Halstatt

Halstatt is a site in the Austrian Salzkammergut, 50 km east of Salzburg. It is noted for its salt mines and for its cemetery of almost 300 graves. The oldest mine galleries go back to the Late Bronze Age, though most are Iron Age in date. The salt in the mines has preserved corpses, clothing and all sorts of mining tools. The term Halstatt is used, mainly on the continent, to refer to the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Hillforts begin to be built in the Halstatt period, a form of monument that is widespread in Britain as well. Some artefacts in Britain are decsribed as having a Halstatt style. In Buckinghamshire these include a bronze hair ring found at Boddington Hillfort and a Middle Iron Age brooch found in a Saxon grave at George Street, Aylesbury.