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.

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.

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

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

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