Which metal were the Celts using at the beginning of the first millennium B.C.?

Lecturer: Welcome to this introductory lecture on the Celts. Who were the
Celts? The Celts were an Indo-European group, that is, related linguistically
to the Greeks, the Germanic peoples, certain Italic groups and peoples of the
Indian sub-continent. They arose in central Europe at the beginning of the first
millennium B.C. and were an iron using and horse rearing peoples. By the end     Q31
of the first millennium B.C. their cultural group had spread up and down the
Danube and Rhine, taking in Gaul, Ireland and Britain, across central Europe,
into northern Italy and northern Spain. Their roaming across Europe led some
of the Celtic tribes to sack Rome in 390 B.C. creating a fear of the northern
barbarians that was to haunt Romans for hundreds of years to come.
  The Celts are defined archaeologically by the type-sites of Hallstat
and La Tene, the former being taken to relate to an earlier phase of cultural
development. Hallstat, an ancient salt mining area, was excavated from 1876     Q32
onwards by the Viennese Academy of Sciences and provided the first classification
of the prehistoric Celts. In 1858, the waters of Lake Neuchatel in               Q33
Switzerland sunk to a low level, revealing a large prehistoric settlement with
a huge number of surviving artefacts. The nearby town of La Tene gave its
name to the second phase of Celtic cultural development. However, please
note that these phases overlap through time, and are defined according to
geographical area. Let’s look at each of these, taking the Hallstadt first.
  Hallstatt culture is characterised in 4 stages. A & B were during the         Q34
late Bronze Age, from about 1200 to 700 BC; C was in the Early Iron Age,
from about 700-600 BC; D was from about 600 to 475 BC. The Hallstatt
culture spanned central Europe, with its centre in the area around Hallstatt in
Central Austria. There were two distinct cultural zones—the eastern and the
western. At the start of the period, long distance trade was already well established
in copper and tin—the basic requirements for manufacture of bronze.            Q35
From about 700 BC, trade in iron also became established. The Hallstat area
also already controlled the trade in salt, crucial when there were few other
means to preserve food. Control of these two crucial trade goods—iron and
salt—provided the basis for the accumulation of wealth and influence. From
800 BC, some burials of rich people can be identified, in central Europe,
with grave goods such as wheeled wagons and iron swords.
  Hallstatt C saw the construction of fortified hilltop settlements to the       Q36
North of the Alps. These had burial mounds holding very high quality goods,
such as vehicles and expensive imported treasures. By the time of the Hallstart
D period, these increasingly extravagant burial mounds were clustered
around a few major hill forts to the southwest of the region. This suggests a
development and a concentration of wealth and social power, possibly based
on the development of Massilia (present-day Marseilles) as a Greek trading
port. The expansion of luxury trade brought greater opportunities for profit            Q37
and helped to create an increasingly stratified society, with the development
of a wealthy nobility. Over the period from 1846 to 1863, a thousand graves
were found at Hallstatt, with an astonishing range of artefacts, including
clothing and salt mining equipment as well as weapons, jewellery, pottery
and imported bronze vessels in the "chieftains’" graves.
  The La Tene era was the time of Celtic expansion and migration and             Q38
the time of formation of the myths. The La Tene culture is named after the
site in Switzerland where it was first discovered. The La Tene people were
those known to the Romans as Gauls. Originally found in an area from Eastern
France to Bohemia, the La Tene culture spread rapidly from about 400        Q39
BC. The La Tene Celts settled in Spain in 450 BC, in Northern Italy in 400
BC, invaded Rome in 390 BC, invaded Greece in 279 BC, invaded Galatia (in
modem Turkey) in 270 BC. By 200 BC, they occupied the lands that are now
Britain, the Netherlands, Brittany, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.
  There is much debate over how much of the expansion into Britain was
achieved through invasion and settlement and how much was the expression of
cultural transfer that accompanied trade and reflected the commonality of kinship
and language of many tribes. There is little evidence for actual migration of
La Tene people into Britain. Nevertheless, it does appear that the La Tene culture
was more militarily-focused than the Hallstatt one. The La Tene graves across     Q40
Europe hold iron weapons—swords and spearheads—and wooden shields, as
well as everyday items such as razors, yokes, cauldrons and jewellery.