Discuss Gender Roles With Regard To Hallstatt And La Tene Burial Practice.
Gender, age, cultural or ethnic identity and various roles in the society help determine the types of burials adopted, it's associated ritual and the religion objects buried with the dead.
The discussion of women's roles and status in Iron Age Europe has been poor due to benign neglect, particularly with regard to the interpretation of the wealthy inhumations called Furstengrãber or princely graves'.
The site of Hallstatt is located in the Alps in Austria. It was first uncovered by George Ramsauer in 1846. Ramsauer kept very little records. He was more interested in gold and metals etc. Bones and pottery were all disposed of. It was discovered that there was a local salt mine and this natural resource had supported a local economy near Hallstatt for up to 4500 years. It was used to preserve food and used by iron smelters.
Great numbers of graves have been excavated, primarily by Duchess Mechenbaum. The early graves were found to contain small numbers of iron whereas the later graves generally held larger quantities. Hallstatt is the first period of prehistory that can be linked with the Celts.
In Hallstatt D1 (600-530 BC) wagon burials were discovered, the wealthiest of which was found in Hallstatt C. These were more likely built for funerary purposes due to their highly elaborate decoration.
Hallstatt D saw the appearance of exceptionally rich burials which suggests there may well have been existing elite at Hallstatt. .
In Hallstatt D of the 6th Century, sites such as that of Magdalenenberg, Hochmichele and Hochdorff were all presumably very rich burials, however, all the tombs had been robbed out. At Magdalenenberg the remains of a wagon burial and the bones of a young adult male were found suggesting wealth and prestige, which were possibly inherited.
Grave 6 at Hueneberg illustrate the variation among burials in a single tumulus especially well.