Celtic migrations and the spread of La Tène Culture

Abstract

Migrations and mobility are key issues within archaeological research. The La Tène culture of Central Europe (450–20 BC) underwent deep transformative processes in the 4th and 3rd century BC, traditionally named as the ‘Celtic migrations’ and attested by written sources, and the spread of La Tène culture across Europe, which is explicitly conceived here as a phenomenon in its own right. Is it possible to corroborate one with another? In this article, I propose three models which may help to explain the main processes behind the archaeological phenomena of the ‘Celtic migrations’. These explanatory models and new results are based on long-term research of the La Tène societies of the 4th/3rd century BC, which were deeply rooted in the ideals and behavioural norms of the ‘princely’ elites of the 5th century BC.