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118-575: La Tène culture's territorial extent corresponded to what is now France , Belgium , Switzerland , Austria , England , Southern Germany , the Czech Republic , Northern Italy and Central Italy , Slovenia , Hungary and Liechtenstein , as well as adjacent parts of the Netherlands , Slovakia , Serbia , Croatia , Transylvania (western Romania ), and Transcarpathia (western Ukraine ). The Celtiberians of western Iberia shared many aspects of

236-616: A Mesolithic immigration. Populations speaking non-Indo-European languages are obvious candidates for Mesolithic remnants. The Vascons ( Basques ) of the Pyrenees present the strongest case, since their language is related to none other in the world, and the Basque population has a distinct genetic profile. The disappearance of Doggerland affected the surrounding territories and the hunter gatherers living there are believed to have migrated to northern France and as far as eastern Ireland to escape from

354-840: 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

472-545: A diverse set of maternal lineages associated with steppe ancestry. The paternal lineages were on the other hand characterized by a "striking homogeneity", belonging entirely to haplogroup R and R1b , both of whom are associated with steppe ancestry. The evidence suggested that the Gauls of the La Tène culture were patrilineal and patrilocal , which is in agreement with archaeological and literary evidence. A genetic study published in

590-593: 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

708-420: 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

826-406: A large amount of steppe ancestry , and to have been closely related to peoples of the preceding Bell Beaker culture , suggesting genetic continuity between Bronze Age and Iron Age France. Significant gene flow with Great Britain and Iberia was detected. The results of the study partially supported the notion that French people are largely descended from the Gauls. A genetic study published in

944-629: A millennium. The Bell Beaker culture ( c.  2800 –1900 BC) was a widespread phenomenon that expanded over most of France, excluding the Massif Central , in the third and early second millennia BC. In the Kurgan Hypothesis , Indo-European languages spread to Europe in the Bronze Age. The culture of the Kurgans is also known as Yamnaya Culture and recent results from acheaogenetics have linked this culture with genetic ancestry components of

1062-454: 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

1180-616: A strong continuity with an afterlife . 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 . Artefacts typical of the La Tène culture were also discovered in stray finds as far afield as Scandinavia, Northern Germany, Poland and in

1298-494: Is debated. The art history of La Tène culture has various schemes of periodization. The archaeological period is now mostly divided into four sub-periods, following Paul Reinecke . The preceding final phase of the Hallstatt culture , HaD, c. 650–450 BC, was also widespread across Central Europe , and the transition over this area was gradual, being mainly detected through La Tène style elite artefacts, which first appear on

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1416-526: Is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey (2004) notes 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". La Tène metalwork in bronze, iron and gold, developing technologically out of Hallstatt culture ,

1534-532: Is named for its type site , Hallstatt , a lakeside village in 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

1652-571: 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

1770-691: Is one of the many industries associated with modern humans classed as transitional between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. When they arrived in Europe, they brought with them sculpture, engraving, painting, body ornamentation, music and the painstaking decoration of utilitarian objects. Some of the oldest works of art in the world, such as the cave paintings at Lascaux in southern France, are datable to shortly after this migration. European Palaeolithic cultures are divided into several chronological subgroups (the names are all based on French type sites , principally in

1888-474: 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

2006-524: 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

2124-438: 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. By about 400 BCE, the evidence for Mediterranean trade becomes sparse; this may be because the expanding Celtic populations began to migrate south and west, coming into violent conflict with

2242-490: 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

2360-600: The Journal of Archaeological Science in October 2019 examined 43 maternal and 17 paternal lineages for the La Tène necropolis in Urville-Nacqueville, France, and 27 maternal and 19 paternal lineages for La Tène tumulus of Gurgy Les Noisats near modern Paris , France. The examined individuals displayed strong genetic resemblance to peoples of the earlier Yamnaya culture , Corded Ware culture and Bell Beaker culture. They carried

2478-745: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America in June 2020 examined the remains of 25 individuals ascribed to the La Tène culture. The nine examples of individual Y-DNA extracted were determined to belong to either the paragroups or subclades of haplogroups R1b1a1a2 (R-M269; three examples), R1b1a1a2a1a2c1a1a1a1a1 (R-M222), R1b1 (R-L278), R1b1a1a (R-P297), I1 (I-M253), E1b1b (E-M215), or other, unspecified, subclades of haplogroup R . The 25 samples of mtDNA extracted

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2596-591: The Arago cave in Tautavel. The Grotte du Vallonnet near Menton contained simple stone tools dating to 1 million to 1.05 million years BC. Cave sites were exploited for habitation, but the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic era also possibly built shelters such as those identified in connection with Acheulean tools at Grotte du Lazaret and Terra Amata near Nice in France. Excavations at Terra Amata found traces of

2714-614: The Artenacian culture, a part of the larger European Megalithic Culture , developed in Dordogne, possibly as a reaction to the advance of Danubian peoples (such as SOM) over Western France. Armed with typical arrows, they took over all Atlantic France and Belgium by 2400 BC, establishing a stable border with the Indo-Europeans ( Corded Ware ) near the Rhine that would remain stable for more than

2832-569: 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

2950-820: The Dordogne region): From the Paleolithic to the Mesolithic , the Magdalenian culture evolved. The Early Mesolithic, or Azilian , began about 14,000 years ago, in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France . This was ahead of other parts of Western Europe, where the Mesolithic began by 11,500 years ago at the beginning of the Holocene . It ended with the introduction of farming. The Azilian culture of

3068-568: 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

3186-667: The Iberians in southern France and Spain , the Ligures on the Mediterranean coast, and the Vascons ( Basques ) in southwest France and Spain. The spread of iron-working led to the development of the Hallstatt culture ( c.  700 to 500 BC) directly from the Urnfield. Proto-Celtic , the latest common ancestor of all known Celtic languages, is generally considered to have been spoken at

3304-1094: The Late Glacial Maximum co-existed with similar early Mesolithic European cultures such as the Tjongerian of North-Western Europe, the Ahrensburgian of Northern Europe and the Swiderian of North-Eastern Europe, all succeeding the Federmesser complex. The Azilian culture was followed by the Sauveterrian in Southern France and Switzerland, the Tardenoisian in Northern France, the Maglemosian in Northern Europe. Archeologists are unsure whether Western Europe saw

3422-616: 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

3540-566: The Oise River and Marne River . It is most famous for its gallery grave megalithic tombs which incorporate a port-hole slab separating the entrance from the main burial chamber. In the chalk valley of the Marne River rock-cut tombs were dug to a similar design. In the Southeast, several groups whose culture had evolved from Chasséen culture also built megaliths. Beginning about 2600 BC,

3658-445: 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

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3776-583: The Venetic culture". From their homeland, La Tène culture expanded in the 4th century BCE 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, and Ireland rather later. The style of "Insular La Tène" art

3894-601: 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. By 500 BCE the Etruscans expanded to border Celts in north Italy, and trade across the Alps began to overhaul trade with

4012-807: 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

4130-548: The Western Steppe Herders , and it has been possible to reconstruct migrations of these people across Europe co-extensive with the arrival of the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures. In France, the first studies on the Bronze Age date from the 19th century. The "Manuel d'archéologie préhistorique, celtique et gallo-romaine," (Manual of Prehistoric, Celtic and Gallo-Roman Archaeology), by Joseph Déchelette, published in 1910,

4248-463: 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

4366-823: The " Levallois technique ", a distinctive type of flint knapping developed by hominids during the Lower Palaeolithic but most commonly associated with the Neanderthal industries of the Middle Palaeolithic. Importantly, recent findings suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans may have interbred. Important Mousterian sites are found at: The first identified Neanderthal burials were discovered at La Chapelle-aux-Saints in 1908 (dating from 70 ka) then at La Ferrassie in 1909. The identification of burial practices in Neanderthals at these sites led to new insights concerning

4484-539: 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

4602-417: 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

4720-407: The 3rd century, with a peak of activity around 200 BCE and abandonment by about 60 BCE. 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

4838-502: 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". Whether the usage of classical sources means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people

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4956-453: 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

5074-557: 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

5192-516: The Aegean to Britain, took about 2,500 years (6500 BC–4000 BC). According to the leading Kurgan hypothesis , Indo-European languages were introduced to Europe later, during the succeeding Bronze Age , and Neolithic peoples in Europe are called " Pre-Indo-Europeans " or " Old Europe ". Nevertheless, some archaeologists believe that the Neolithic expansion, and the eclipse of Mesolithic culture, coincided with

5310-436: 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,

5428-424: The Balkans. It is therefore common to also talk of the "La Tène period" in the context of those regions even though they were never part of the La Tène culture proper, but connected to its core area via trade. The La Tène type site is on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel , Switzerland , where the small river Thielle , connecting to another lake, enters the Lake Neuchâtel. In 1857, prolonged drought lowered

5546-433: 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)

5664-462: 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 and sacked in 279 BCE, 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. After about 275 BCE, Roman expansion into

5782-544: 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

5900-518: The Greek or Latin alphabets exist allowing the fragmentary reconstruction of Continental Celtic . Current knowledge of this cultural area is derived from three sources comprising archaeological evidence, Greek and Latin literary records, and 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

6018-441: The Greeks, and the Rhone route declined. Booming areas included the middle Rhine , with large iron ore deposits, the Marne and 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

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6136-432: 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

6254-504: The La Tène area began with the conquest of Gallia Cisalpina . The conquest of Gallia Celtica followed in 121 BCE and was complete with the Gallic Wars of the 50s BCE. Gaulish culture quickly assimilated to Roman culture, giving rise to the hybrid Gallo-Roman culture of Late Antiquity . The bearers of the La Tène culture were the people known as Celts or Gauls to ancient ethnographers. Ancient Celtic culture had no written literature of its own, but rare examples of epigraphy in

6372-427: The La Tène sphere. 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). 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

6490-426: The La Tène style of Celtic art , characterized by curving "swirly" decoration, especially of metalwork. It is named after the type 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 (due to the Jura water correction ). La Tène is the type site and the term archaeologists use for

6608-441: The Mesolithic tradition of Téviec and Hoedic in Brittany. It is most likely from the Neolithic that date the megalithic (large stone) monuments, such as the dolmens , menhirs , stone circles and chamber tombs , found throughout France, the largest selection of which are in the Brittany and Auvergne regions. The most famous of these are the Carnac stones ( c.  3300 BC , but may date to as old as 4500 BC) and

6726-493: The Musée Schwab in Biel/Bienne , Switzerland, then Zürich in 2008 and Mont Beuvray in Burgundy in 2009. Some sites are: Some outstanding La Tène artifacts are: A genetic study published in PLOS One in December 2018 examined 45 individuals buried at a La Tène necropolis in Urville-Nacqueville , France. The people buried there were identified as Gauls . The mtDNA of the examined individuals belonged primarily to haplotypes of H and U . They were found to be carrying

6844-405: The Roman conquest in the 1st century BC) in eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. Farther to the north extended the contemporary Pre-Roman Iron Age culture of Northern Germany and Scandinavia. In addition, Greeks and Phoenicians settled outposts like Marseille in this period ( c.  600 BC ). By the 2nd century BC, Celtic France

6962-454: The Urnfield culture represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family (see Proto-Celtic ). This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age; the Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology and agricultural practices. Some archeologists date the arrival of several non-Indo-European peoples to this period, including

7080-410: 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

7198-648: 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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7316-463: 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

7434-407: 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

7552-517: The capacity of Neanderthals to develop spiritual or metaphysical beliefs, extending understanding of the human species beyond what had been hitherto assumed. The earliest indication of Upper Palaeolithic early modern human (formerly referred to as Cro-Magnon) migration into France, and indeed in the whole of Europe, is a series of modern human teeth with Neronian industry stone tools found at Grotte Mandrin Cave, Malataverne in France, dated in 2022 to between 56,800 and 51,700 years ago. The Neronian

7670-432: The collection of wild plant foods and with hunting, and producing hand-made pottery (that is made without the potter's wheel ). Archeological sites from the Neolithic in France include artifacts from the Linear Pottery culture ( c.  5500  – c.  4500 BC ), the Rössen culture ( c.  4500 —4000 BC), and the Chasséen culture (4,500 - 3,500 BC; named after Chassey-le-Camp in Saône-et-Loire ),

7788-458: 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 and Denmark and all the way to Galatia in Asia Minor (today Turkey ). Centered on ancient Gaul , the culture became very widespread, and encompasses a wide variety of local differences. It is often distinguished from earlier and neighbouring cultures mainly by

7906-419: The current territory of France until the arrival of modern humans in the Upper Palaeolithic . The earliest known fossil man is Tautavel Man , dating from 570,000 years ago. Neanderthal Man is attested in France from about 335,000 years before present. Homo sapiens , modern humans, are attested since around 54,000 years ago in the Mandrin Cave . In the Neolithic , which begins in the south of France in

8024-408: 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

8142-413: 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

8260-471: The earliest known domestication of fire in Europe , from 400,000 BC. The Neanderthals are thought to have arrived earlier than 300,000 BC, but seem to have died out by about by 30,000 BC, presumably unable to compete with modern humans during a period of cold weather. Numerous Neanderthal, or " Mousterian ", artifacts (named after the type site of Le Moustier , a rock shelter in the Dordogne region of France) have been found from this period, some using

8378-426: 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

8496-411: 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

8614-599: 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 BCE, 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

8732-466: 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

8850-399: 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

8968-493: 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

9086-484: The floods. The Neolithic period lasted in northern Europe for approximately 3,000 years ( c.  5000 BC –2000 BC). It is characterised by the so-called Neolithic Revolution , a transitional period that included the adoption of agriculture , the development of tools and pottery ( Cardium pottery , LBK ), and the growth of larger, more complex settlements. There was an expansion of peoples from southwest Asia into Europe; this diffusion across Europe, from

9204-606: The geographical area covered by present-day France which extended through prehistory and ended in the Iron Age with the Roman conquest , when the territory enters the domain of written history. The Pleistocene is characterized by long glacial periods accompanied by marine regressions, interspersed at more or less regular intervals by milder but shorter interglacial stages. Human populations during this period consisted of nomadic hunter-gatherers. Several human species succeeded each other in

9322-419: 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

9440-429: The human species responsible for them. France includes Olduwan ( Abbevillian ) and Acheulean sites from early or non-modern (transitional) Hominini species, most notably Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis . Tooth Arago 149 - 560,000 years. Tautavel Man ( Homo erectus tautavelensis ), is a proposed subspecies of the hominid Homo erectus , the 450,000-year-old fossil remains of whom were discovered in

9558-541: The introduction of Indo-European speakers. In what is known as the Anatolian hypothesis , it is postulated that Indo-European languages arrived in the early Neolithic. Old European hydronymy is taken by Hans Krahe to be the oldest reflection of the early presence of Indo-European languages in Europe. Many European Neolithic groups share basic characteristics, such as living in small-scale family-based communities, subsisting on domestic plants and animals supplemented with

9676-501: 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

9794-457: 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

9912-453: 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

10030-679: The later period of the culture and art of the ancient Celts , a term that is firmly entrenched in the popular understanding, but it is considered controversial by modern scholarship. 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. Datable 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. La Tène history

10148-472: 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

10266-541: The middle of the 6th millennium BC, the first farmers appeared. The first megaliths were erected in the early 5th millennium BC. The lower paleolithic period began with the first human occupation of the region. Stone tools discovered at Lézignan-la-Cèbe indicate that early humans were present in France from least 1.57 million years ago. 5 prehistoric sites in France are dated from between 1 and 1.2 million years ago: None of these sites have thus far revealed any evidence of lithic industry which prevents identification of

10384-436: The most dominant paternal lineage, while H was the most common maternal lineage. The Iron Age samples resembled those of modern-day populations of France, Great Britain and Spain. The evidence suggested that the Gauls of the La Tène culture largely evolved from local Bronze Age populations. Prehistory of France#The Iron Age Prehistoric France is the period in the human occupation (including early hominins ) of

10502-605: The name given to the late Neolithic pre- Beaker culture that spread throughout the plains and plateaux of France, including the Seine basin and the upper Loire valleys. The 'Armorican' ( Castellic culture ) and Northern French Neolithic ( Cerny culture ) is based on traditions of the Linear Pottery culture or "Limburg pottery" in association with the La Hoguette/Cardial culture. The Armorican culture may also have origins in

10620-528: 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;

10738-567: The new style does not depend on them. Barry Cunliffe notes localization of La Tène culture during the 5th century BCE 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

10856-499: 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

10974-402: 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

11092-464: 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

11210-459: 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

11328-528: 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

11446-428: 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

11564-569: The stones at Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens . During the Chalcolithic or Copper Age, a transitional age from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, France shows evidence of the Seine-Oise-Marne culture and the Beaker culture. The Seine-Oise-Marne culture or "SOM culture" ( c.  3100 to 2400 BC) is the name given by archaeologists to the final culture of the Neolithic in Northern France around

11682-477: 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

11800-432: The time of the late Urnfield or early Hallstatt cultures, in the early 1st millennium BC. The Hallstatt culture was succeeded by the La Tène culture , which developed out of the Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from Greek , and later Etruscan civilizations . The La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from 450 BC to

11918-880: 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. 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

12036-889: The transitional Beaker culture ( c.  2800 –1900 BC), the Early Bronze Age Rhône culture ( c.  2300 -1600 BC) and Armorican Tumulus culture ( c.  2200  – c.  1400 BC ), the Middle Bronze Age Tumulus culture ( c.  1600 -1200 BC), and the Late Bronze Age Atlantic Bronze Age ( c.  1300  – c.  700 BC ) and Urnfield culture ( c.  1300 -800 BC). Early Bronze Age sites in Brittany (Armorican Tumulus culture) are believed to have grown out of Beaker roots, with some Wessex culture and Unetice culture influence. Some scholars think that

12154-403: The two periods, particularly in southern France. The samples from northern and southern France were highly homogeneous, with northern samples displaying links to contemporary samples form Great Britain and Sweden, and southern samples displaying links to Celtiberians . The northern French samples were distinguished from the southern ones by elevated levels of steppe-related ancestry. R1b was by far

12272-413: 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 geologist from Neuchâtel , started excavations on the lakeshore soon afterwards. He interpreted

12390-434: The waters of the lake by about 2 m (6 ft 7 in). On the northernmost tip of the lake, between the river and a point south of the village of Epagnier ( 47°00′16″N 7°00′58″E  /  47.0045°N 7.016°E  / 47.0045; 7.016 ), Hansli Kopp, looking for antiquities for Colonel Frédéric Schwab, discovered several rows of wooden piles that still reached up about 50 cm (20 in) into

12508-548: 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

12626-547: The western edge of the old Hallstatt region. Though there is no agreement on the precise region in which La Tène culture first developed, there is a broad consensus that the centre 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

12744-545: The western end of the old Hallstatt core area in modern Bavaria , the Czech Republic , Austria and Switzerland formed a somewhat separate "eastern style Province" in the early La Tène, joining with the western area in Alsace . 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

12862-512: The wooden remains of two bridges (designated "Pont Desor" and "Pont Vouga") originally over 100 m (330 ft) 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 canton asked the Société d'Histoire of Neuchâtel to continue the excavations,

12980-466: 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

13098-450: 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

13216-517: Was called Gaul by the Romans, and its people were called Gauls . The people to the north (in what is present-day Belgium) were called Belgae (scholars believe this may represent a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements) and the peoples of the south-west of France were called the Aquitani by the Romans, and may have been Celtiberians or Vascons . Prehistoric and Iron Age France - all dates are BC Hallstatt culture The Hallstatt culture

13334-550: Was determined to belong to various subclades of haplogroup H , HV , U , K , J , V and W . The examined individuals of the Hallstatt culture and La Tène culture were genetically highly homogeneous and displayed continuity with the earlier Bell Beaker culture. They carried about 50% steppe-related ancestry. A genetic study published in iScience in April 2022 examined 49 genomes from 27 sites in Bronze Age and Iron Age France. The study found evidence of strong genetic continuity between

13452-511: Was for a long time the reference for the study of this period. In the 1950s, Jean-Jacques Hatt proposed a subdivision of the French Bronze Age, and in 1958 he published a tripartate division. This model divided the Bronze Age into three parts, Early Bronze, Middle Bronze and Late Bronze Age and serves as a reference for the majority of subsequent studies on the Bronze Age in France. The Bronze Age archeological cultures in France include

13570-485: Was originally divided into "early", "middle" and "late" stages based on the typology of the metal finds ( Otto Tischler 1885), with the Roman occupation greatly disrupting the culture, although many elements remain in Gallo-Roman and Romano-British culture. 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

13688-464: 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,

13806-578: 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 ,

13924-576: Was the predominant Western and Central European archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) 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 speaking populations. It

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