The Northern Adriatic

Abstract

This chapter considers Iron Age cultural developments around the head of the Adriatic, from north-west Italy to the western Balkans and Carpathian basin. The chronological focus is from the end of the Bronze Age to the mid-first millennium BC; after 400 BC, much of this zone first became part of the La Tène sphere and was then drawn progressively into the Roman orbit, although the Alps and Trandanubia were not incorporated until the change of era. A regional approach is taken. The different cultural groupings are reviewed in turn, drawing especially on the abundant burial data and settlement evidence. Other topics include language and the early spread of writing, the social significance of the Camonica valley rock art, Greek and Etruscan influence on indigenous peoples, situla art, and new work on the rich tumulus cemeteries belonging to the eastern Hallstatt sphere.