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La Tène culture

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The La Tène culture was an Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland, where a rich trove of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857.

La Tène culture developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC) in eastern France, Switzerland, Austria, southwest Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. To the north extended the contemporary Pre-Roman Iron Age culture of Northern Germany and Scandinavia. La Tène culture developed out of the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any definite cultural break, under the impetus of considerable Mediterranean influence from Greek, and later Etruscan civilizations. A shift of settlement centres took place in the 4th century.

Our knowledge of this cultural area derives from three sources: from archaeological evidence, from literary evidence, and more controversially, from 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 and galli. Herodotus placed keltoi at the source of the Danube, in the heartland of La Tène material culture. Whether this means that the whole of La Tène culture can be attributed to a unified Celtic people is difficult to assess; archaeologists have repeatedly concluded that language, material culture, and political affiliation do not necessarily run parallel. Frey notes (Frey 2004) that in the 5th century, "burial customs in the Celtic world were not uniform; rather, localised groups had their own beliefs, which, in consequence, also gave rise to distinct artistic expressions". In some cases where La Tène archaeological sites are overlain by Slavic culture, any identification of La Tène material culture with Celts may become a sensitive local issue.

A disputed La Tène "homeland"

Though there is no agreement on the precise region in which La Tène culture first developed, there is a broad consensus that the center of the culture lay on the northwest edges of Hallstatt culture, north of the Alps, within the region between the valleys of the Eifel, Marne and Moselle in the west, east to modern Bavaria and Austria. In 1994 a prototypical ensemble of elite grave sites of the early 5th century BCE was excavated at Glauberg in Hesse, northeast of Frankfurt-am-Main, in a region that had formerly been considered peripheral to the La Tène sphere [1].

From their homeland, La Tène groups expanded in the 4th century BCE to Spain, the Po Valley to the Balkans, and even as far as Asia Minor, in the course of several major migrations. In the 4th century BCE, a Celtic army under their leader Brennus reached Rome and took the city. In the 3rd century BCE, Celtic bands entered Greece and threatened the oracle of Delphi, while another band settled Galatia in Asia Minor. Celtic culture lost its identity under pressures from Rome and Germans in the 1st century BCE.

La Tène culture

As with many archaeological periods, La Tène history was originally divided into "early" (6th century BC), "middle" (ca 450–100 BC), and "late" (1st century BC) stages, with the Roman occupation effectively driving the culture underground and ending its development.

La Tène metalwork is characterized by intricate spirals and interlace, on fine bronze vessels, helmets and shields, horse trappings and elite jewelry, especially the neck bracelets called torcs and elaborate clasps called fibulae. It is characterized by elegant, stylized curvilinear animal and vegetable forms, with elements akin to Scythian animal designs from the area of Ukraine, allied with the Hallstatt traditions of geometric patterning.

La Tène cultural material appeared over a large area, including parts of Ireland and Britain (the lake dwellings at Glastonbury, England, are a well known example of La Tène culture), northern Spain, Burgundy, and Austria. Elaborate burials also reveal a wide network of trade. In Vix, France, an elite woman of the 6th century BC was buried with a bronze cauldron made in Greece. Exports from La Tène cultural areas to the Mediterranean cultures were based on salt, tin and copper, amber, wool and leather, furs and gold.

Initially La Tène folk lived in open settlements that were dominated by the chieftains’ towering hill forts [2]. 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.

Discovery: La Tène site

La Tène is a village on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, (Lac de Neuchâtel) Switzerland. It is both an archaeological site and the eponymous site for the late Iron Age La Tène culture, also spelt "Latène" or "La-Tène".

In 1857, prolonged drought lowered the waters of the lake by about 2 m. On the northernmost tip of the lake, between the river Zihl and a point south of the village of Marin-Epagnier, Hansli Kopp, looking for antiquities for Colonel Frédéric Schwab, discovered several rows of wooden piles that still reached about 50 cm into the water. From among these, Kopp collected about forty iron swords.

The Swiss archaeologist Ferdinand Keller published his findings in 1868 in his influential first report on the Swiss pile dwellings (Pfahlbaubericht). In 1863 he interpreted the remains as a Celtic village built on piles. Eduard Desor, a geologist from Neuchâtel, started excavations on the lakeshore soon afterwards. He interpreted the site as an armory, erected on piles over the lake and later destroyed by enemy action. Another interpretation accounting for the presence of cast iron swords that had not been sharpened, was of a site of sacrifices.

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 Thiell River (today a canal) 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.

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). The original homeland of La Tène society is also debated: it lay somewhere in the area north of the Alps from the Marne in eastern France to the upper Danube.

La Tène sites

Some outstanding La Tène artifacts

  • "Strettweg Cart" (7th Century BC), found in southeast Austria, a four-wheeled cart with a goddess, riders with axes and shields, attendants and stags. (Landesmuseum Johanneum, Graz, Austria)
  • A princess in Vix (Châtillon-sur-Seine, Burgundy) buried with a 1100 litre (290 gallon) bronze Greek vase, the largest ever found.
  • Chariot burial at Waldalgesheim, Bad Kreuznach, Germany, late 4th c. B.C. (Bonn: Rheinisches Landesmuseum)
  • Chariot burial at La Gorge Meillet (St-Germain-en-Laye: Musée des Antiquités Nationales).


Further reading

  • Collis, John. The Celts: Origins, Myths, Invention. London: Tempus, 2003.
  • James, Simon. The Atlantic Celts. London: British Museum Press, 1999.
  • James, Simon, and Valerie Rig. Britain and the Celtic Iron Age. London: British Museum Press, 1997.
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