Chytracek EIA2017 BeitrVgNOBy (original) (raw)

2019, Die fruehe Eisenzeit in Mitteleuropa - Early Iron Age in Central Europe

Paper deals with the Art of the Este culture and Situla Art which in general represent an interesting chapter of the Italian Iron Age. Evidence of the influence of both can also be recognized in Central Europe, north of the Alps, during the 6th century BC. The traded artifacts with figurative motifs can be divided into three groups: 1. Objects from Italy, probably from Northern Etruria, exhibiting art typical of the ‘Amber Road’ : (e,g, a copper plaque of Doloplazy); 2. Objects from northern Italy, the Eastern Alps or regions north of the Danube, made in the so-called Alpine toreutic style (e.g, the bronze vessel from the cave of Býčí skála or the funeral bed of Hochdorf); 3. Objects from the area north or south of the Danube, featuring Central European reflections of the Este culture or Situla Art (e.g., bone, antler, ceramic and bronze objects fromPusté Úľany, Rovná, Libkovice, Kanín, Matzhausen, Dürrnberg, Hallstatt, Herzogenburg-Ossarn, and Glauberg). The distribution of these figuratively decorated objects indicates that there is an over-arching cultural network covering the wider region and, in future, new discoveries are likely from other areas north of the Danube, as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Furthermore, the dating of the finds discussed in this paper indicates that they were a feature of society over a considerable time span. The copper plate of Doloplazy, both stylistically and according to its parallels, belongs to the art of the Orientalizing period of the 7th century BC (Ha C),a period which predates Situla Art. The bone plate of Pusté Úľany is dated to the Ha D1 phase; the bronze vessel from the cave of Býčí skála is dated to the Ha D1-D2 phases and the mortuary table from Hochdorf to the Ha D2 phase. The anthropomorphic antlers of the portable wagon from Rovná were added in the Ha D3 phase. The ceramic vessels with animal representations found in Libkovice, Kanín, and Matzhausen are dated in the LTA phase. Stylistically, the early La Tène figural representations of Hallstatt, Dürrnberg, Herzogenburg-Ossarn, and Glauberg are closely related to the Este culture Art or Situla Art. Undoubtedly, the Venetian circle of eastern Upper Italy and the Southeast Alps was one source of inspiration for early La Tène craftsmanship. The examples of Hallstatt figural art presented here illustrate how a central European elite iconography of the 6th-5th century BC was formed and help to understand the process. The artifacts and their particular attributes were chosen by the elite both to reference the legitimacy of their pathway to political power and social status and to be the insignia of that power and status. The Iron Age figural images from the North Alpen and central European regions represent a new medium for the formation of local elites borrowed from the Mediterranean. These artifacts also provide an idea of how the Central European up-and-coming elite perceived their counterparts south of the Alps.