Hallstatt D

  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
The Hallstatt D period (c. 600-475 BCE) ^[2] saw the intensification of processes that had been occurring throughout the Hallstatt era. Some polities disintegrated while others gained power. Thus, the number of hillforts decreased but they grew in size; ^[3] Mont Lassois is a prime example. ^[4] Chiefs controlled the prestige economy at the local level, trading with their Mediterranean counterparts. Extreme social differentiation can be observed in burials; ^[2] the lavish Vix Burial, a cairn 42 metres wide and 6 metres high associated with the site of Mont Lassois, ^[5] includes gold and bronze objects as well as prestigious imports.
This period was also marked by the rise of urban centres specializing in administrative and mercantile activities, including colonies and entrepôts established for the purpose of long-distance trade. ^[6] Population estimates are more easily accessible for the Hallstatt D period. The Heuneburg, a hillfort reaching c. 100 hectares in the mid-6th century BCE, may have been home to about 5000 inhabitants. ^[7]

[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]: (Collis 1995, 75) Collis, John. 1995. “States without Centers? The Middle La Tène Period in Temperate Europe.” In Celtic Chiefdom, Celtic State: The Evolution of Complex Social Systems in Prehistoric Europe, edited by Bettina Arnold and D. Blair Gibson, 75-80. Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/QFU68CIQ.

[3]: (Allen 2007, 26-27) Allen, Stephen. 2007. Lords of Battle: The World of the Celtic Warrior. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/F9D9PI8A.

[4]: (Collis 1984, 16) Collis, John. 1984. The European Iron Age. London; New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2HS6EBNS.

[5]: (Collis 1984, 16, 95) Collis, John. 1984. The European Iron Age. London; New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2HS6EBNS.

[6]: (Collis 1984, 22) Collis, John. 1984. The European Iron Age. London; New York: Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/2HS6EBNS

[7]: (Fernández Götz and Krausse 2012, 31) Fernández-Götz, Manuel, and Dirk Krausse. 2012. “Heuneburg. First City North of the Alps.” Current World Archaeology, no. 55: 28-34. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/PMS9IF2F.