La Tène culture

The La Tène culture (

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 the La Tène style of Celtic art, characterized by curving "swirly" decoration, especially of metalwork.^[10]

It is named after the

Extensive contacts through

The archaeological period is now mostly divided into four sub-periods, following Paul Reinecke.^[15]

History

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 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

From their homeland, La Tène culture expanded in the 4th century BCE to more of modern France, Germany, and

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 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

The bearers of the La Tène culture were the people known as

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 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".^[24]

Whether the usage of classical sources means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified

Material culture

La Tène metalwork in bronze, iron and gold, developing technologically out of Hallstatt culture, 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 the transition to the Developed Style constituted a shift to movement-based forms, such as

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 a strong continuity with an afterlife.^[26]

Elaborate burials also reveal a wide network of trade. In

Type site

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.^[27] In 1857, prolonged drought lowered the waters of the lake by about 2 m. 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 into the water. From among these, Kopp collected about forty iron swords.

The Swiss archaeologist

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 the wooden remains of two bridges (designated "Pont Desor" and "Pont Vouga") originally over 100 m 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, 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 the 3rd century, with a peak of activity around 200 BCE and abandonment by about 60 BCE.^[28] 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 the Musée Schwab in

Sites

Some sites are:

Gallery

• 
  Manching oppidum, Germany
• 
  Manching oppidum
• 
  Bibracte oppidum, France, outer walls
• 
  Bibracte oppidum
• 
  Murus Gallicus
• 
  Oppidum illustration.^[30]
• 
  Tintignac sanctuary, France^[31]
• 
  Corent oppidum, France.^[32]
• 
  Gergovia fortification wall remains, France
• 
  Siege of Avaricum, France
• 
  Entremont oppidum, France
• 
  Sanctuary of Gournay-sur-Aronde, France
• 
  Mont Vully oppidum, Switzerland
• 
  Gallic farm at Verberie, France
• 
  Gallic farm at Le Patural, France
• 
  Vesontio oppidum, France
• 
  Otzenhausen hillfort wall remains, Germany
• 
  Glauberg oppidum, Germany
• 
  Maiden Castle hillfort, Britain
• 
  Fortifications at Ipf, Germany
• 
  Donnersberg hillfort, Germany
• 
  Acy-Romance, France
• 
  Celtic homestead at Samborowice, Poland
• 
  Heidengraben oppidum, rampart, Germany.^[33]

Artifacts

See Category:Celtic art.

Some outstanding La Tène artifacts are:

• Mšecké Žehrovice Head, a stone head from the modern Czech Republic
• A life-sized sculpture of a warrior that stood above the Glauberg burials
• Chariot burial found at
  Musée des Antiquités Nationales
  )
• Basse Yutz Flagons 5th century
• Agris Helmet, with gold covering, c. 350
• Waldalgesheim chariot burial, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, late 4th century BCE, Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn; the "Waldalgesheim phase/style" of the art takes its name from the jewellery found here.
• A gold-and-bronze model of an oak tree (3rd century BCE) found at the Oppidum of Manching.
• Sculptures from Roquepertuse, a sanctuary in the south of France
• The silver Gundestrup cauldron (2nd or 1st century BCE), found ritually broken in a peat bog near Gundestrup, Denmark, but probably made near the Black Sea, perhaps in Thrace. (National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen)
• Battersea Shield (350–50 BCE), found in London in the Thames, made of bronze with red enamel. (British Museum, London)
• Waterloo Helmet, 150-50 BCE, Thames
• "Witham Shield" (4th century BCE). (British Museum, London) ^[34]
• Torrs Pony-cap and Horns, from Scotland
• Cordoba Treasure
• Turoe stone in Galway and Killycluggin Stone in Cavan Ireland
• Great Torc from Snettisham, 100-75 BCE, gold, the most elaborate of the British style of torcs
• Meyrick Helmet, post-conquest Roman helmet shape, with La Tène decoration
• Noric steel

Genetics

A genetic study published in the

patrilocal, which is in agreement with archaeological and literary evidence.^[39]

A genetic study published in the

W.^[42] 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.^[43]

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 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 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.^[44]

Gallery

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• 
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• 
• 
• 
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• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
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• 
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  Remains of a water reservoir from Vladař, Czech Republic, 400 BC
• 
  Gallic house and granaries, c. 300 BC
• 
  Bibracte oppidum, monumental basin
• 
  Gallic house interior
• 
  Grave at the Titelberg oppidum, Luxembourg
• 
  Reconstruction of a Gallic chariot

See also

• Archaeology of Northern Europe
• Iron Age Britain
• Iron Age France
• Iron Age Iberia
• Jublains archeological site

Notes

1. ^ Sarunas Milisauskas, European Prehistory: a survey, p. 354
2. ISBN 978-88-8289-851-9
   , a translation of Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire. Des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2000, without the dictionary
3. ^ McIntosh, 89-91
4. ISBN 978-1-4685-4600-2
   .
5. doi:10.3406/mefr.1996.1954
   .
6. ^ The La Tène culture was present in the southwestern part of Slovakia, bordering on or overlapping with the Púchov culture of north/central Slovakia.
7. ^ Mócsy, András (1974). Pannonia and Upper Moesia. A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of the Roman Empire. Translated by S. Frere. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7100-7714-1.
8. ^ Croatia was part of the Eastern Hallstatt zone, and the Illyrians of classical antiquity were culturally influenced both by Celtic (La Tène) and by Hellenistic culture.
9. ^ G. Kazakevich, "The La Tène culture of the Trans-Carpathian area: Is the migration model still relevant?", UDK 94(477.87:364): "The only region of the present day Ukraine where the La Tène sites are sufficiently widespread is the Trans-Carpathian area which lies south-westwards of the Carpathian mountains."
10. ^ Garrow, Ch 1 and 2
11. ^ Or just "La Tene" in English. More rarely also spelt "Latène" (especially in French adjectival forms) or "La-Tène". In German Latènezeit or La-Tène-Zeit equate to "La Tène culture"
12. ^ Megaw, 9-16; Green, 11-17
13. ^ Megaw, 228-244
14. ^ Laing, Chapter 3, especially 41-42
15. ^ Sabine Rieckhoff, Geschichte der Chronologie der Späten Eisenzheit in Mitteleuropa und das Paradigma der Kontinuität Archived 13 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Leipziger online-Beiträge zur Ur- und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie 30 (2008).
16. ^ Megaw, 51
17. ^ Mystery of the Celts Archived 15 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
18. ^ McIntosh, 89
19. ^ McIntosh, 89-91
20. ^ Cunliffe 1997:66.
21. ^ Green, 26
22. ^ Garrow, chapter 2; Laing, chapter 4; Megaw, chapter 6
23. ^ McIntosh, 91-92
24. S2CID 162214275
    .
25. ^ Harding, D. W. The Archaeology of Celtic Art. New York: Routledge, 2007; other schemes of classification are available, indeed more popular; see Vincent Megaw in Garrow
26. ^ Megaw, chapters 2-5; Laing, chapter 3
27. ^ Swisstopo map (1931) geo.admin.ch
28. ^ Megaw, 132-133
29. ^ Reconstruction of the Zavist oppidum. Středočeský kraj. 2022.
30. ^ "Digital reconstruction of the oppidum of Gondole, France". YouTube.
31. ^ "Tintignac, le mystère d'un sanctuaire gaulois". YouTube.
32. ^ 3D reconstruction of Corent oppidum, France.
33. ^ "Digital reconstructions of the Heidengraben oppidum".
34. ^ British Museum – The Witham Shield Archived 3 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine
35. ^ Fischer et al. 2018, p. 1.
36. ^ Fischer et al. 2018, pp. 4, 15.
37. ^ Fischer et al. 2018, p. 7.
38. ^ Fischer et al. 2018, pp. 14–15.
39. ^ ^{a b} Fischer et al. 2019, p. 1.
40. ^ ^{a b} Fischer et al. 2019, p. 6.
41. ^ Fischer et al. 2019, pp. 4–5. "[A] striking homogeneity of the Y-chromosome lineages could be observed, all of them corresponding either to R* or R1b (M343) haplogroups... [W]e consistently found in our Iron Age samples R*/R1b paternal lineages that are linked to the massive migration from the steppes and dated to the Late Neolithic-to-Bronze Age transition (Haak et al., 2015). This migration was responsible for an impressive genetic turnover in the European populations, with Neolithic haplogroups being replaced by new paternal (R1a and R1b) lineages originating from the eastern regions..."
42. ^ Brunel et al. 2020, Dataset S1, Rows 221-245.
43. ^ Brunel et al. 2020, p. 5.
44. ^ Fischer et al. 2022.

References

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v t e

• Brunel, Samantha; et al. (9 June 2020). "Ancient genomes from present-day France unveil 7,000 years of its demographic history".
  PMID 32457149
  .
• Fischer, Claire-Elise; et al. (6 December 2018). "The multiple maternal legacy of the Late Iron Age group of Urville-Nacqueville (France, Normandy) documents a long-standing genetic contact zone in northwestern France".
  PMID 30521562
  .
• Fischer, Claire-Elise; et al. (October 2019). "Multi-scale archaeogenetic study of two French Iron Age communities: From internal social- to broad-scale population dynamics".
  doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101942
  .
• Fischer, Claire-Elise; et al. (2022). "Origin and mobility of Iron Age Gaulish groups in present-day France revealed through archaeogenomics".
  PMID 35402880
  .
• Garrow, Duncan (ed), Rethinking Celtic Art, 2008, Oxbow Books,
  ISBN 1842173189, 9781842173183, google books
• Green, Miranda, Celtic Art, Reading the Messages, 1996, The Everyman Art Library,
  ISBN 0-297-83365-0
• Laing, Lloyd and Jenifer. Art of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London 1992
  ISBN 0-500-20256-7
• McIntosh, Jane, Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe, 2009, Oxford University Press (USA),
  ISBN 9780195384765
• ISBN 0-500-28265-X

Further reading

• Cunliffe, Barry. The Ancient Celts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1997
• Collis, John. The Celts: Origins, Myths, Invention. London: Tempus, 2003.
• Kruta, Venceslas, La grande storia dei Celti. La nascita, l'affermazione, la decadenza,
  ISBN 978-88-8289-851-9
  (492 pp. - a translation of Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire. Des origines à la romanisation et au christianisme, Robert Laffont, Paris, 2000, without the dictionary)
• James, Simon. The Atlantic Celts. London: British Museum Press, 1999.
• James, Simon & Rigby, Valery. Britain and the Celtic Iron Age. London: British Museum Press, 1997.
• Reginelli Servais Gianna and Béat Arnold, La Tène, un site, un mythe, Hauterive : Laténium - Parc et musée d'archéologie de Neuchâtel, 2007, Cahiers d'archéologie romande de la Bibliothèque historique vaudoise, 3 vols,
  ISBN 9782940347353

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Tène culture.

• Charles Bergengren, Cleveland Institute of Art, 1999: illustrations of La Tène artifacts
• Les Premieres Villes de l'Ouest - Exhibition on La Tene period towns and cities
• La Tène Archaeological Sites in Romania Archived 24 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• "La Tène" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.