IV
everything is different … though nothing really changed
(or the other way round )
the early La Tène period
Ha D1 = cca 600 – 550/530 aC
Ha D2-D3 = 550/530-480/450 aC
LT A = 480/450 – 380 aC
-the cultural focus in Central
Europe shifts to a stripe of
Marne/Champagne – middle
Rhine area – SW Bohemia
(and a considerable blob in
Dürrnberg near Salzburg)
-in Northern Italy, things go
on as before: Felsinean
culture (Bologna, Spina,
Marzabotto etc.) in EmiliaRomagna
and Golasecca
culture in Lombardy are at
their best, fully engaged in
mediating trade between
Greece, Etruria and the
Transalpine area Fels.
Glscc.
-the majority of imports flow across the Alps from
the Golasecca culture area
-the Rhône valley partially supplies the territory of
France
[-distribution in central Europe is not mapped precisely –
both maps are French and French colleagues do not always
bother about what happens in the East]
Distribution of Attic Black Figure pottery (VI – early V BC)
Distribution of Greek Wine Amphorae
https://www.academia.edu/27955549/F._Sacchetti_-
_Transport_amphorae_in_the_West_Hallstatt_zone_r
eassessing_socio-economic_dynamics_and_long-
distance_Mediterranean_exchange_in_western_Cent
ral_Europe_in_the_Early_Iron_Ag._Oxford_Journal_o
f_Archaeology_35_3_2016
2nd half of the VI century BC
1st half of the V century BC
2nd half of the V century BC
Distribution of
Gollasecca culture
objects in Europe
-
Bronze beaked flagon/“Schnabelkanne“
-the stereotypical indicator of transalpine contacts
in the LT A period
-made in Etruria, widespread in the Felsinean and
the Golasecca area
+ everywhere on the other side of the Alps where
things were going on in the period
Halštatské spony v severní Itálii
Ha D2 Ha D3
/1/ The [Po] lowlads used to be inhabited by the Etruscans, […] /3/ the Celts, who were often meeting with
them as neighbours and were very invidious for the beautiful country, attacked them unexpectedly under a futile
pretext with an enormous army expelling the Etruscans from the territory around the Po and seized the country
themselves.
Polybios II, 17
its is said that the main reason why the Celts – once separated from us by the Alps that by that time used to be an
unsurmountable obstacle – invaded Italy, were dry figs, grapes, oil and wine brought to their country by a Helvetian
Helico when he came back home from Rome where he excercised his craft. if it is so, we cannot but forgive them
that they resorted even to war.
Plin. NH II, 5
The contacts were
apparently bilateral
Distribution of
Hallstatt type
brooches in northern
Italy →
 Elite (wagon) graves of Ha D2/3
Elite (chariot) graves of LT A →
In central Europe, the Late Hallstatt centres are
abandoned and new dynamic area appear
further north
 Hochdorf
Somme – Bione →
Ha D elite burials
-very small number, extremely rich
-men, women, and children
-4-wheel wagon = ceremony
-dagger = symbolic power
-southern imports and other prestige
goods
=> semidivine and dynastic
LT A elite burials
-more numerous, less exuberant
-adult men largely prevail
-2-wheel chariot = war
-sword = practical use
-southern imports and other prestige
goods
=> real-world military leaders
Glauberg
-hilltop settlement + princely tumulus (both dating to LT A)
-a small fortified settlement
-no southern imports, no signs of specialised production,
no wheel-turned pottery
-in a rather periferal area
-stress on fortification = a refuge?
-overlooking a tumulus with a moumental access
corridor….
… with two warrior burials….
…and a stone statue on the mound
A lot in common with the
Hirschlanden statue…
adapted for the new
times
 Glauberg is a new iteration of the concept of Late Hallstatt elite though adapted
to a different social reality
-what changed is the warrior stylization of the dead and the style of local metalwork,
best exemplified by the beaked flagon: not an import (there are no imports in
the grave) but a local product in a completely new artistic style
-the fist attempt at transalpine adaptation of Mediterranean
prestige goods comes from early V BC from Heuneburg
-handle attachment of a bronze vessel imitating Etruscan
models rather faithfully in terms of both style and subject
matter.. But it‘s just the beginning
Kleinaspergle
Kleinaspergle
A beaked flagon entirely based on Etruscan
models but locally made with different
proportions and figural emebellishments in
a very non-Etruscan style
Kleinaspergle
-Attic red-figure cup mended/decorated with gold-leaf elements
in the same style as the flagon attachment
[a sidenote: in 1921, the classical archaeologist Paul Jacobsthal came to
Stuttgart to study the painting on the cup… inspired by the piece, he
ended up indulging in study of La Tène art and publishing the first
monograph on it in 1944]
-the rise of the LT culture signifies a large-scale social transformation including redefinition of elites but also a new
approach to art
-art is not a meaningless dispensable embellishment of the past reality, it directly reflects large-scale intellectual
revolution and probably also end of some previously valid religious practices – taboo on depiction of living creatures
disappears and the new style is based not only on Mediterranean models but also on knowledge and skills acquired
from the Mediterranean, including advanced geometrics
Greek model –
palmette/lotus frieze
(southern Italy, late VI/early V BC)
The same motif stylized into geometric shapes
(Belgium, mid/late V BC)
The same geometric shapes further stylized and
alternately mirrored
-the single geometric forms are decomposed into the single elements and these further re-arranged
into new compositions
These arrangements are never haphazard but always based on rigorously applied rules of geometry
-the same geomteric rules apply to (relatively rare) depiction
of living creatures
-openwork belt-hooks of the so-called Ticino class are inspired
by the Mediterranean motif of Master of the beasts translated
into Early La Tène art style
-common in both Italy and Transalpine
Europe, their origin was for some time
disputed
-most likely they are Transalpine but
their massive presence in Italy proofs
active interaction between both areas
https://www.academia.edu/7487616/Mo
bility_and_Cultural_Change_of_the_Earl
y_Celts_La_T%C3%A8ne_Openwork_Belt
-Hooks_North_and_South_of_the_Alps
Masque brooches
-equally analytical approach to
depiction as with Early La Tène
art in general
-often combination of human
and animal traits
Dürrnberg bei Hallein
(Salzburg)
Glauberg (Hessen)
Basse-Yutz (Moselle)
-the most masterly
application of Early La
Tène art is on local beaked
flagons of which the pair
from Basse-Yutz is the
most splendid example
-pair of identical flagons
with coral inlays
Btw coral in Iron Age Europe
-present already from Ha and through LT A and B periods
-inlays in bronze objects or individual twigs
-the provenance (southern France or Italy) is disputed…
LT A–BHa D2–3
https://cez-archaeometrie.academia.edu/SebastianF%C3%BCrst
the state of art information on Iron Age corals can be found by Sebastian Fürst
Another btw.:
-wheel thrown pottery started appearing in central Europe
in Ha D (Heuneburg)
-inspired by the ‚céramique grise monochrome‘ of
southern France?
-or from Italy?
-in LT A the technology of wheel throwing becomes
widespread (though by no means generalised or exclusive)
for fine wares
LATE HALLSTATT
AND
EARLY LA TÈNE PERIOD IN
BOHEMIA
AND
RELATIONS WITH MEDITERRANEAN
LT A
-more intense occupation and concentration of rich graves in Southern
and South-Western Bohemia
-obvious central places with evidence of contacts with Mdtrrn reappear
in Ha D2/LT A
-Bohemia becomes one of focal points in emergence of LT A culture
The
Kaliště - Bezděkov
hillfort
North Pontic
area
-Traditional explanation is that Scythian raids in the Carpathian basin
made trade routes („amber route“) shift further west to Bohemia…
-or Bohemia was for differennt reasons part of the processes going on
in the West?
-Scythian artefacts are not absent in Bohemia but it does not necessarily
explain everything
distribution of Early La Tène swords in graves in Bohemia
Bohemia replicates the model of warrior graves
developping in parallel in the Rhine-Main-Mosel
region
 Few rich graves (with imports and swords)
and a series of richer graves with swords
 Concentration in the SW - S
Branov, okr Rakovník
Chlum, okr. Rokycany
All that a LT A elie grave should have:
-sword
-imports
-LT A art on prestige objects
Chýnov, Praha
západ
Manětín-Hrádek
Including a depiction of full human figure which is not
completely LT A but has some interesting Mediterranean
connotations
Manětín-HrádekJikve (o. Nymburk)
The very fact that a human
is depicted is quite a
Mediterranean feature, this
figure is moreover wearing
turn-up shoes, which is a
fashionable Etruscan
footwear of the period,
documented also as a fineware
pottery vessel in Jikev,
Manětín-HrádekJikve (o. Nymburk)
The very fact that a human
is depicted is quite a
Mediterranean feature, this
figure is moreover wearing
turn-up shoes, which is a
fashionable Etruscan
footwear of the period,
documented also as a fineware
pottery vessel in Jikev,
Manětín-Hrádek
-and also something of a non-elite evidence:
-not unlike in the west, LT A culture touches all strata
of society, sometimes even with the same
intricacy and sophistication
-wheel thrown pottery produced by specialised
potters becomes widespread (perhaps as a lowlevel
prestige gift creating bond between elite
and intermediate strata of society)
https://www.academia.edu/30479397/Th%C3%A9r_R.-Mangel_T.-Gregor_M._2015-
Life_of_a_potter_begins_in_LT_A.pdf
https://www.academia.edu/6612526/Th%C3%A9r_R._-
_Mangel_T._2014_Inovace_a_specializace_v_hrn%C4%8D%C3%AD%C5%99sk%C3%A9m_%C5%99e
mesle_v_dob%C4%9B_lat%C3%A9nsk%C3%A9_model_v%C3%BDvoje_organiza%C4%8Dn%C3%ADc
h_forem_v%C3%BDroby._Archeologick%C3%A9_rozhledy_66_3-39
- stamped pottery
-stamping as decoration follows the same
principles as the high LT A art – patterns
composed of geometrical shapes (exceptionally
figures)
https://www.academia.edu/2348703/Kunst_f%C3%BCr
_alle_Einige_Bemerkungen_zur_stempelverzierten_
Keramik..
-the same geometrical principles and the
same intelectual package as in elite art
decoration structure
(Neředín, okr. Olomouc)
Tuchoměřice,
okr. Praha západ
=> LT A is a cultural and
intellectual revolution
whose Mediterranean roots
were thorgoughly reelaborated
and touched the
entire population
Dobrovíz, okr. Praha západ
Libkovice (okr. Most)
Kanín , okr. Nymburk
Some scholars considered LT A stamping to be directly
inspired by Italian stamped wares of VII – VI BC …
-but these are too early and the approach to stamúing is
completely different (boring friezes of repeting motifs)
-much more likely they translate in LT style the painted (or
stamped?) decoration of Attic pottery
Závist
http://www.archeologickyatlas.cz/en/lokace/lhota_pz_oppidum_zavist
1963 – 1898 excavations of the
Archeological Institute, Prague
-discoveries of unexpected complexity
and scale whose interpretation went
too far in some aspects including
those of Mdtrrn contacts
More details here p. 129–130
https://www.academia.edu/39772510/the_Celts_2018_2019_-
_Religion_and_Sanctuaries
The acropolis – extremely complex straigraphy
and unexpected structures
1st horizon – series of large houses and an enclosure
2nd horizon – a huge enclosure with a single large building
3rd horizon – the entire summit is terraced
into a huge plateau delimited by a ditch on
which a series of structures are built
-the structures on the plateau were
extremely boldly interpreted as cult
buildings inspired by Etruscan temples
?!?!
All this inspite of:
No evidence of cultic function
No evidence of the actual superstructures
Extremely naive use of Mdtrrn analogies and vocabulary
There is no doubt that the site was extremely significant with huge labour investment in the earthworks and
presumably enormous social and very likely religious significance…but the proposed interpretation has nothing to
do with reality and only obscures the actual understanding of the site
and btw…
There are no (real) Mdtrrn imports in Závist!
The only exception is one brooch from Spain
which is curious but doesn‘t fit into the picture of
interaction with Italy
All the other „Mediterranean“ finds are only
conjectures
https://www.academia.edu/36254964/Non-
invasIve_materIal_and_traceologIcal_research_of_the_stone_head
_from_celtIc_settlement_Z%C3%A1vIst_near_Prague
A stray find of stone head possibly of the Early LT phase
Once again, the Mdtttn influence is only filtered
ALL WE (DON‘T) KNOW ABOUT (REAL)
MDTRRN IMPORTS IN LT A BOHEMIA
https://www.academia.edu/36710370/Imports_as_indicato
rs_of_interregional_routes_in_Early_Iron_Age_Bohemia
https://www.academia.edu/35129269/Bemerkungen_zur_
keltischen_Kunst_und_zur_mediterranen_Importen_in_Fr
%C3%BChlat%C3%A8nezeit_in_B%C3%B6hmen
https://www.academia.edu/39772548/the_Celts_2018_201
9_-_Bohemia_and_Mediterranean (p. 282–286)
Useful overviews here (you are not
obliged to believe everything that is
written there)
Bronze vessels
Always in elite graves
Beaked flagons or parts thereof
stamnos
Basins with beaded rim
Basins All these types are
common in Northern
Italy and the Rhinelands
Hradiště u Písku
Chlum u Rokycan
Hořín [9]
Písek [7]
Glass vessel fragment
(perfume bottle from Strakonice
Bologna
Though their production is often associated with
Phoenicians or the island of Rhodes, these vessels are
extremely common in Northern Italy. Whether
produced in the Middle East, in Greece or Southern
Italy, Phoenicians had no share on the contacts with
the Central Europe… just to make things clear…
Wine amphora
Only one fragment is known so far
(many could have been overlooked
because mistaken for modern pottery or
roof-tiles)
https://www.academia.edu/19576034/The_first_find_of_a_Greek_transport_a
mphora_in_the_Late_Hallstatt_Early_La_T%C3%A8ne_Bohemia_and_its_signifi
cance_for_the_archaeology_of_interregional_contacts
Greek painted pottery
Attic Black-figure (VI – early V BC), Red-figure (V BC) and Black-glaze pottery
Kadaň – Jezerka
A single sherd of late VI century
black-figure cup in Kadaň
Droužkovice
-a few sherds of V BC black-gloss cups from a
elite enclosure in Droužkovice
Praha-Ruzyně
Jiviny
.. and a whole lot of mid V BC attic redfigure
pottery in simple settlements
around Prague, always among waste in
simple settlement pits
Praha-Pitkovice
.. and a whole lot of mid V BC attic redfigure
pottery in simple settlements
around Prague
.. and a whole lot of mid V BC attic redfigure
pottery in simple settlements
around Prague, always among waste in
simple settlement pits
Tuchoměřice
.. and a whole lot of mid V BC attic redfigure
pottery in simple settlements
around Prague, always among waste in
simple settlement pits
Dobrovíz
.. and a whole lot of mid V BC attic redfigure
pottery in simple settlements
around Prague, always among waste in
simple settlement pits
Local imitations of Attic pottery
-
Attic pottery
imitations
Chržín (o. Mělník)
Plzeň – Roudná
Radovesice,
okr. Teplice
Tuněchody, okr. Chrudim
And even a ceramic imitation of a beaked flagon from a
simple settlement in Tuněchody in Eastern Bohemia
 metal vessels in elite burials
 Attic pottery in mundane
settlements
 Hillforts without imports….
… if someone understands it, let me
know, please…