5. The first identifiable Celtic Culture was Hallstatt Culture, named after Hallstatt in Austria.
In the ancient world, salt was an essential life — and a source of wealth and power. Any people who could hold a salt mine would be formidable indeed. Such were the people of Hallstatt or the “place of good salt”, near Salzburg in Austria. In 1846, Georg Ramsauer, director of the Hallstatt state mine excavated a series of grassy mounds above the village. What he found was an Iron Age cemetery containing 2500 graves with grave goods that spoke of a wealthy and powerful warrior society. The grave goods included artifacts such as metal vessels and iron horse trappings and weapons — all of a standard not previously seen in prehistoric Europe. Hallstatt was the first distinct Celtic culture which dominated central European between 800 and 500 BC.