The Hallstatt culture
Salt and iron make chieftains rich across central Europe.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 350 years
- Known to
- ± 50 years
- Era
- Iron Age, Holocene
Named for an Austrian site whose prehistoric salt mines preserved miners' clothing, tools and bodies, the Hallstatt culture spreads across central Europe from around 800 BCE. Its elite are buried with four-wheeled wagons, iron swords and imported Greek and Etruscan drinking vessels — the Vix grave in France holds a bronze krater 1.6 metres tall and belongs to a woman. It is generally associated with early Celtic speech.