Halstatt is a beautiful lakeside town in Upper Austria. The lake next to the town is called Halstattersee. There are salt mines in Halstatt that have been mined for at least 2,800 years which make them some of the oldest in the world. Halstatt is nestled comfortably between the Alps and Lake Halstattersee. It is a beautiful town that seems very quiet and peaceful. The era that is named Halstatt is believed to have existed from 1200 to 500 BCE. The Halstatt Culture is associated with the Celt Culture during the early Iron Age. During the Halstatt age, the people depended on nearby rock-salt mining, which was important in those days for preserving food. Salt also preserves organic matter. Modern archaeologists have grouped the Halstatt era into 4 phases, A, B, C and D. Halstatt A and B signify the Late Iron Age, approximately 1200-800 BCE, Halstatt C refers to the Early Iron Age and D refers to between 600-500 BCE.
The Celts are defined as “a people who dominated much of Western, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia Minor in the 1st millennium B.C., giving their language, customs, and religion to the other peoples of that area.” The Celts were thought to have possessed land greater in size than modern European Russia, but they weren’t united politically. The various tribes were united by common speech, customs and religion though. Because the Celts had no strong central government, they were easy targets for their enemies, which is part of what led to their collapse. There are still Celts around today, who strongly identify with their history. Most of them can be found in various parts of Europe.
Halstatt is a very interesting archaeological site because of the salt mines. The salt mines have succeeded in preserving many historical items including human bodies. The first artifacts from the Halstatt Celts were found on the shores of Lake Halstatt in 1846. Georg Ramsauer was the director of the mine at Halstatt. He dug for 18 years and in that time he discovered 980 bodies. These bodies were completely preserved because of the salt mines nearby. Because of this preservation, archaeologists were able to study protective clothing worn by miners and wooden framed baskets, etc. This helped the archaeologists in learning how the Halstatt Celts lived. Thanks to the salt in the mines near Halstatt, archaeologists are able to learn what these peoples in this era were like and how they lived. It is amazing that the salt could preserve so many artifacts that would normally be destroyed over time.
To see a picture of Halstatt go to:http://sacredsites.com/europe/austria/halsatt.html
“Sacred Site Photography.” Halstatt, Austria,www.sacredsites.com/2nd56/257.html
“General History of the Celts.” History
www.users.dragon.net.au/~mayxman/Celts/historycelts.html
“The Celts.” History 3 members.xoom.com/_XMCM/cuculhaim/history3.html
“Halstatt Culture.” Celtic History (07/30/99) www.celticcorner.com/hallstatt.html
Written by: Rochelle Nicklay