Der Umbruch zur Hallstattzeit zwischen Nordwestalpenraum und Böhmisch-Mährischer Höhe im Spiegel krisenhafter Entwicklungen

Abstract

The article examines the main factors driving the transition from the Urnfield to the Hallstatt period, recognised as an epochal caesura characterised by a paradigmatic structural change. The study focuses on the crisis that emerged during the "Ha B3" phase, which ultimately led to the end of Urnfield communities. Central to these events were trends towards social stratification, particularly evident in the display of elites’ social status in this period. In addition to the continued importance of certain communal functions in burial practices, there was a notable evolution in the economic structure of the elite. This evolution facilitated the emergence of an upper class capable of achieving new forms of social control. This control was attained through two different strategies which mutually reinforced each other in a dynamic, autonomous, processual interplay: on the one hand, through external interaction; on the other hand, through the distinctive inner competitive nature of segmented societies characterised by an increased need for self-representation. This process led to several destructive outcomes, including resource shortage, conflict-prone behaviour and internal destabilisation. External factors, such as climate deterioration and the shortage of bronze, further exacerbated the crisis. The aporia in balancing interests between tribal members and the elite families further restricted possibilities for control.

These complex and severe contradictions were ultimately resolved by the collapse of the Late Urnfield period’s regional groups located between the north-western Alps and the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. New chronological benchmarks are proposed for the description of the chronological relationships and processes, emphasising the inadequacy of monocausal explanatory models. The socio-political organisation and tradition of the Urnfield period were eventually replaced by decentralisation and social arrangements with low integration dominated by upper-class families and their corresponding values.