Hallstatt B2-3

  General Description   The Hallstatt culture, named after an archaeological site in Austria and traditionally divided into four phases, was the main cultural complex in Western Europe during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. It coincides with the North Alpine complex, extending over modern-day central and southern Germany, northern Italy, and Switzerland. ^[1]
Population and political organization
In the Hallstatt B period (c. 1000-800 BCE), ^[2] the North Alpine cultural complex gradually became incorporated in trade networks dominated by Greek and Etruscan settlements. Hallstatt chiefs mediated the supply of Mediterranean prestige goods in their own spheres of exchange. ^[1]
The average scale of integration of Hallstatt B polities extended to include land within a roughly 25-kilometre radius. ^[3] The maximal territorial extent of polities could be as much as 1000 square kilometres, as in the case of Wessex. ^[1]
In this period, a three-tiered settlement hierarchy can be discerned archaeologically. Previous units fragmented: new autonomous communities polarized around fortified sites, the proportion of which increased. Tumuli became a more noticeable feature in the Hallstatt B landscape, and iron-working activity became much more prevalent. ^[4]

[1]: (Brun 1995, 14) Brun, Patrice. 1995. “From Chiefdom to State Organization in Celtic Europe.” In Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe, edited by Bettina Arnold and D. Blair Gibson, Cambridge University Press, 13-25. Cambridge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RZWRCEPH.

[2]: (CNRS-ENS 2017) CNRS-ENS. 2017. “Atlas de L’âge Du Fer.” Accessed July 7. http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/patlas. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/HUKZMF9J.

[3]: (Brun 2007, 381) Brun, Patrice. 2007. “Une Période de Transition Majeure En Europe: De La Fin Du IVe Au Début Du IIe s. Av. J.-C.(La Tène B2 et C).” In La Gaule Dans Son Contexte Européen Aux IV e et III e Siècle Avant Notre Ère, edited by Christine Mennessier-Jouannet, Anne-Marie Adam, and Pierre-Yves Milcent, 377-84. Lattes: Edition de l’Association pour le Développement de l’Archéologie en Languedoc-Roussillon. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/D2ET47FZ.

[4]: (Brun 1995, 15) Brun, Patrice. 1995. “From Chiefdom to State Organization in Celtic Europe.” In Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe, edited by Bettina Arnold and D. Blair Gibson, Cambridge University Press, 13-25. Cambridge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RZWRCEPH.