisham, England, 1st century BC.

See Category:Celtic art.

Some outstanding La Tène artifacts are:

• Vix Grave of a very wealthy woman in Burgundy) buried with an 1100-litre (290 gallon) bronze krater, the largest ever found.
• Mšecké Žehrovice Head, a stone head from the modern Czech Republic
• A life-sized sculpture of a warrior that stood above the Glauberg burials
• Chariot burial found at La Gorge Meillet (St-Germain-en-Laye: Musée des Antiquités Nationales)
• Basse Yutz Flagons 5th century
• Agris Helmet, with gold covering, c. 350
• Waldalgesheim chariot burial, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, late 4th century BCE, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn; the « Waldalgesheim phase/style » of the art takes its name from the jewellery found here.
• A gold-and-bronze model of an oak tree (3rd century BCE) found at the Oppidum of Manching.
• Sculptures from Roquepertuse, a sanctuary in the south of France
• The silver Gundestrup cauldron (2nd or 1st century BCE), found ritually broken in a peat bog near Gundestrup, Denmark, but probably made near the Black Sea, perhaps in Thrace. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)
• Battersea Shield (350–50 BCE), found in the Thames, made of bronze with red enamel. (British Museum, London)
• Waterloo Helmet, 150-50 BCE, found in London in the Thames
• « Witham Shield » (4th century BCE). (British Museum, London) ^[24]
• Torrs Pony-cap and Horns, from Scotland
• Cordoba Treasure
• Turoe stone in Galway, Ireland
• Great Torc from Snettisham, 100-75 BCE, gold, the most elaborate of the British style of torcs
• Meyrick Helmet, post-conquest Roman helmet shape, with La Tène decoration
• Noric steel

Notes

1. Jump up^ Or just « La Tene » in English. More rarely also spelt « Latène » (especially in French adjectival forms) or « La-Tène ». In German Latènezeit or La-Tène-Zeit equate to « La Tène culture »
2. Jump up^ Megaw, 9-16; Green, 11-17
3. Jump up^ Garrow, Ch 1 and 2
4. Jump up^ Sarunas Milisauskas, European Prehistory: a survey, p. 354
5. Jump up^ Venceslas Kruta, La grande storia dei Celti. La nascita, l’affermazione, la decadenza, (Newton & Compton), Roma, 2003 ISBN978-88-8289-851-9, a translation of Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire. Des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2000, without the dictionary
6. Jump up^ Cunliffe 1997:66.
7. Jump up^ « Manufatti in ferro di tipo La Tène in area italiana : le potenzialità non sfruttate ».
8. Jump up^ McIntosh, 89
9. Jump up^ McIntosh, 89-91
10. Jump up^ McIntosh, 91-92
11. Jump up^ McIntosh, 91-96
12. Jump up^ Megaw, 51
13. Jump up^ Mystery of the CeltsArchived 15 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
14. Jump up^ Green, 26
15. Jump up^ Garrow, chapter 2; Laing, chapter 4; Megaw, chapter 6
16. Jump up^ Megaw, 228-244
17. Jump up^ Laing, Chapter 3, especially 41-42
18. Jump up^ Lionel Pearson, « Herodotus on the Source of the Danube », Classical Philology29.4 (October 1934:328–337).
19. Jump up^ In another place (ii.33.) Herodotus mentions the Ister, which « rising in the country of the Celts, beginning from the city of Pyrene, cuts Europe in half », which would have made it intersect with the Rhone; Pyrene is not mentioned aside from this context.
20. Jump up^ Forster, Peter; Toth, Alfred (2003). « Toward a phylogenetic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic, and Indo-European ». Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100: 9079–9084. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.9079F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1331158100. PMC166441. PMID12837934.
21. Jump up^ Harding, D. W. The Archaeology of Celtic Art. New York: Routledge, 2007; other schemes of classification are available, indeed more popular; see Vincent Megaw in Garrow
22. Jump up^ Megaw, chapters 2-5; Laing, chapter 3
23. Jump up^ Megaw, 132-133
24. Jump up^ British Museum – The Witham ShieldArchived 3 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine.

References

• Celtic Studies portal

Iron Age This box: view talk edit
↑ Bronze Age
Bronze Age collapse (1200 – 1150 BC) Ancient Near East (1200 – 550 BC) Anatolia, Caucasus, Levant Ancient Europe Aegean (1190 – 700 BC): Late Helladic IIIC Protogeometric period Geometric period Italy (1100 – 700 BC) Balkans (1100 BC – 150 AD) Eastern Europe (900 – 650 BC) Central Europe (800 – 50 BC) Hallstatt C, La Tène C Great Britain (800 BC – 100 AD) Northern Europe (500 BC – 800 AD) East Asia (500 BC – 300 AD) China, Japan, Korea South Asia (1200 – 200 BC) Painted Grey Ware Northern Black Polished Ware Iron metallurgy in Africa
Iron Age metallurgy Ancient iron production
↓ Ancient history Mediterranean, Greater Persia,South Asia, China
Historiography Greek, Roman, Chinese, Medieval

• Garrow, Duncan (ed), Rethinking Celtic Art, 2008, Oxbow Books, ISBN 1842173189, 9781842173183, google books
• Green, Miranda, Celtic Art, Reading the Messages, 1996, The Everyman Art Library, ISBN 0-297-83365-0
• Laing, Lloyd and Jenifer. Art of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London 1992 ISBN 0-500-20256-7
• McIntosh, Jane, Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe, 2009, Oxford University Press (USA), ISBN 9780195384765
• Megaw, Ruth and Vincent (2001). Celtic Art. ISBN 0-500-28265-X

Further reading

• Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997
• Collis, John. The Celts: Origins, Myths, Invention. London: Tempus, 2003.
• Kruta, Venceslas, La grande storia dei Celti. La nascita, l’affermazione, la decadenza, Newton & Compton, Roma, 2003 ISBN978-88-8289-851-9 (492 pp. – a translation of Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire. Des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2000, without the dictionary)
• James, Simon. The Atlantic Celts. London: British Museum Press, 1999.
• James, Simon & Rigby, Valery. Britain and the Celtic Iron Age. London: British Museum Press, 1997.
• Reginelli Servais Gianna and Béat Arnold, La Tène, un site, un mythe, Hauterive : Laténium – Parc et musée d’archéologie de Neuchâtel, 2007, Cahiers d’archéologie romande de la Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, 3 vols, ISBN 9782940347353
• Charles Bergengren, Cleveland Institute of Art, 1999: illustrations of La Tène artifacts
• La Tène Archaeological Sites in Romania
•  « La Tène« . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_T%C3%A8ne_culture

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Gold shoe plaques from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany, c. 530 BC

Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany. About 530 BC The Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave is a richly-furnished burial chamber. Regarded as the « Tutankamon of the Celts », it was discovered in 1977 near Hochdorf an der Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany). A man of 40 years old, 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall was laid out on a bronze couch. He had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, and most notably, thin embossed gold plaques were on his now-disintigrated shoes. At the foot of the couch was a large cauldron decorated with three lions around the brim. The east side of the tomb contained a four-wheeled wagon holding a set of bronze dishes – enough to serve nine people. Kunst der Kelten, Historisches Museum Bern. Art of the Celts, Historic Museum of Bern.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

 

Bronze ceremonial axe, 800 . 750 BC, Hallstatt,

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

The Strettweg Cult Wagon, one of the most elaborate objects from the period

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Bull from Býčí skála Cave, Czech Republic, Ha D, c. 600^[18]

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Gold bracelets, Burgundy

Bracelets provenant de la tombe à char, lieu dit « La Butte » à Sainte-Colombe-sur Seine, (Côte-d’Or) – Or, Hallstatt, VIe siècle av. J.C. – Musée des Antiquités Nationales (MAN) Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Geographical range	Europe
Period	Iron Age Europe
Dates	circa 800 BC — circa 500 BC
Type site	Hallstatt
Preceded by	Urnfield culture
Followed by	La Tène culture

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Watercolour commissioned by Johann G. Ramsauer documenting one of his cemetery digs at Hallstatt; unknown local artist.

The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Westernand Central Europeanculture of Early Iron Age Europe from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC (Late Bronze Age) and followed in much of its area by the La Tène culture. It is commonly associated with Proto-Celtic and Celticpopulations in the Western Hallstatt zone and with (pre-)Illyrians in the eastern Hallstatt zone.^[1]

It is named for its type site, Hallstatt, a lakeside village in the AustrianSalzkammergut southeast of Salzburg, where there was a rich salt mine, and some 1,300 burials are known, many with fine artefacts. Material from Hallstatt has been classed into 4 periods, numbered « Hallstatt A » to « D ». Hallstatt A and B are regarded as Late Bronze Age and the terms used for wider areas, such as « Hallstatt culture », or « period », « style » and so on, relate to the Iron Age Hallstatt C and D.

By the 6th century BC, it had expanded to include wide territories, falling into two zones, east and west, between them covering much of western and central Europe down to the Alps, and extending into northern Italy. Parts of Britain and Iberia are included in the ultimate expansion of the culture.

The culture was based on farming, but metal-working was considerably advanced, and by the end of the period long-range trade within the area and with Mediterranean cultures was economically significant. Social distinctions became increasingly important, with emerging elite classes of chieftains and warriors, and perhaps those with other skills. Society was organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Only a few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany, were towns rather than villages by modern standards.

Hallstatt type site

In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795–1874) discovered a large prehistoriccemetery near Hallstatt, Austria, which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found. This may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the whole narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake. Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children but few infants.^[2] Nor is there a « princely » burial, as often found near large settlements. Instead, there are a large number of burials varying considerably in the number and richness of the grave goods, but with a high proportion containing goods suggesting a life well above subsistence level.

The community at Hallstatt was untypical of the wider, mainly agricultural, culture, as its booming economy exploited the salt mines in the area. These had been worked from time to time since the Neolithic period, and in this period were extensively mined with a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery are very distinctive, and artifacts made in this style are widespread in Europe. In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood and leather, and many abandoned artefacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools including miner’s backpacks, have survived in good condition.^[3]

Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, and are divided by archaeologists into four phases:

date BC
HaA	1200-1000
HaB	1000-800
HaC	800-650
HaD	650-475

« Antenna hilt » Hallstatt ‘D’ swords, from Hallstatt

Ha C axehead, Hallstatt

Section of the Hallstatt salt mine

Model of a Hallstatt barrow grave

Hallstatt A-B are part of the Bronze AgeUrnfield culture. In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan) burial becomes common, and cremationpredominates. The « Hallstatt period » proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (8th to 5th centuries BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age. Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there.^[4]Hallstatt D is succeeded by the La Tène culture.

Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. Inhumation and cremation co-occur. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from c. 600–500 BC.^[5] There are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Burials were mostly inhumations. Halstatt D has been further divided into the sub-phases D1-D3, relating only to the western zone, and mainly based on the form of brooches.^[5]

Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear. Many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep.^[6] By then the focus of salt mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine, with graves at Dürrnbergnearby where there are significant finds from the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods.

Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed,^[2] and is now found in many collections, especially German and Austrian museums, but the Hallstatt Museum in the town has the largest collection.

Finds from the Hallstatt site

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

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  Bronze vessel with cow and calf, Hallstatt

   

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  Wood and leather carrying pack from the mine

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

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  Bronze container with stand, Hallstatt Ha C

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

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  Textile fragment from the salt mine

Culture and trade

Further information: Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul

It is probable^[7][8][9] that some if not all of this diffusion took place in a Celtic-speaking context.^[10] In northern Italy the Golasecca culturedeveloped with continuity from the Canegrate culture.^[11][12] Canegrate represented a completely new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery and bronzework making it a typical western example of the western Hallstatt culture.^[11][12]

The Lepontic Celtic language inscriptions of the area show the language of the Golasecca culture was clearly Celtic making it probable that the 13th-century BC precursor language of at least the western Hallstatt was also Celtic or a precursor to it.^[11][12] Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria,^[13] in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène.^[14] The Umbrian necropolis of Terni, which dates back to the 10th century BC, was identical under every aspect, to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture.^[15]

Trade with Greece is attested by finds of Atticblack-figure pottery in the elite graves of the late Hallstatt period. It was probably imported via Massilia (Marseilles).^[16] 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 kermes dye was imported from the south as well; it was found at Hochdorf.

The settlements were mostly fortified, situated on hilltops, and frequently included 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,^[17] and the hill fort at Molpír in Slovakia. Tumuli graves had a chamber, rather large in some cases, lined with timber and with the body and grave goods set about the room.

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

The Strettweg Cult Wagon, one of the most elaborate objects from the period

In the central Hallstatt regions toward the end of the period (Ha D), very rich graves of high-status individuals under large tumuli are found near the remains of fortified hilltop settlements. There are some chariot burials, including (possibly) Býčí Skála,^[18]Vix and Hochdorf.^[19] A model of a chariot made from lead has been found in Frögg, Carinthia, and clay models of horses with riders are also found. Wooden « funerary carts », presumably used as hearses and then buried, are sometimes found in the grandest graves. Pottery and bronze vessels, weapons, elaborate jewellery made of bronze and gold, as well as a few stone stelae (especially the famous Warrior of Hirschlanden) are found at such burials.^[20] The daggers that largely replaced swords in chief’s graves in the west were probably not serious weapons, but badges of rank, and used at the table.^[5]

The material culture of Western Hallstatt culture was apparently sufficient to provide a stable social and economic equilibrium. The founding of Marseille and the penetration by Greek and Etruscan culture after ca 600 BC, resulted in long-range trade relationships up the Rhone valley which triggered social and cultural transformations in the Hallstatt settlements north of the Alps. Powerful local chiefdoms emerged which controlled the redistribution of luxury goods from the Mediterranean world that is characteristic of the La Tène culture.

Iron swords appear in the later periods, from the 8th century, with tools coming rather later.^[21]Initially iron was rather exotic and expensive, and sometimes used as a prestige material for jewellery. The potter’s wheel appears right at the end of the period.^[22]

The apparently largely peaceful and prosperous life of Hallstatt D culture was disrupted, perhaps even collapsed, right at the end of the period. There has been much speculation as to the causes of this, which remain uncertain. Large settlements such as Heuneburg and the Burgstallkogel were destroyed or abandoned, rich tumulus burials ended, and old ones were looted. There was probably a significant movement of population westwards, and the succeeding La Tène culture developed new centres to the west and north, their growth perhaps overlapping with the final years of the Hallstatt culture.^[6]

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

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  Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

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  Bronze Hallstatt culture tool, possibly an early razor, the three circular holes on the handle and the blade body indicate the possibility they could be used for fasteners in a spear head as well.

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

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  Ambernecklace

   

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  Gold bracelets, Burgundy

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

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  Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

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  Dagger with « antenna hilt »

   

 

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  Ha D style dagger found in Berkshire, England

   

Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

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  Muscle cuirasses & double ridge helmet, Kleinklein, Ha D eastern zone.^[23]

Art

Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

Bull from Býčí skála Cave, Czech Republic, Ha D, c. 600^[18]

Typical decoration on a belt-plate

At least the later periods of Hallstatt art from the western zone are generally agreed to form the early period of Celtic art.^[24]Decoration is mostly geometric and linear, and best seen on fine metalwork finds from graves (see above). Styles differ, especially between the west and east, with more human figures and some narrative elements in the latter. Animals, with waterfowl a particular favourite, are often included as part of other objects, more often than humans, and in the west there is almost no narrative content such as scenes of combat depicted. These characteristics were continued into the succeeding La Tène style.^[25]

Imported luxury art is sometimes found in rich elite graves in the later phases, and certainly had some influence on local styles. The most spectacular objects, such as the Strettweg Cult Wagon,^[26] the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the bronze couch supported by « unicyclists » from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave are one of a kind in finds from the Hallstatt period, though they can be related to objects from other periods.^[27]

More common objects include weapons, in Ha D often with hilts terminating in curving forks (« antenna hilts »).^[5] Jewellery in metal includes fibulae, often with a row of disks hanging down on chains, armlets and some torcs. This is mostly in bronze, but « princely » burials include items in gold.

The origin of the narrative scenes of the eastern zone, from Hallstatt C onwards, is generally traced to influence from the Situla art of northern Italy and the northern Adriatic, where these bronze buckets began to be decorated in bands with figures in provincial Etruscan centres influenced by Etruscan and Greek art. The fashion for decorated situlae spread north across neighbouring cultures including the eastern Hallstatt zone, beginning around 600 BC and surviving until about 400 BC; the Vače situla is a Slovenian example from near the final period. The style is also found on bronze belt plates, and some of the vocabulary of motifs spread to influence the emerging La Tène style.^[28]

According to Ruth and Vincent Megaw, « Situla art depicts life as seen from a masculine viewpoint, in which women are servants or sex objects; most of the scenes which include humans are of the feasts in which the situlae themselves figure, of the hunt or of war ».^[29] Similar scenes are found on other vessel shapes, as well as bronze belt-plaques.^[30] The processions of animals, typical of earlier examples, or humans derive from the Near East and Mediterranean, and Nancy Sandars finds the style shows « a gaucherie that betrays the artist working in a way that is uncongenial, too much at variance with the temper of the craftsmen and the craft ». Compared to earlier styles that arose organically in Europe « situla art is weak and sometimes quaint », and « in essence not of Europe ».^[31]

Except for the Italian Benvenuti Situla, men are hairless, with « funny hats, dumpy bodies and big heads », though often shown looking cheerful in an engaging way. The Benevenuti Situla is also unusual in that it seems to show a specific story.^[32]

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  Late Halstatt gold collar from Austria, c. 550 BC

   

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  Gold shoe plaques from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany, c.

  530 BC

   

 

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  Fibula brooch with hanging disks and animal figures, Hallstatt

   

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  Replica of the Warrior of Hirschlanden

   

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  Armband with engraved decoration

   

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  The imported Greek Vix Krater, found in the Vix Grave, France, on the border of the Hallstatt and La Tène periods.

   

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  Detail from the Vače situla, Slovenia

   

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  Belt-plate, Slovenia, 600-400 BC

Geography

Sword hilt, Hallstatt Ha C (grave 573), 7th century. Western zone style, inlaid with African ivory and Baltic amber.^[33]

Decorated pottery of the eastern zone, 7th century, from the Sophrongroup.^[34]

Reconstructed « funerary wagon »

Two culturally distinct areas, an eastern and a western zone are generally recognised.^[35] There are distinctions in burial rites, the types of grave goods, and in artistic style. In the western zone, members of the elite were buried with sword (HaC) or dagger (HaD), in the eastern zone with an axe.^[24] The western zone has chariot burials. In the eastern zone, warriors are frequently buried with helmet and a plate armour breastplate.^[23] Artistic subjects with a narrative component are only found in the east, in both pottery and metalwork.^[36] In the east the settlements and cemeteries can be larger than in the west.^[24]

The approximate division line between the two subcultures runs from north to south through central Bohemia and Lower Austria at about 14 to 15 degrees eastern longitude, and then traces the eastern and southern rim of the Alps to Eastern and Southern Tyrol.^{[citation needed]}

Western Hallstatt zone

Taken at its most generous extent, the western Hallstatt zone includes:

• northeastern France: Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace
• northern Switzerland: Swiss plateau
• Southern Germany: much of Swabia and Bavaria
• western Czech Republic: Bohemia
• western Austria: Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzkammergut

More peripheral areas were:

• Central and North Italy: Po valley, Liguria, Venetia, Marche, Abruzzo, Friuli
• northern and central Spain: Galicia, Asturias, Castile, Cantabria
• northern and north-central Portugal: Minho, Douro, Tras-os-Montes, Beira Alta

While Hallstatt is regarded as the dominant settlement of the western zone, a settlement at the Burgstallkogel in the central Sulm valley(southern Styria, west of Leibnitz, Austria) was a major centre during the Hallstatt C period. Parts of the huge necropolis (which originally consisted of more than 1,100 tumuli) surrounding this settlement can be seen today near Gleinstätten, and the chieftain’s mounds were on the other side of the hill, near Kleinklein. The finds are mostly in the Landesmuseum Joanneum at Graz, which also holds the Strettweg Cult Wagon.

Eastern Hallstatt zone

The eastern Hallstatt zone includes:

• eastern Austria: Lower Austria, Upper Styria
• eastern Czech Republic: Moravia
• southwestern Slovakia: Danubian Lowland
• western Hungary: Little Hungarian Plain
• eastern Slovenia: Hallstatt Archaeological Site in Vače (at the border between Lower Styriaand Lower Carniola regions), Novo Mesto
• northern Croatia: Hrvatsko Zagorje, Istria
• northern and central Serbia
• parts of southwestern Poland

Trade, cultural diffusion, and some population movements spread the Hallstatt cultural complex (western form) into Britain, and Ireland.

• Celtic Studies portal

Basarabi culture Bronze- and Iron-Age Poland Celtic warfare

Iron Age sword Irschen

Noric steel Prehistoric France Zollfeld

Notes

1. Jump up^ Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology by Philip L. Kohl,ISBN 0521558395, 1996, Page 134: « … in the 1940s. They were emphatically developed by S.P. Tolstov (1946; 1947b), whose original contribution was to include the Thracian- Illyrian population (the Hallstatt culture) … »; and Geschichte der Vorgeschichtsforschung by Herbert Kuhn, Page 455,ISBN 3110059185,1976, « … of the Middle Danube Urnfield group persisted in the eastern Alpine and the north and east Adriatic area where the Illyrian Hallstatt culture arose in the following centuries best known through its celebrated Hallstatt cemetery and the situla art. … »
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 26
3. Jump up^ McIntosh, 88
4. Jump up^ Koch
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Megaw, 40
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 48-49
7. Jump up^ Chadwick, Nora (1970). The Celts. p. 30.
8. Jump up^ Kruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 89–102.
9. Jump up^ Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages – Addenda. p. 25.
10. Jump up^ Alfons Semler, Überlingen: Bilder aus der Geschichte einer kleinen Reichsstadt,Oberbadische Verlag, Singen, 1949, pp. 11–17, specifically 15.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Kruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 93–100.
12. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages (PDF). p. 24.
13. Jump up^ Percivaldi, Elena (2003). I Celti: una civiltà europea. Giunti Editore. p. 82.
14. Jump up^ Leonelli, Valentina. La necropoli delle Acciaierie di Terni: contributi per una edizione critica (Cestres ed.). p. 33.
15. Jump up^ Farinacci, Manlio. Carsulae svelata e Terni sotterranea. Associazione Culturale UMRU – Terni.
16. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-41
17. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-43
18. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 28
19. Jump up^ Megaw, 41-43, 45-47
20. Jump up^ Megaw, 25-30; 39-47
21. Jump up^ Sandars, 209
22. Jump up^ Megaw, 43-44
23. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 34
24. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Megaw, 30
25. Jump up^ Megaw, Chapter 1; Laing, chapter 2
26. Jump up^ Megaw, 33-34
27. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-45
28. Jump up^ Megaw, 34-39; Sandars, 223-225
29. Jump up^ Megaw, 37
30. Jump up^ Sandars, 223-224
31. Jump up^ Sandars, 225, quoted
32. Jump up^ Sandars, 224
33. Jump up^ Megaw 25, 29
34. Jump up^ Megaw, 30-32
35. Jump up^ Koch; Kossack (1959); N. Müller-Scheeßel, Die Hallstattkultur und ihre räumliche Differenzierung. Der West- und Osthallstattkreis aus forschungsgeschichtlicher Sicht (2000)
36. Jump up^ Megaw, 30-39

References

• Barth, F.E., J. Biel, et al. Vierrädrige Wagen der Hallstattzeit (« The Hallstatt four-wheeled wagons » at Mainz). Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum; 1987. ISBN3-88467-016-6
• Koch, John T (2006), « the Hallstat culture », in ., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1-85109-440-7, retrieved 10 October 2011 e-book ISBN 1-85109-445-8
• Laing, Lloyd and Jenifer. Art of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London 1992 ISBN0-500-20256-7
• McIntosh, Jane, Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe, 2009, Oxford University Press (USA), ISBN9780195384765
• Megaw, Ruth and Vincent, Celtic Art, 2001, Thames and Hudson, ISBN0-500-28265-X
• Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.)

• Kristinsson, Axel (2010), Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe since the Bronze Age, Reykjavík: Reykjavíkur Akademían, ISBN 9979-9922-1-2, retrieved 10 October 2011

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt_culture

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