!!!Hallstattkultur

Hallstatt Culture, early phase of the  Iron Age  (800/750 - 500/400 
B.C.), since 1874 named after  Hallstatt where numerous graves with 
valuable funerary objects were found. The Hallstatt culture developed 
from the  Urnfield Culture of the Late Bronze Age. Instead of bronze, 
iron was becoming increasingly popular for the making of tools and 
weapons. It is difficult to determine which ethnic group the Hallstatt 
people belonged to. The majority of the people were farmers living in 
unfortified settlements in the open country; there were also craftsmen 
and traders. Noble warriors ("princes") were at the head of society; 
they lived in fortified cave settlements and were buried in richly 
furnished barrows. Inhumation started to replace cremation.

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Noticeable influences from the Mediterranean and from the Pontic 
steppes; extensive trade relations (mainly salt). High-quality pottery 
with variegated ornaments as well as bronze fibulas, brooches, bangles 
and rings, chains of glass and amber beads, iron spear heads and 
swords are evidence of the wealth of that period.

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Celtic influences ( Celts) from around 450 B.C., smooth transition to 
the  La Tène Culture of the Late Iron Age.

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Some of the most important finds were made in  Bernhardsthal,  
Gemeinlebarn,  Grossmugl,  Moedling,  Rabensburg(all in Lower 
Austria);  Hallstatt,    Mitterkirchen im Machland (Upper Austria),  
Bischofshofen(province of Salzburg), Strettweg ( Strettweger 
Kultwagen,  Kleinklein(Styria),  Froeg(Carinthia).

!Literature
Die Hallstattkultur, exhibition catalogue, Steyr 1981; 
J.-W. Neugebauer, Oe. Urzeit, 1990.


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