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HALLSTATT

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 858 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HALLSTATT , a See also:

market-See also:place of See also:Austria, in Upper Austria, 67 m. S.S.W. of See also:Linz by See also:rail. Pop. (1900) 737. It is situated on the See also:shore of the Hallstatter-see and at the See also:foot of the Hallstatter Salzberg, and is built in See also:amphitheatre with its houses clinging to the See also:mountain See also:side. The See also:salt mine of Hallstatt, which is one of the See also:oldest in existence, was rediscovered in the 14th See also:century. In the neighbourhood is the celebrated See also:Celtic See also:burial ground, where a See also:great number of very interesting antiquities have been found. Most of these have been removed to the museums at See also:Vienna and Linz, but some are kept in the See also:local museum. The excavations (1847–1864) revealed a See also:form of culture hitherto unknown, and accordingly the name Hallstatt has been applied to See also:objects of like form and decoration since found in See also:Styria, See also:Carniola, Bosnia (at Glasinatz and Jezerin), See also:Epirus, See also:north See also:Italy, See also:France, See also:Spain and See also:Britain (see See also:CELT). Everywhere else the See also:change from See also:iron weapons to See also:bronze is immediate, but at Hallstatt iron is seen gradually superseding bronze, first for See also:ornament, then for edging cutting See also:instruments, then replacing fully the old bronze types, and finally taking new forms of its own. There can be no doubt that the use of iron first See also:developed in the Hallstatt See also:area, and that thence it spread southwards into Italy, See also:Greece, the See also:Aegean, See also:Egypt and See also:Asia, and northwards and westwards in See also:Europe. At Noreia, which gave its name to See also:Noricum (q.v.) less than 40 M. from Hallstatt, were the most famous iron mines of antiquity, which produced the Noric iron and Noric swords so prized and dreaded by the See also:Romans (See also:Pliny, His'.

Nat. xxxiv. 145; See also:

Horace, Epod. 17. 71). This iron needed no tempering, and the Celts had probably found it ready smelted by nature, just as the See also:Eskimo had learned of themselves to use telluric iron embedded in See also:basalt. The See also:graves at Hallstatt were partly inhumation partly See also:cremation; they contained swords, daggers, spears, javelins, axes, helmets, bosses and plates of See also:shields and hauberks, brooches, various forms of See also:jewelry, See also:amber and See also:glass beads, many of the objects being decorated with animals and geometrical designs. See also:Silver was practically unknown. The weapons and axes are mostly iron, a few being bronze. The swords are See also:leaf-shaped, with See also:blunt points intended for cutting, not for thrusting; the hilts differ essentially from those of the Bronze See also:Age, being shaped like a See also:crescent to grasp the blade, with large pommels, or sometimes with antennae (the latter found also in See also:Bavaria, See also:Wurttemberg, See also:Baden, See also:Switzerland, the See also:Pyrenees, Spain, north Italy) : only six arrowheads (bronze) were found. Both flanged and socketed celts occurred, the iron being much more numerous than the bronze. The See also:flat axes are distinguished by the side stops and in some cases the transition from palstave to socketed See also:axe can be seen. The shields wereround as in the See also:early Iron Age of north Italy (see See also:VILLANOVA).

See also:

Greaves were found at Glasinatz and Jezerin, though not at Hallstatt; two helmets were found at Hallstatt and others in Bosnia; broad bronze belts were numerous, adorned in repousse with beast and geometric ornament. Brooches are found in great See also:numbers, both those derived from the See also:primitive safety-See also:pin (" Peschiera " type) and the " spectacle " or " Hallstatt " type found all down the Balkans and in Greece. The latter are formed of two spirals of See also:wire, sometimes four such spirals being used, whilst there were also brooches in See also:animal forms, one of the latter being found with a bronze See also:sword. The Hallstatt culture is that of the Homeric See also:Achaeans (see ACHAEANS), but as the See also:brooch (along with iron, cremation of the dead, the See also:round See also:shield and the geometric ornament) passed down into Greece from central Europe, and as brooches are found in the See also:lower See also:town at See also:Mycenae, 1350 B.C., they must have been invented See also:long before that date in central Europe. But as they are found in the See also:late Bronze Age and early Iron Age, the early iron culture of Hallstatt must have originated long before 1350 B.C., a conclusion in See also:accord with the See also:absence of silver at Hallstatt itself. See See also:Baron von Sacken, Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt; See also:Bertrand and S. See also:Reinach, See also:Les See also:Celtes clans les vallees du Po et du See also:Danube; W. See also:Ridge-way, Early Age of Greece; See also:ARCHAEOLOGY (See also:plate). (W.

End of Article: HALLSTATT

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