Iron Age

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Iron Age

• Chronology
• Iron Working
• Life in the Iron Age
• Iron Age European Sites

For reference see http//orbita.starmedia.com/br
athair/English/culthallstatt.htm
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Chronology

• The Early Iron Age in central Europe, dating from
  c.800 b.c. to c.500 b.c., is known as the
  Hallstatt period.
• Celtic migrations, beginning in the 5th cent.
  b.c., spread the use of iron into W Europe and to
  the British Isles.
• The Late Iron Age in Europe, which is dated from
  this period, is called La Tène.

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Iron Age

• Iron Age, marks the period of development of
  Technology, when the working of iron came into
  general use, replacing bronze as the basic
  material for implements and weapons.
• It is the last stage of the archaelogical
  sequence known as the three-age system (Stone
  Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age).

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Development of Iron

• Furnaces were developed that could reach the high
  melting temperature of that metal. Iron
  technology had spread throughout the classical
  world by about 500 BC.
• Early steels were discovered by adding small
  amounts of carbon to iron as it was hammered over
  a charcoal fire.
• Mining became well developed and included the use
  of pumps to keep mines from flooding.

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Bronze vs. Iron

• Bronze could be melted and poured into moulds,
  whereas iron could not because the process made
  it too brittle to use as weapons or tools.
• Iron had to be heated slowly and hammered into
  shape, then sunk into cold water to prevent it
  weakening.
• This process reached originated in Asia Minor
  around 1400BC and was brought to Scotland around
  700BC by the Celts.

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Uses of Iron

• Metalware was used for pots and dishes, sometimes
  with unforeseen disastrous results such as lead
  poisoning.
• Technology also advanced weaponry with the
  development of catapults, better swords, and body
  armor.
• Also ornamental items, such as jewelry, hair
  pins, etc.

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Armament
scabbard
sword
hilt
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Horsemanship
Bridle fittings
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Ornaments, Jewelry
Safety pins
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Life in the Iron Age

• Different settlements
• Hillforts
• Single farming units
• Within the hillfort proper, families would have
  lived in roundhouses.
• A roundhouse is a teepee-like structure covered
  by a daub (a mixture of soil, straw, animal
  manure and soil).
• Inside the roundhouse, a fire would burn
  constantly. The fire would be the source of light
  and heat for the structure, as well as the means
  to cook the food.
• The making of iron objects would have formed a
  central part of the settlement's existence.
• The majority of entrances to roundhouses face to
  the east.

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Iron Age Round House
Above is a reconstruction from archaeological
excavations in Northumbria. Inland round houses
in low-lying areas used wood for the low walls,
but in this picture, as with the site at Waddon,
local stone has been used.
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Activity areas in roundhouse
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Life in the Iron Age (cond)

• Archaeologists discovered the head of a worker
  bee dating back to the Iron Ages and postulate
  that apiculture may have been practiced.
• Charcoal has been made for over 4,000 years in
  Britain.
• Some forts were protected by a "chevaux-de-frise"
  a group of upright stones in front of the
  hillfort meant to make access by man or horse
  arduous.
• Local rivers were used to transport goods in
  boats built to hold up to 5.5 tons of material
• Meat and fish were preserved by using salt
  extracted from seawater by a lengthy process.
• The first Iron Age settlement to be excavated was
  at Standlake in Oxfordshire.
• Archaeologists estimate the population of Britain
  during the Iron Age to be approximately one
  million.

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Iron Age A - Hallstat culture

• This is the first Celtic migration, supplanting
  (rather than absorbing?) the previous natives and
  bringing the technology of iron.
• They also used bronze, making them multi-metal
  technologists and being able to suit a wider
  range of materials to the task.
• There was a military aristocracy in place and
  similar archaeological evidence exists on both
  sides of the Irish Sea.

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Hallstatt, Austria

• Located in a seemingly inhospitable area, high in
  the Salzkammergut in Austria, Hallstatt was a
  thriving salt-mining and trading center in
  antiquity.
• The wealth in the Hallstatt- and La Tène-period
  tombs attests to the success of the enterprise.
• The finds from this site became eponymous for the
  period.

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Site

• Cemetary

• View of Lake and Mines in background

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Hallstatt Finds

• Among the enormous number of finds from the salt
  mines and the cemetery at Hallstatt are wood and
  textile objects preserved in salt, pottery,
  bronze vessels, jewelry, wagons and weapons.
• The sword scabbard is atypical in that it is
  incised with a figural scene. The interpretation
  of the figures is not entirely clear.

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Hochdorf, Germany

• The Hallstatt tribes were rural societies, which
  were organized into isolated farmsteads and
  hamlets subjected to central places, controlled
  by fortified settlements.
• Many authors consider that these settlements
  would be regional centres (controlling an area of
  50 km around them), which would be, at the same
  time, forts, where people from the countryside
  would find protection in case of war, and also
  the place where the chief, the aristocracy and
  craftsmen would live.
• Thus, the fortified settlements would be
  understood as proto-urban centres, which would
  concentrate the craft production, food storage
  and redistribution of resources, trade exchanges
  and the political power in these societies.

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Hochdorf, Germany
http//home.bawue.de/wmwerner/hochdorf/hgl1.html
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Construction of grave
Grave Chamber
Enclosing the grave chamber
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Finishing Barrow
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Horchdorf Finds
Gold bowl
Drinking Horn
Gold shoe ornaments
Knife
Gold fibulae
Belt cover
Neck ring
Birch bark hat
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The Wagon

• The Hochdorf wagon takes up nearly half the space
  in the burial chamber.
• It was made of wood and almost completely covered
  with iron bands and fittings, some functional,
  most decorative or, at most, reinforcing.
• The wagon clearly did not transport the deceased
  into the tomb because the body is approx. sixteen
  cm longer than the wagon box.
• Since the chamber is cut ca. two m into the
  ground and lined with wood, the wagon had to be
  transported over the sides and placed inside the
  wood-clad chamber after the textiles that covered
  the floor had been put in place.
• That this was done in pieces is demonstrated by
  the fact that neither the horse fittings, the
  pole, nor the wheels were attached to the wagon
  box in positions suitable for driving.

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The Couch
The "chieftain" was laid out on the couch, with
his head toward the south, on thick layers of
plant material and animal furs.The entire couch,
as restored.Length 2.75 m. http//www.iath.virg
inia.edu/umw8f/Barbarians/Sites/Hochdorf/Hd_couch
.html
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The Cauldron
Cast Bronze lion
Height 80 cm (without lions).Diameter Ca. 104
cm. Capacity 500 liters.Bronze
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The Chieftan What do we know about him?
Reconstruction of tomb before closing
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What do we know about him?

• 40 years old when he died.
• No cause of death determined.
• Over 6 feet tall, above average for the day.
• Body embalmed before burial.
• Grass growing in chamber-at least four weeks
  between death and complete chamber.
• No hair on body (preservation treatments?)

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Iron Age B - La Tène

• Celt influx to Britain, a more warlike race.
• There was a major silting of lowland river
  bottoms was this a result of an increase in
  mining/streaming (as was to happen in the Middle
  Ages and Tudor times) or as a result of
  deforestation and/or the spread of blanket bog
  with the ending of the closed forest?

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La Tene, Switzerland

• La Tene refers to the spot outside of Lake
  Neuchatel that, in 1858, receded to a very low
  level.
• The result was the exposure of the ribs of some
  construction. When the area was excavated, the
  second great period of the development of the
  Celts was revealed.
• The La Tene eras were divided into three
  sections, one, two , and three. This is a
  classification and designation developed by
  archaeologists that refer to the periods in
  general, and the remarkable aspects of it.
• Its dating period begins in the middle of the
  fifth century BC, and continues until the Roman
  conquest of Gaul, when its development stopped.
  Roughly, the periods of La Tene runs as follows
  La Tene One, from 600 to 500 BC ,La Tene Two
  from 450 to 100 BC and La Tene Three from 100 BC
  until the Roman destruction of the culture.

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La Tène Art

• This style originates from the northern part of
  the Danube and centered in Germany.  This was a
  time of great experimentation and diverse art
  forms, such as ornaments.  The Celts were very
  artistic and not only worked with different
  mediums, they also varied their genre.  The Celts
  had great craftsmanship in making sculptures,
  woodwork figurines such as stylized animals,
  and pottery.
• La Tène art was influenced by many different
  cultures.  The main influences came from Greek
  and Etruscan art from seventh and fourth
  centuries BC.  Celtic art was also influenced  by
  the Steppe art from, derived from the Nomadic
  Scythians.  It was through the Scythians the
  Celts became acquainted with animal art forms and
  began to make wooden figurines. 
• Soon, the Celts emerged into figurative art
  around the third and first centuries BC, with the
  representation of art work on coins, another
  demonstration of their amazing abilities with
  metal.  The Celts also made armor and decorative
  and artistic ornaments for their horses too,
  starting in the third century BC.  But, this art
  form began to decline and eventually died out
  starting in the second century BC due to Julius
  Caesar and his warfare. 

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La Tene Sword