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75-443: Astur may refer to: an inhabitant of the northwest of Hispania - see Astures Astur (genus) , a bird genus (sometimes included in the genus Accipiter ) Astur (typeface) Astur CF , a Spanish football club Manuel Astur (born 1980), Spanish writer and journalist Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

150-611: A Primipilus Centurion of Legio VI Victrix decorated for bravery in action confirms that the Astures staged a revolt in AD 54, prompting another vicious guerrilla war – unrecorded by surviving ancient sources – that lasted for fourteen years but the situation was finally calm around AD 68. During the Germanic invasions , the Astures resisted Suevi and Visigoth raids throughout the 5th century AD, only to be ultimately defeated and absorbed into

225-840: A chamber, rather large in some cases, lined with timber and with the body and grave goods set about the room. There are some chariot or wagon burials , including Býčí Skála and Brno-Holásky in the Czech Republic, Vix , Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine and Lavau in France, Hochdorf , Hohmichele and Grafenbühl in Germany, and Mitterkirchen in Austria. A model of a chariot made from lead has been found in Frög , 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

300-537: A chieftain named Cydnus. After the 2nd Punic War , their history is less clear. Rarely mentioned in the sources regarding the Lusitanian , Celtiberian or Sertorian Wars , the Astures re-emerged only at the later 1st Century BC, when they provided auxiliary troops to the Pompeian army led by the generals' Lucius Afranius and Marcus Petreius that faced Julius Caesar at the battle of Ilerda ( Lérida ) in 49 BC, during

375-593: A few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany , were towns rather than villages by modern standards. However, at the end of the period these seem to have been overthrown or abandoned. According to Paul Reinecke 's time-scheme from 1902, the end of the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age were divided into four periods: Bronze Age Urnfield culture: Early Iron Age Hallstatt culture: Paul Reinecke based his chronological divisions on finds from

450-420: A large prehistoric cemetery near Hallstatt , Austria ( 47°33′40″N 13°38′31″E  /  47.561°N 13.642°E  / 47.561; 13.642 ), 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

525-457: A later date, in the beginning of the Reconquista period in the early Middle Ages, their name was preserved in the medieval Kingdom of Asturias and in the modern town of Astorga, León , whose designation still reflects its early Roman name of Asturica Augusta, the "Augustan settlement of the Astures". Hallstatt culture It is named for its type site , Hallstatt , a lakeside village in

600-462: A major tribe from western Asturias . Isidore of Seville gave an etymology as coming from a river Astura , identified by David Magie as the Órbigo River in the plain of León, and by others as the modern Esla River . The Asturian homeland encompassed the modern autonomous community of Asturias and the León , eastern Lugo , Orense , and northern Zamora provinces, along with the northeastern tip of

675-454: A specific story. The Strettweg cult wagon from Austria (c. 600 BC) has been interpreted as representing a deer goddess or 'Great Nature Goddess' similar to Artemis . Hallstatt culture musical instruments included harps , lyres , zithers , woodwinds, panpipes , horns, drums and rattles. A small number of inscriptions have been recovered from Hallstatt culture sites. Markings or symbols inscribed on iron tools from Austria dating from

750-404: A staple food source, drying and powdering them and using the flour for a type of easily preserved bread; from their few sown fields that they had during the pre-Roman period, they harvested barley from which they produced beer ( Zythos ), as well as wheat and flax . Due to the scarcity of their agricultural production, as well as their strong war-like character, they made frequent incursions into

825-571: Is now thought that at least most of these were not miners themselves, but from a richer class controlling the mines. Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, and are divided by archaeologists into four phases: Hallstatt A–B (1200–800 BC) are part of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture . In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan ) burial becomes common, and cremation predominates. The "Hallstatt period" proper

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900-474: Is possibly the earliest evidence of smelted iron in Central Europe). By the later Urnfield (Hallstatt B) phase, some swords were already being made and embellished in iron in eastern Central Europe, and occasionally much further west. Initially iron was rather exotic and expensive, and sometimes used as a prestige material for jewellery. Iron swords became more common after c.  800 BC , and steel

975-524: Is restricted to HaC and HaD (800–450 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. 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

1050-582: The 2nd Roman Civil War . Led by Gausón , a former mercenary commander, the Astures joined forces with the Cantabri to resist Emperor Augustus 's conquest of the whole of the Iberian northwest, even backing an unsuccessful Vaccaei revolt in 29 BC. The campaign against the Astures and Cantabri tribes proved so difficult that it required the presence of the emperor himself to bolster the seven legions and one naval squadron involved. The first Roman campaign against

1125-560: The Astura river valley, and was the main Astur town in Roman times). Prior to the Roman conquest in the late 1st century BC, they were united into a tribal federation with the mountain-top citadel of Asturica ( Astorga ) as their capital. Recent epigraphic studies suggest that they spoke a ‘ Q-Celtic ’ language akin to the neighbouring Gallaeci Lucenses and Braccarenses (see Gallaecia ). Although

1200-467: The Austrian Salzkammergut southeast of Salzburg , where there was a rich salt mine, and some 1,300 burials are known, many with fine artifacts. Material from Hallstatt has been classified into four periods, designated "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

1275-569: The Burgstallkogel in Austria and Molpír in Slovakia . However, most settlements were much smaller villages. The large monumental site of Alte Burg may have had a religious or ceremonial function, and possibly served as a location for games and competitions. At the end of the Hallstatt period many major centres were abandoned and there was a return to a more decentralized settlement pattern. Urban centres later re-emerged across temperate Europe in

1350-662: The Hispano-Celtic inhabitants of the northwest area of Hispania that now comprises almost the entire modern autonomous community of the Principality of Asturias , the modern province of León , and the northern part of the modern province of Zamora (all in Spain), and eastern Trás os Montes in Portugal. They were a horse-riding highland cattle-raising people who lived in circular huts of stone drywall construction. The Albiones were

1425-568: 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. More common objects include weapons, in Ha D often with hilts terminating in curving forks ("antenna hilts"). 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

1500-771: The Lugones , worshipped the Celtic god Lugh , and references to other Celtic deities like Taranis or Belenos still remain in the toponomy of the places inhabited by the Astures. They may have venerated the deity Busgosu. The Astures were vigorous hunter-gatherer highlanders who raided Roman outposts in the lowlands; a reputation enhanced by ancient authors, such as Florus (" Duae validissmae gentes, Cantabriae et Astures, immunes imperii agitabant ") and Paulus Orosius (" duas fortissimas Hispaniae gentes "), but archeological evidence confirms that they also engaged in stock-raising in mountain pastures, complemented by subsistence farming on

1575-654: The Navia River and the central massif of the Picos de Europa, comprised the Iburri , Luggones , Paesici , Paenii , Saelini , Vinciani , Viromenici and Baedunienses ; the Cismontani included the Amaci  [ es ] , Cabruagenigi , Lancienses , Lougei , Tiburi , Brigaecini , Orniaci , Superatii , Gigurri , Zoelae and Susarri (which dwelled around Asturica Augusta , in

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1650-665: 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 artifacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools including miner's backpacks, have survived in good condition. In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795–1874) discovered

1725-445: 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. 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

1800-732: The Visigothic Kingdom by the Visigothic King Sisebut in the early 6th century AD. However, the Astures continued to rebel, with King Wamba sending an expedition to the Asturian lands only twenty years before the Muslim invasion of the peninsula and the fall of the Visigothic kingdom. The Astures chose Pelagius of Asturias as their leader and in due course formed the Kingdom of Asturias. At

1875-807: The Vix palace further demonstrates a "mastery of geometry and carpentry capable of freeing up vast interior spaces." Analyses of building remains in Silesia have found evidence for the use of a standard unit of length (equivalent to 0.785 m). Remarkably, this is almost identical to the length of a measuring stick found at Borum Eshøj in Denmark (0.7855 m), dating from the Bronze Age (c. 1350 BC). Pythagorean triangles were likely used in building construction to create right angles , and some buildings had ground plans with dimensions corresponding to Pythagorean rectangles. At least

1950-463: The wiggle matching technique. Therefore, dating in this time-period has been based mainly on Dendrochronology and relative dating . For the beginning of HaC wood pieces from the Cart Grave of Wehringen (Landkreis Augsburg) deliver a solid dating in 778 ± 5 BC (Grave Barrow 8). Despite missing an older Dendro-date for HaC , the convention remains that the Hallstatt period begins together with

2025-539: The 10th century BC, was virtually identical in every aspect to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture. Older assumptions of the early 20th century of Illyrians having been the bearers of especially the Eastern Hallstatt culture are indefensible and archeologically unsubstantiated. Trade with Greece is attested by finds of Attic black-figure pottery in the elite graves of the late Hallstatt period. It

2100-417: The 3rd and 2nd centuries BC during the La Tène period. The burials at Hallstatt itself show a movement over the period from cremation to inhumation , with grave goods at all times (see above). 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. Tumuli graves had

2175-453: The 7th to early 6th century BC bear signs possibly resembling Greek or Etruscan letters. A single-word inscription (possibly a name) on a locally produced ceramic sherd from Montmorot in eastern France, dating from the late 7th to mid-6th century BC, has been identified as either Gaulish or Lepontic , written in either a 'proto-Lepontic' or Etruscan alphabet. A fragment of an inscription painted on local pottery has also been recovered from

2250-557: The 7th-6th century BC inscription from Montmorot "is at the beginning of a still limited series of documents attesting to the use of alphabetic signs and the use of writing in Eastern Gaul during the entire period characterised by the appearance, development and end of the Hallstattian 'princely phenomenon'. ... The first transmission of the alphabet north of the Alps, at the end of the 7th or in

2325-587: The Alps". Typical sites of this type are the Heuneburg on the upper Danube surrounded by nine very large grave tumuli, and Mont Lassois in eastern France near Châtillon-sur-Seine with, at its foot, the very rich grave at Vix . The Heuneburg is thought to correspond to the Celtic city of ' Pyrene ' mentioned by Herodotus in 450 BC. Other important sites include the Glauberg , Hohenasperg and Ipf in Germany,

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2400-509: The Astures (the Bellum Asturicum ), which commenced in the spring of 26 BC, was successfully concluded in 25 BC with the ceremonial surrender of Mons Medullus to Augustus in person, allowing the latter to return to Rome and ostentatiously close the gates of the temple of Janus that same year. The reduction of the remaining Asture holdouts was entrusted to Publius Carisius , the legate of Lusitania , who, after managing to trap Gauson and

2475-582: The Asturian country remained an unstable region subjected to sporadic revolts – often carried out in collusion with the Cantabri – and persistent guerrilla activity that kept the Roman occupation forces busy until the mid-1st century AD. New risings occurred in 24–22 BC (the 2nd Astur-Cantabrian War), in 20–18 BC (3rd Astur-Cantabrian 'War') – sparked off by runaway Cantabrian slaves returning from Gaul – both of which were brutally quashed by General Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and again in 16–13 BC when Augustus crushed

2550-497: The Celtic language was lost during the Roman era , it still endures in many names of villages and geographical features, mostly associated to Celtic deities: the parish of Taranes and the villages of Tereñes, Táranu, Tarañu and Torañu related to the god Taranis , the parish of Lugones related to the god Lugus or the parish of Beleño related to the god Belenus , just to name a few. According to classic authors, their family structure

2625-484: The Celtic word for "king", written in the Lepontic alphabet. According to Olivier (2010), "this graffito represents one of the earliest attested occurrences of the word rîx which designates the "king" in the Celtic languages. ... It would also seem to represent the first co-occurrence in the Celtic world of a funerary archaeological context and a contemporaneous linguistic qualification as ‘royal’.” According to Verger (1998)

2700-641: The Greek hydria from Grächwil , the Greek cauldron from Hochdorf and the Greek or Etruscan cauldron from Lavau . The largest settlements were mostly fortified, situated on hilltops, and frequently included the workshops of bronze, silver and gold smiths. Major settlements are known as 'princely seats' (or Fürstensitze in German), and are characterized by elite residences, rich burials, monumental buildings and fortifications. Some of these central sites are described as urban or proto-urban, and as "the first cities north of

2775-539: 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

2850-555: The Portuguese region of Trás-os-Montes . Here they held the towns of Lancia ( Villasabariego – León), Asturica ( Astorga – León), Mons Medullius ( Las Medulas ? – León), Bergidum ( Cacabelos , near Villafranca del Bierzo – León), Bedunia ( Castro de Cebrones – León), Aliga ( Alixa ? – León), Curunda ( Castro de Avelãs , Trás-os-Montes), Lucus Asturum ( Lugo de Llanera – Asturias), Brigaetium ( Benavente – Zamora), and Nemetobriga ( A Pobra de Trives – Ourense), which

2925-543: The Roman Army with several auxiliary cavalry and infantry units ( Ala I Asturum , Ala II Asturum , Cohors I Asturum , Cohors II Asturum , Cohors V Asturum , Cohors VI Asturum , Cohors I Asturum et Callaecorum ) that participated in Emperor Claudius 's invasion of Britain in AD 43–60 , and which continued to serve into the late Empire. However, epigraphic evidence in the form of an inscribed votive stele dedicated by

3000-410: The alignment was marked with a large timber palisade. The knowledge required to create these alignments would have required long-term observation of the skies, possibly over several generations. At Glauberg other ditches and postholes associated with the mound may have been used to observe astronomical phenomena such as the solstices , with the whole ensemble functioning as a calendar . According to

3075-705: The archaeologist Allard Mees, the numerous burials within the Magdalenenberg mound were positioned to mirror the constellations as they appeared at the time of the summer solstice in 618 BC. Mees argues that the Magdalenenberg represented a lunar calendar and that knowledge of the 18.6 year lunar standstill cycle would have enabled the prediction of lunar eclipses . According to Mees many other burial mounds in this period were also aligned with lunar phenomena. An analysis of Hallstatt period burials by Müller-Scheeßel (2005) similarly suggested that they were oriented towards specific constellations. According to Gaspani (1998)

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3150-559: 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. Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria , in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène. The Umbrian necropolis of Terni , which dates back to

3225-499: The arrival of the iron ore processing technology around 800 BC. HaC is dated according to the presence of Mindelheim-type swords, binocular brooches, harp brooches, and arched brooches. Based on the quickly changing fashions of brooches, it was possible to divide HaD into three stages (D1-D3). In HaD1 snake brooches are predominant, while in HaD2 drum brooches appear more often, and in HaD3

3300-510: The diffusion of Hallstatt culture took place in a Celtic -speaking context. In northern Italy the Golasecca culture developed with continuity from the Canegrate culture . 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. The Lepontic Celtic language inscriptions of

3375-463: The double-drum and embellished foot brooches. The transition to the La Tène period is often connected with the emergence of the first animal-shaped brooches, with Certosa -type and with Marzabotto -type brooches. 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

3450-488: The early Iron Age (Ha C, 800-650 BC) show continuity with symbols from the Bronze Age Urnfield culture , and are thought to be related to mining and the metal trade. Inscriptions engraved on situlas or cauldrons from the Hallstatt cemetery in Austria, dating from c. 800-500 BC, have been interpreted as numerals, letters and words, possibly related to Etruscan or Old Italic scripts. Weights from Bavaria dating from

3525-411: 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 is thought to have been organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Settlement size was generally small, although

3600-466: The feasts in which the situlae themselves figure, of the hunt or of war". Similar scenes are found on other vessel shapes, as well as bronze belt-plaques. 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

3675-399: The final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from c.  600 –500 BC. 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. Major activity at

3750-443: The first half of the 6th century, seems to be only the beginning of a process that was regularly renewed until the second half of the fifth century." The monumental burial mounds at Glauberg and Magdalenenberg in Germany featured structures aligned with the point of the major lunar standstill , which occurs every 18.6 years. At Glauberg this took the form of a 'processional avenue' lined by large ditches, whilst at Magdalenenberg

3825-419: 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. 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. The material culture of Western Hallstatt culture

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3900-522: The historians Florus , epitomising Livy , and Orosius , the Astures were divided into two factions, following the natural division made by the alpine karst mountains of the Picos de Europa range: the Transmontani (located in the modern Asturias , "beyond"— that is, north of— the Picos de Europa ) and Cismontani (located on the "near" side, in the modern area of León ). The Transmontani, placed between

3975-501: The invention of shrunk-on tyres in the La Tène period. The potter's wheel also appeared in the Hallstatt period. The extensive use of planking and massive squared beams indicates the use of long saw blades and possibly two-man sawing. The planks of the Hohmichele burial chamber (6th c. BC), which were over 6m long and 35 cm wide, appear to have been sawn by a large timber-yard saw. The construction of monumental buildings such as

4050-608: The lands of the Vaccaei , who had a much more developed agriculture. Lucan calls them "Pale seekers after gold" (" Asturii scrutator pallidus auri "). The Astures entered the historical record in the late 3rd century BC, being listed amongst the Iberian Peninsula mercenaries of Hasdrubal Barca 's army at the battle of Metaurus River in 207 BC. Silius Italicus also mentions an Astur mercenary contingent in Hannibal 's army, led by

4125-532: The last joint Astur-Cantabrian rebellion. Incorporated into the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis , the assimilation of the Asturian region into the Roman world was a slow and hazardous process, with its partially romanized people retaining the Celtic language , religion and much of their ancient culture throughout the Roman Imperial period. This included their martial traditions, which enabled them to provide

4200-457: The late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods, until the mid-4th century BC, when a major landslide destroyed the mineshafts and ended mining activity. Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed, and is now found in many collections, especially German and Austrian museums, but the Hallstatt Museum in the town has the largest collection. It is probable that some if not all of

4275-453: The late Hallstatt site of Bragny-sur-Saône in eastern France, dating from the 5th century BC. A letter inscribed on a gold cup was deposited in a princely tomb at Apremont in eastern France, dating from c. 500 BC. Another fragmentary inscription on pottery was found in a princely burial near Bergères-les-Vertus in north-eastern France, dating from late 5th century BC (at the beginning of La Tène A). The inscription has been identified as

4350-472: The later periods of Hallstatt art from the western zone are generally agreed to form the early period of Celtic art . 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

4425-528: 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;

4500-439: The new Transduriana Province under the suffect consul Lucius Sestius Albanianus Quirinalis . This was followed by the establishment of military garrisons at Castrum Legio VII Gemina ( León ) and Petavonium ( Rosinos de Vidriales – Zamora ), along with colonies at Asturica Augusta ( Astorga ) and Lucus Asturum ( Lugo de Llanera – Asturias ). In spite of the harsh pacification policies implemented by Augustus,

4575-555: The redistribution of luxury goods from the Mediterranean world that is also characteristic of the La Tène culture . 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

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4650-528: The remnants of his troops at the hillfort of Lancia, subsequently forced them to surrender when he threatened to set fire to the town. The Astures were subdued by the Romans but were never fully conquered, and their tribal way of life changed very little. As far as the official Roman history was concerned, the fall of this last redoubt marked the conclusion of the conquest of the Asturian lands, which henceforth were included alongside Gallaecia and Cantabria into

4725-464: 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. By then the focus of salt mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine , with graves at Dürrnberg nearby where there are significant finds from

4800-571: The slopes and in the lower valleys. They mostly reared sheep, goats, a few oxen and a local breed of mountain horse famed in Antiquity, the Asturcon , which still exists today. According to Pliny the Elder , these were small-stature saddle horses, slightly larger than ponies, of graceful walk and very fast, being trained for both hunting and mountain warfare. During a large part of the year they used acorns as

4875-528: The south of Germany. Already by 1881 Otto Tischler had made analogies to the Iron Age in the Northern Alps based on finds of brooches from graves in the south of Germany. It has proven difficult to use radiocarbon dating for the Early Iron Age due to the so-called "Hallstatt-Plateau" , a phenomenon where radiocarbon dates cannot be distinguished between 750 and 400 BC. There are workarounds however, such as

4950-428: 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. 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. It

5025-410: 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". 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

5100-491: The title Astur . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Astur&oldid=1219387655 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Astures The Astures or Asturs , also named Astyrs , were

5175-437: The west there is almost no narrative content such as scenes of combat depicted. These characteristics were continued into the succeeding La Tène style. 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 , the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the bronze couch supported by "unicyclists" from

5250-433: Was matrilineal , whereby the woman inherits the ownership of property. The Astures lived in hill forts , established in strategic areas and built with round walls in today's Asturias and the mountainous areas of León , and with rectangular walls in flatter areas, similarly to their fellow Galicians . Their warrior class consisted of men and women and both sexes were considered fierce fighters. Most of their tribes, like

5325-416: Was also produced from 800 BC as part of the production of swords. The production of high-carbon steel is attested in Britain after c.  490 BC . The remarkable uniformity of spoked-wheel wagons from across the Hallstatt region indicates a certain standardisation of production methods, which included techniques such as lathe-turning . Iron tyres were developed and refined in this period, leading to

5400-450: Was apparently sufficient to provide a stable social and economic equilibrium. The founding of Marseille and the penetration by Greek and Etruscan culture after c.  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

5475-464: 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. Occasional iron artefacts had been appearing in central and western Europe for some centuries before 800 BC (an iron knife or sickle from Ganovce in Slovakia, dating to the 18th century BC,

5550-578: Was probably imported via Massilia ( Marseilles ). Other imported luxuries include amber , ivory (as found at the Grafenbühl Tomb ) and probably wine . Red kermes dye was imported from the south as well; it was found at Hochdorf . Notable individual imports include the Greek Vix krater (the largest known metal vessel from Western classical antiquity), the Etruscan lebes from Sainte-Colombe-sur-Seine ,

5625-520: Was the religious center. The Astures may have been part of the early Hallstatt expansion that left the Bavarian-Bohemian homeland and migrated into Gaul, some continuing over the mountains into Spain and Portugal. By the 6th century BC, they occupied castros (hillforts), such as Coanna and Mohias near Navia on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. From the Roman point-of-view, expressed in the brief remarks of

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