Who Were the Hallstatts?

The Hallstatts were an ancient culture in Europe, from Western Europe to Eastern Europe. The Hallstatt culture has been dated to around c. 1200 – c. 500 BCE and emerged from the Bronze Age Urnfield culture. It is named after the town of Hallstatt when between 1846 and 1863, Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a major cemetery belonging to it.

The Hallstatt culture has been divided into separate timeframes; Hallstatt A (1200 – 1000 BCE), Hallstatt B (1000 – 800 BCE), Hallstatt C (800 – 650 BCE) and Hallstatt D (650 – 475 BCE). The first two phases (A and B) are allocated to the broad Bronze Age epochs E and F in Central Europe and Hallstatt C and D to the Iron Age. It is then further divided into the Western Hallstatt and Eastern Hallstatt cultures.

Ancient cultures like the Hallstatts are somewhat difficult to recount their daily lives. However, archaeological excavations have revealed a mass of artefacts associated with these people so we can gain an insight into who they really were. In the final stages of the culture, cauldrons or deep bowls have been a typical find associated with them. They are generally equipped with one or two free-swinging handles and the pail either with horizontal, hydria-type handles, or the free-swinging handles. Designs on these types of objects are shown with water bird or the bird proteome with circle disk, which could indicate an Oriental influence according to scholars.

Much of what we know about the Hallstatt culture comes from the prehistoric salt-mines and the extensive cemetery which consists of over 1000 graves. In addition to this, no other culture can offer as much information into understanding temperate Europe at the time when iron first began to be used in Europe (around the seventh and sixth centuries BCE).

The bodies found had been either buried or cremated (roughly half and half in numbers). The skeletons of those who had been buried were sketched and then, unfortunately, thrown away by early scholars. Fortunately, the exact position of grave goods relative to the skeleton was often recorded and sketched. Experts believe that it was the elite social classes that preferred to be cremated rather than buried.

Trade appears to be an important aspect of the Hallstatt culture; the iron flat axe is a typical tool of theirs and distribution areas can be found in Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Bosnia. Trade of their items seems to have spread across most of western and eastern Europe, emphasising the importance of this remarkable culture.

Bibliography:

Foltiny, Stephen (19761) Athens and the East Hallstatt Region: Cultural Interrelations at the Dawn of the Iron Age, American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America.

Hodson, Frank Roy (1977) Quantifying Hallstatt: Some Initial Results, American Antiquity, Society for American Archaeology.