2 The Early La Tène Culture Purchased

In central Europe during the fifth century bc, there were great social, economic and religious changes, and their causes and circumstances emerge only in broad outline from the archaeological data (see O.-H. Frey in Brun and Chaume 1997, 315–20). It is clear that almost all the late Hallstatt princely centres mentioned in the previous chapter lost their importance at this time, and some of them were completely abandoned. This development is particularly well documented in the case of the Heuneburg, which was abandoned by its inhabitants after a devastating fire in the second half of the fifth century bc and remained largely uninhabited until the early Middle Ages. The fact that the central burial chambers of many late Hallstatt barrows, especially in south-western Germany, were entered and looted soon after the interment may be related to the abandonment of the settlements (see Driehaus 1978).

In parallel with the decline of the old princely centres, grave deposits suggest the formation of new centres of power in what had previously been the fringes of the West Hallstatt culture. One such region is the area between the Maas and the Rhine, where numerous princely burials were laid out in the fifth and fourth centuries bc, in the area of the late Hunsrück-Eifel culture.¹Close In 1849 both the princely graves of Schwarzenbach near Idar-Oberstein were discovered; in 1851 and 1866 the two Weiskirchen princely graves near Merzig-Wadern were found, and in 1869 the grave of the princess in Waldalgesheim, near Bingen was found.²Close Our knowledge of the original state of these graves is strictly limited, however, owing to unsatisfactory methods of extracting and restoring the finds, to say nothing of inadequate documentation of the excavation. A clear picture of the furnishing of such graves emerged only in 1954, with the discovery of the Reinheim grave on the Franco-German border (see Keller 1965 and Echt 1999). Here, about twenty kilometres south-east of Saarbrücken, in a layer of sand and gravel, archaeologists came upon a richly furnished female tomb dating from the middle of the fourth century bc. Although the skeleton had decayed completely in the acidic soil, the grave goods left no doubt that this was a woman from the elite. She wore a gold torc and gold arm- and finger-rings, as well as two bracelets, one made of glass, the other of black shale. On her right lay a bronze hand-mirror, which had originally been placed in a finely woven fabric pouch, and on her left lay several items of jewellery, made of amber, glass and metal, which had presumably been in a container of organic material. In addition, the grave contained a table- and drinking-set, consisting of a gilded bronze flagon, two bronze platters and the remains of two drinking vessels. Most of these early La Tène princely graves in the area of the late Hunsruück-Eifel culture are found singly or in groups of up to three burial mounds. Occasionally a princely necropolis of up to sixteen mounds occurs, but these are always situated at some distance from the burial grounds of the general population. The princely barrows were mostly situated on ranges of hills with a good view, close to main roads and important trade routes, as well as to hill forts.

Another region where several thousand Celtic graves from the fifth century bc have been found since the second half of the nineteenth century is northern Champagne (see P. Roualet in Moscati et al. 1991, 147–54). These graves, from the so-called Marne culture, are usually in burial grounds of varying size, outside the settlements or along what were once main routes. The bones of animals and the richly decorated ceramic vessels testify to the fact that many of the deceased were buried with supplies of solid and liquid sustenance. Women were often buried with their jewellery and men with their weapons. In the least elaborate graves the range of weapons was limited to two or three javelins, while the richer graves held a sword, a dagger and a helmet as well. Members of the leading military elite were interred with a light two-wheeled war chariot, of which only the bronze fittings of the wheels, axles and harness have survived. One of the most famous of these chariot burials is the Somme-Bionne tumulus, roughly thirty kilometres north-east of Châlons-sur-Marne (see I. M. Stead in Moscati et al. 1991, 174–5). Besides the possessions and chariot of the deceased, it contained an Etruscan beaked flagon and a red-figure Greek cup from about 420 bc, evidence of ongoing contact between the Celts and the Mediterranean.

From the fifth and fourth centuries bc, rich burials are also known in regions to the east of the large late Hallstatt seats of princely power. For example, at the Dürrnberg near Hallein in 1932, in a grave already plundered in antiquity, a beaked flagon from the second half of the fifth century bc, modelled on an Etruscan pattern, was found next to a two-wheeled chariot (see Moosleitner 1985). Another princely grave was discovered in 1959 on the Moserstein, the central hilltop in the Dürrnberg settlement area. Besides a sword, helmet, arrowheads and spearheads, the grave goods included the remnants of a two-wheeled chariot, a bronze canteen, a large bronzeplated bucket, and a Greek clay cup which had been used as a scooping and drinking vessel (see Kelten 1980, 227–8 and F. Moosleitner in Moscati et al. 1991, 170). Over 200 other graves bear witness to the considerable prosperity enjoyed by the Celtic inhabitants of the Dürrnberg, principally after the decline of salt-mining in Hallstatt, further to the east. Several burials in western Bohemia are comparable in their furnishings, including that at Chlum, discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century (see J. Michâlek in Moscati et al. 1991, 186–7).

If a new cultural and economic upsurge can be seen in the fifth century bc in the erstwhile periphery of the world of the early Celts, in parallel to the decline of the princely centres, there is also evidence that at least some of the old power centres shared in the early stages of this development. The best known example of this is the Kleinaspergle burial mound to the south of Asperg, near Ludwigsburg (see Kimmig et al. 1988). Although the central burial chamber had been robbed in ancient times, the archaeologists nevertheless found another rich burial in a neighbouring chamber, containing some pieces of jewellery and a large drinking service. This included two red-figure Greek cups, from about 450 bc, which had been decorated with gold-plating. While the Kleinaspergle, like the Grafenbuühl and Hochdorf barrows, bears a relation to the late Hallstatt chiefdom at Hohenasperg, the burial discovered in 1879 is more closely comparable with the barrows of the Middle Rhineland mentioned above. Whereas the late Hallstatt tombs usually contain a four-wheeled wagon and at most a dagger as a weapon, one finds in the early La Tène rich burials a light two-wheeled war chariot, and the weapons often include spears, a sword and a helmet. Further clear differences are apparent in the composition of the drinking paraphernalia and in the decoration of the metal objects, which show a previously unknown artistic style.

The later phase of the pre-Roman Iron Age, now known as the La Tène period, takes its name from a sandbar near Marin at the northern end of Lake Neuchâtel (Neuenburger See) in Switzerland (see C. Dunning in Moscati et al. 1991, 366–8). Here, from 1857 on, historians discovered more and more iron weapons and items of clothing, in addition to the remains of timber structures. After the initial excavations in 1880–1900, the site was thought to be a shore settlement of the Celtic Helvetii, but modern archaeologists incline to the view that these were sacrificial sites, largely because of the deposits of bones of domestic animals and humans. Interpretations of the overall findings differ widely, but it was soon realised after the first finds that the handwork of the artefacts from La Tène diverged fundamentally from those from the Hallstatt cemetery. Thus, as early as 1874 the name ‘La Tène’ came into use as a synonym for the last phase of the pre-Roman Iron Age and the emergence of an independent Celtic art.

While Greek, Roman and medieval art has been studied for several centuries, research into Celtic art began much later, in the period between the two world wars. One reason for this is that the history of the pre-Roman Iron Age in central Europe began to take shape only with the rise of modern archaeology, at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Another reason is that the Celts modified the stylistic features of classical art in such an unconventional manner that for a long time observers, accustomed to classical models, viewed Celtic works as aesthetically unsatisfying imitations, devoid of any independent worth. Seen in this light, the Greek and Roman characteristic of measuring the whole of Celtic culture by the standards of classical antiquity became even more apparent. The classical archaeologist Paul Jacobsthal (1880–1957) was the first to point out the artistic independence of the Celts and appreciate it critically, in his Early Celtic Art. This work, which appeared while he was in exile in England in 1944, remains a fundamental study to this day.³Close

What strikes the modern observer most forcefully about Celtic art is the absence of those means of artistic expression that play such an important role in medieval, Greek, Roman and early oriental art. There is no monumental building in stone, for example, and specimens of large three-dimensional work in wood, stone or metal are rare. Graphic representations of action and movement are also scarce, as are realistic portraits of humans or animals. The great majority of examples of Celtic art are the product of small-scale work, showing the artists' ability to create jewellery, weapons, and household utensils of all kinds with great devotion to detail and technical perfection. The artists applied above all a highly developed ornamental technique, marked by abstraction and multiplicity of meaning.

In the early La Tène period, that is the fifth and fourth centuries bc, soft and fluid forms were preferred to the stiff geometrical patterns of the late Hallstatt period. Thus, plant motifs and representations of animals, fabulous creatures and human faces were worked into the ornamentation. The stimuli for these innovations came, to some extent, from Etruscan art, while in other cases the influence of the peoples of the eastern steppes, like the Scythians, is possible (see R. Rolle in Brun and Chaume 1997, 243–9). The Waldalgesheim burial near Bingen, mentioned previously, is seminal in the second phase of Celtic art in the fourth and third centuries bc. The so-called ‘running tendril’ or Waldalgesheim style that takes its name from it is distinguished from earlier works by its intertwined flowing tendrils and coils. In contrast, the so-called Later or Plastic Style, from the third to the first century bc, is characterised by its strongly abstract, three-dimensional ornamentation.

On the European mainland the history of Celtic art ends with the Roman conquest of Gaul in the mid-first century bc, and after that only isolated stylistic features were adopted in provincial Roman art of the imperial period. In Britain and Ireland, on the other hand, Celtic art experienced a flowering in the new era (this is described in Part II of this book). In conjunction with the stylistic features of Germanic art, Celtic art attained the summit of its development in medieval Irish book-illumination, in metalwork and sculpture in stone. Now, following this introduction to Celtic art, we shall turn our attention to certain works of art which are particularly representative of this period.

While the early Celts of the sixth century bc maintained close contacts with the Greek colony of Massalia, in the fifth century bc trade with the Etruscans of central and northern Italy increased in volume and importance (see Dobesch 1992 and several contributions in Etrusker1992, 158–217). Clear evidence of this is seen in the beaked flagons which were introduced in great numbers from Etruria and imitated or adapted to native tastes by Celtic artisans. One such copy, which can give the modern observer a clear impression of the independence of Celtic craft, was unearthed when the Kleinaspergle barrow was excavated in 1879 (see Megaw 1970, no. 50, and O.-H. Frey in Hundert Meisterwerke1992, 13–16). Unlike the bulbous Etruscan model, the Celtic flagon tapers towards its base, so that the shoulders appear more sharply accentuated and the vessel as a whole produces a more streamlined and dynamic effect. The broader lower end of the handle, where it joins the body, is decorated with the face of a satyr over a palmette, as in Etruscan flagons, but here the craftsman has adapted the model in his own individual manner. The satyr's; pointed ears no longer lie to the side, but are right at the top of the head, and the beard is parted and flows into the palmette below. At the upper end of the handle, where a lion's; head sometimes appears in Etruscan beaked flagons, the Celtic master has introduced a fabulous creature with pointed ears, protruding eyes and puffedout cheeks.

Another beaked flagon, discovered in 1932 on the Dürrnberg near Hallein, is similar in shape, although with different decoration (see Megaw 1970, no. 72 and Moosleitner 1985). The body of the vessel is adorned with a raised pattern, repeated nine times, with a semicircular ending at the top and a three-leaved palmette at the bottom. On the handle is a stylised, cat-like beast of prey with round, bulging eyes and cheeks, clasping a human head in its jaws. The strongly protruding eyes with clearly marked pupils and the hair, which is firmly marked by parallel lines on the head resting on the rim of the flagon, are striking. The lower end of the handle is decorated with another, similar head, framed with spiral ornamentation. On the top, at each side of the handle, sit two small predatory quadrupeds, with the twisted tails of some animal hanging from their jaws.

A striking parallel to the form and surrounding raised pattern of the Dürrnberg flagon can be seen in a partially restored beaked flagon, which was found in 1994–5 during the excavation of the Glauberg princely grave near Büdingen in Hessen (see Herrmann and Frey 1996). In this case too a small human head sits at the lower joint of the handle, although the decorative work on this handle is in less prominent relief. The fragility of the handle leads one to suspect that the vessel was not designed for everyday use, but intended only for cult functions or prestige purposes. In several places the flagon is adorned with fine ornamental engraved figures, including lyres, palmettes, spirals and vegetal designs and representations of animals on the lower part of the body and on both sides of the spout. The three-dimensional decoration of the flagon, dominated by a triad at the top, is also striking. The outer figures are two seated animals with human heads, looking back over their shoulders at the shape between them. This figure is a clean-shaven man sitting cross-legged, who may represent a living person, god or deified ancestor. He is bareheaded and dressed in short breeches, an undergarment with halflength sleeves, and leather armour. The realistic reproduction of the leather armour, strongly reminiscent of Greek illustrations from the sixth century bc, is noteworthy, as is the meticulous representation of the man's; hair, trimmed short, with ringlets on the forehead and temples, a style also derived from Greek models.

The so-called spouted flagon from the Reinheim princess's; tomb, mentioned above (see Megaw 1970, 76–7, and O.-H. Frey in Hundert Meisterwerke 1992, 105–9), also illustrates the great importance of ornate metal vessels in burial customs. Its gently rounded body is made of gold-covered bronze plate, and the tubular spout and handle are attached by rivets. The body is ringed by several compass-work relief patterns showing flowers, lyres and ornamental lines in triangular shapes, zigzag lines and diagonal crosses. The decorative figures on the flagon comprise a bearded face at the lower end of the handle, and a man's; head directly above a ram's; head at the upper end, and a horse with a human head, as shown in later times on Celtic coins, as a pommel on the lid. Similar ornamentation and figures can be seen on the spouted flagon from the Waldalgesheim tomb, which features a three-dimensional image of a horse as a cover piece, a ram's; head at the top of the handle, and a man's; head at the lower end (see Megaw 1970, no. 78 and Joachim et al. 1995, 38–53). The existence elsewhere of this combination of a human head with a ram's; head leads to the hypothesis that this motif had some clearly defined mythological significance which we cannot now determine.

Among the best known and most impressive specimens of Celtic art are the richly decorated finger rings, armlets and neck rings of bronze, iron and gold.⁴Close They display a wide variety of motifs, including geometric patterns, plant motifs, masks and grotesque faces, and figures of animals and fabulous creatures. The evidence of the deposits shows that the neck rings were worn with the opening at the front, with the ornamentation concentrated on the sides, where it could best be seen. The Rodenbach armlet, whose decoration includes drop-shaped forms, stylised human heads and figures of crouching four-pawed beasts looking backwards, dates from about 400 bc (see Megaw 1970, no. 55, and Eluère 1987, 135–7).

A roughly contemporary gold bracelet from a princely grave at Bad Dürkheim shows six human heads, arranged in pairs amidst decorative features, while the neck ring and arm rings from the Waldalgesheim grave are decorated with stylised faces surrounded by abstract decoration (see Megaw 1970, no. 54, and Joachim et al. 1995, 60–70). Four torcs and three arm rings, found in the summer of 1962 at Erstfeld in the Swiss canton of Uri, amid the high peaks on the road to the St Gotthard pass, probably date from the late fifth or early fourth century bc. Abstract ornaments and entwined bird, human and animal heads form the decoration of the rings, which may have been deposited in these inhospitable heights as a votive offering to a deity.⁵Close

Outstanding examples of the ornamental decoration of Celtic arms are provided by the two hemispherical ceremonial helmets dating from the fourth century bc, from Amfreville-sous-les-Monts and Agris. The circumstances of the finds indicate that they do not belong to the burial furnishings but probably represent votive offerings for a deity.

The Amfreville helmet was discovered in an old stream bed of the Seine in the department of Eure, south-west of Rouen. On the chased-bronze dome, at about the halfway point, a bronze band runs round the helmet, attached by gold-plated bronze rivets. The main form of decoration on the band consists of running coils. Before being attached, this band was covered with fine gold leaf, which was then pressed so firmly onto the bronze that the decorative pattern came through onto it. On both sides of the band, iron clasps were attached with iron rivets, and are adorned with round enamel inlays. The rim and neck-guard are decorated with a network of iron wires, with the spaces filled mosaic-style by inlaid enamel platelets (see Megaw 1970, no. 110, Eluère 1987, 141–5, and Megaw and Megaw 1989, 112).

The separate parts of the Agris helmet were found between 1981 and 1986 in the cave of Les Perrats near the village of Agris in the department of Charente in western France. The helmet consists of an iron bell with four broad gold-plated bronze bands attached. The ornamentation consists mainly of palmettes, some of which are encrusted with coral. The cheek-guards display a particularly lavish form of decoration in gold and coral, with various floral motifs and the image of a horned serpent set on an iron base (see Eluère 1987, 141–6 and 160 and J. Gomez de Soto in Moscati et al. 1991, 292–3).

The horned serpent also appears in Gallo-Roman sculptures of the imperial period, and doubtless had a mythological significance which we cannot now determine. It is highly likely that Celtic art in many areas bore the stamp of a religious or magical turn of mind, but as yet archaeologists have not identified any generally recognised correspondence between the pre-Roman archaeological and the much later literary legacy.⁶Close The pictorial language of Celtic art remains largely closed to us, and our knowledge of the religious outlook of the early Celts rests almost exclusively on the few clues provided by the numerous graves.

When we examine the graves of the Celtic peoples of central Europe, we are struck first of all by the communal nature of their society and the continuity of their sites. Archaeological research has shown that, in the early Celtic late Hallstatt culture, the grave mounds of the earlier Hallstatt culture (or even of the late Urnfield culture which preceded it) were often in continuous use. The use of the Bressey-sur-Tille barrow (Côte-d'Or), which was steadily expanded from the late Hallstatt to the early La Tène period, extended over a period of 250 to 300 years (see Spindler 1996, 98–101, 136–45 and 170–1). The Eislfeld graves on the Dürrnberg, which date from the period between 570 and 300 bc, display similar continuity, while the burial ground of Hochgerichtsheide near Wederath, the ancient Belginum, remained in use from the fourth century bc to the end of the fourth century ad (see Gräber1989).

A comparative study of grave deposits shows that while burial rites may have differed from one region to another, they often remained constant for long periods within the generally restricted confines of tightly organised communities. The archaeological data show that most attention was given to the class of person to be buried, the choice of burial site, the choice of cremation or burial, the selection and range of burial gifts, and the position and orientation of the body. Particularly striking is the small proportion of children's; graves, which seems low in relation to the undoubtedly high infant mortality rate. One can suppose that only upon attaining a certain age were young men treated as full members of society with the right to a burial (see A. Haffner in Gräber 1989, 96–8).

Of the rites which may have accompanied burial, archaeological remains again mostly provide only a hazy picture. The shards of at least thirty shattered clay vessels at the foot of the Hallstatt period burial mound at Tübingen-Kilchberg are probably the remnants of a funeral feast, but they reveal little about the circumstances, the religious motivation or the group of people involved (see S. Schiek in Bittel et al. 1981, 121). The remains of vegetation on the floor of the central chamber at Hochdorf point to the conclusion that the body was preserved for at least four weeks before its final interment, but we know nothing of the religious rites performed during this period (see Biel 1985, 34). It is possible that we have evidence here of the notion, widespread in ancient cultures, that the deceased does not depart from the circle of the living at the moment of death, but only after a certain time has elapsed and special ceremonies have been performed. In view of the parallels with ancient Greek culture, one such ceremony may perhaps be the subject of the picture of a wagonride and sword-dance on the bronze burial couch from Hochdorf. However, evidence of actual use shows that this couch was not intended merely to furnish the tomb but also served a real purpose for a long period (see Biel 1985, 36 and 92–113). The surviving evidence is rarely sufficient for us to determine which attitudes accompanied the performance of the traditional burial rites. The fact that before the Hochdorf interment the gold plaques specially prepared for the deceased's; shoes were damaged and that the left and right plaques were confused may point to the reverential awe felt by the persons responsible when confronted with death. However, it might also point to their ‘professional lack of feeling’, as the excavating archaeologists put it (Biel 1985, 82).

The conclusion that everyday items and utensils from this life remained important after death is most clearly supported by the practice of providing burial furnishings for the dead. The difference between burial and cremation may often be merely a question of how the transition from the world of the living to that of the dead was perceived, whereas the view of the afterlife itself may in many cases have been similar. In view of the function of the grave goods, it seems reasonable to posit a real and a symbolic distinction between the two possibilities, although a clear dividing line can hardly be drawn. Thus the five unprepossessing amber beads found at the neck of the Hochdorf chieftain may have served not only as adornments but perhaps as a protective amulet. Weight is lent to this theory by the fact that remnants of worked amber were discovered under the workshop detritus in the barrow, suggesting that the beads were specially prepared for the burial, just like some of the gold jewellery (Biel 1985, 68). Burial goods were clearly not expected to be in the same working order in every case, for example the Hochdorf grave contained two gold serpent fibulae, which, unlike bronze fibulae, could not have functioned effectively owing to the properties of the material (Biel 1985, 78–9). Clearly the symbolic nature of the grave goods was often all-important, regardless of their practical utility. This is supported by the fact that some objects could stand for some larger entity, on the principle of pars pro toto: for example instead of a complete set of harness, only the decorative bronze bridle discs might be placed in the grave (see H. Müller-Karpe in Gräber1989, 153–5).

One reason why the Celtic grave monuments have survived so well is that in most cases they were separated from human habitation. The practice of marking off a grave site from its surroundings by means of a ditch or a stone circle, often observed in excavations, may derive from the underlying idea of a division between the dominion of the living and that of the dead (see S. Schiek in Bittel et al. 1981, 120 and Spindler 1996, 162). Confirmation of the observance of a strict separation between the worlds of the living and the dead is found in the fact that objects used in the interment ceremony were often removed from subsequent profane use by being smashed and/or buried.

Side by side with those arguments for a clear separation, there are strong indications that the ancient Celts believed the dead to be linked in some degree with the world of the living. In this connection, we must point first of all to the choice of burial site, which is frequently in close proximity to a settlement (see A. Haffner in Gräber 1989, 44–5). An important reason for treating the dead in this manner lies no doubt in the significant role allocated to them in the living's; perception of themselves. It could be the case that a community as a whole presented itself to outsiders in a certain way, or it could be that a social elite claimed legitimacy through its origins and registered its privileged position by its burial sites. The prominence of the legitimacy question is particularly striking in the case of the early La Tène princely grave discovered from the air in 1987 beneath the Glauberg hill fort and explored in 1994–6. From the south-eastern side a parade 350 metres long and seven metres wide, lined by deep ditches, runs towards the mound, and preliminary archaeological studies show that this must have been part of a large central shrine with other structures, as yet undiscovered. In June 1996, a life-size sandstone sculpture of an early Celtic warrior with sword and shield was found at the edge of the barrow, and this may have been an idealised representation of the man buried. The warrior has distinctive headgear, which has been described as a leaf-crown, owing to its similarity with mistletoe leaves. Similar headgear is seen on the mask-like heads on a roughly contemporary pillar from Pfalzfeld, which may have originally stood on a grave mound.⁷Close

Alongside the desire to commemorate the dead, early Celtic burial customs also point to a feeling that the dead represented a threat to those left behind. Indications of this are offered above all by those graves where there is clear evidence of manipulation of the body. One of the Eislfeld graves on the Dürrnberg contained, in addition to two infants in a crouching position, the skeleton of a man, with no burial gifts, whose head and chest had been crushed with a large block of stone. In another grave in the same burial ground, the pelvis of a grown man had been removed and laid on his chest. Furthermore, both the man's; thighbones lay unnaturally close together, which might suggest ritual binding (see K. Zeller in Kelten 1980, 166). Indications of the use of protective amulets and lucky talismans bear some relation to these practices. It is true that there is no reflection of this in the writings of the classical authors or the medieval literature of the insular Celts, but it is well attested as part of the Celtic burial tradition of pre-Roman central Europe (for extensive documentation see Pauli 1975). A comparison with some well preserved grave furnishings from other regions and eras suggests that amulets were often made of organic material which in most cases has decayed, leaving no trace. Among the items which have survived, there is a preponderance of noise-producing objects such as rattles and metal clappers, miniature representations of small wheels, shoes or feet, axes and human figures, unfinished jewellery or jewellery later rendered unusable such as bracelets or rings, and a wide assortment of objects with no apparent practical purpose, such as pieces of rock crystal, flint arrowheads, fossils, boars' tusks or beads and slides made of bone. That glass and amber objects were not worn primarily as jewellery, but more often as amulets, can be deduced from the fact that they are frequently found with other amulets but are otherwise seldom seen in graves. The fact that the iron objects found in the graves of infants would usually be made of bronze in adult graves suggests that many iron items are amulets. Signs of wear and tear point to the conclusion that many amulets placed in graves had been the personal effects of the deceased. This applies particularly to the numerous objects with holes or eyelets in them, which were often worn on a thread round the neck. On the other hand, amulets found with new-born and stillborn children, and with unusable clothing accessories, are more likely to have been burial gifts, probably manufactured only for the burial.

Statistical studies have shown that in pre-Roman central Europe amulets are especially common in the graves of children and young women and that their use often accompanies manipulations of the corpse. Ethnographic parallels from other cultures suggest that these individuals were seen as having died ‘before their time’ and should not therefore be interred in the customary fashion. Here the amulets might have served less to protect the dead than those who remained behind. If we consider the pre-Roman graves of central Europe as a whole, the use of amulets appears to be far from uniform in different periods. The fact that it reached a peak in the early La Tène burials may be related to a crisis in Celtic society, and the effects of this crisis will be discussed in the next chapter.