The chemical composition of the metal is analysed using an X-ray fluorescence analyser.
Photo: © A. Rausch, NHM Vienna
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Metal trading in Hallstatt 3,000 years ago

The cemetery above the village of Hallstatt is one of the most important prehistoric burial sites in Europe and has given its name to an entire era. While salt was already being mined in Hallstatt 3,000 years ago, new research shows that there was also a lively metal trade at this time.

In the 19th century, more than 1,000 graves were uncovered at the end of a difficult-to-access high valley above Hallstatt. Their abundance prompted the Swedish archaeologist Hans Hildebrand to name an epoch after the site. The terms "Hallstatt culture" or "Hallstatt period" have since been used to describe the Central European Iron Age from around 800 to 450 B.C. The numerous grave goods found at the Hallstatt cemetery, some of which include magnificent vessels, weapons and jewellery, are evidence of the prosperity created by salt mining and trade as well as extensive trade relations.

Focus on the metal trade

Archaeometallurgist Mathias Mehofer from the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science (VIAS) at the University of Vienna and Georg Tiefengraber and Karina Grömer from the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM) are investigating the Iron Age trade in metal as part of an EU-funded project. To this end, they analysed the geochemical fingerprint of the metal used in the grave goods and showed that so-called chalcopyrite-based copper was used during the Late Bronze Age (end of the 2nd millennium BC). "This almost certainly came from the Hochkönig-Mitterberg region in Salzburg and the Southern Alps, specifically Trentino and South Tyrol," explained Mehofer. In Hallstatt, it was processed into jewellery, weapons and tools.

Changing trade networks

The research also revealed that from around 900 to 800 BC, so-called pale ore-based copper was increasingly used, the origin of which is still unclear. "Our analyses therefore prove that the supply networks changed over the centuries," the scientist presents the as yet unpublished research results in a press release from the University of Vienna. It is possible that the chalcopyrite copper sources of the Late Bronze Age were gradually exhausted, which is why new copper sources had to be tapped. The gold finds from the burial ground are still being analysed.

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Source: red, ooe.ORF.at/Agencies

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