For students of European prehistory, the distinction between the Hallstatt and La Tène styles is fundamental, yet for the newcomer the two traditions can look deceptively similar. Both are products of the early Iron Age Celtic world, both make use of intricate ornament, and both draw on a mixture of local and Mediterranean motifs. Yet the two styles are visually distinct, and the differences between them can be learned with a little attention to the forms, the motifs, and the materials of the surviving objects. The two styles together form the foundation of the tradition of Hallstatt and La Tène art styles and the broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition, and the distinction between them is essential to the study of Celtic metalwork and jewelry, Celtic stone carving and high crosses, and Celtic knotwork and symbolism.
The Hallstatt Style at a Glance
The Hallstatt style takes its name from the salt-mining site of Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut region of Austria, where thousands of richly furnished burials of the early Iron Age have been excavated since the nineteenth century. The Hallstatt style is essentially a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age ornamental tradition that flourished in central Europe from about the eighth to the fifth centuries BCE, and it is associated above all with the warrior aristocracies of the salt-mining region and the broader upper Danube basin.
The defining feature of Hallstatt ornament is its geometric, structured, and symmetrical character. Hallstatt designs are typically built up from regular, repeating elements arranged in horizontal registers, and the visual effect is one of order, balance, and restraint. Common Hallstatt motifs include concentric circles, triangles, lozenges, meanders, S-shapes, Z-shapes, and the stepped fret. Many of these motifs derive ultimately from Mediterranean and Etruscan prototypes, transmitted to the Celtic world through trade and contact, and they are often combined with stylised representations of human figures, animals, and chariots arranged in narrative scenes.
The La Tène Style at a Glance
The La Tène style takes its name from the lake-side site of La Tène on the northern shore of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where thousands of iron and bronze objects were deposited, probably as a votive offering, between the third and first centuries BCE. The La Tène style developed out of the Hallstatt tradition in the fifth century BCE and gradually supplanted it across most of the Celtic world, becoming the dominant ornamental vocabulary of the European Iron Age by the third century BCE.
The defining feature of La Tène ornament is its curvilinear, plant-inspired, almost liquid character. La Tène designs are typically built up from sweeping, scrolling, asymmetrical or symmetrically balanced lines that suggest organic forms in motion. The most characteristic La Tène motif is the plant-scroll, a central stem from which curling tendrils, lyre shapes, trumpet shapes, and stylised palmettes sprout in endless variation. Other common La Tène motifs include the running spiral, the spiral broken by a transverse line, the trumpet spiral, and the abstract mask, often combined in virtuoso arrangements of astonishing technical skill.
A Side-by-Side Comparison
The clearest way to see the difference between the two styles is to compare specific motifs. The Hallstatt concentric circle, with its regular rings of even thickness and its mechanical precision, looks very different from the La Tène spiral, with its swelling body, its curling tail, and its sense of organic movement. The Hallstatt meander, with its right-angled corners and its regular rhythm, looks very different from the La Tène plant-scroll, with its sweeping curves and its sense of plant-like growth. The Hallstatt triangle, with its straight edges and its geometric precision, looks very different from the La Tène trumpet shape, with its flared bell and its curling tail.
The treatment of the human and animal figure is also distinct. Hallstatt figures, when they appear, are typically small, formal, and arranged in horizontal registers, and they are often combined with chariots, feasting scenes, and processional imagery in a manner that recalls the contemporary Etruscan tradition. La Tène figures, by contrast, are typically large, dynamic, and integrated into the ornamental composition, with the body of the figure, the limbs, and the head often dissolved into the surrounding tendrils and spirals in a way that is unique to the La Tène tradition.
Materials and Objects
The materials and the objects on which the two styles appear also differ. Hallstatt ornament is found mainly on bronze situlae, on ceremonial weapons, on fibulae, on belts, and on neck rings, and the most characteristic Hallstatt objects are the bronze situlae, the so-called Schnabelkannen or beak-flagons, the bronze belts, and the iron swords of the warrior elite. La Tène ornament is found on a much wider range of objects, including sword scabbards, helmet plates, shield bosses, brooches, torcs, bracelets, harness fittings, and the elaborate parade equipment of the late La Tène warrior aristocracy.
The most characteristic La Tène objects are the great sword scabbards of the middle La Tène period, with their openwork bronze fittings and their dense compositions of plant-scroll and abstract ornament; the shield bosses of the insular La Tène tradition, with their concentric circles of curvilinear ornament; the great torcs of the late La Tène period, with their openwork designs of stylised animals; and the cauldrons, the carnyces, and the ceremonial vessels of the Celtic sanctuaries.
Dating the Two Styles
The dating of the two styles is also important. The Hallstatt style is generally divided into four phases, HaA to HaD, covering the period from about the eighth to the fifth centuries BCE, with the earliest phase, HaA, beginning around 800 BCE and the latest, HaD, ending around 450 BCE. The La Tène style is generally divided into three phases, La Tène I, II, and III, covering the period from about the fifth to the first centuries BCE, with the earliest phase, La Tène I, beginning around 480 BCE and the latest, La Tène III, ending around the Roman conquest of Gaul in the mid-first century BCE.
The two styles thus overlap in the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods, and the transition from one to the other is gradual rather than abrupt. The HaC and HaD phases of the late Hallstatt tradition already show the influence of the new curvilinear vocabulary, and the La Tène I phase of the early La Tène tradition still shows the influence of the older Hallstatt geometric vocabulary. The mature forms of the two styles, however, are clearly distinct, and the visual difference between a late Hallstatt situla and a middle La Tène scabbard is striking.
The Survival of Hallstatt Motifs in La Tène
The two styles are not, however, completely separate, and many Hallstatt motifs survive into the La Tène tradition, often in modified form. The concentric circle, the triangle, the meander, and the stepped fret all appear in La Tène designs, although they are usually combined with the new curvilinear vocabulary and adapted to the new aesthetic. The Hallstatt tradition also survived in some peripheral regions well into the La Tène period, and the late Hallstatt metalwork of southern Germany, in particular, continued to use older geometric motifs long after the La Tène style had become dominant in the rest of the Celtic world.
The relationship between the two traditions is thus one of continuity as well as change, and the modern scholar of Celtic art must be able to recognise both the persistence of the older Hallstatt motifs in the newer La Tène compositions and the gradual emergence of the curvilinear La Tène vocabulary within the older Hallstatt framework. The ability to do this is one of the marks of a mature student of the Hallstatt and La Tène art styles, and it is essential to the study of the broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition.
Related Topics
- The Hallstatt and La Tène art styles of which the two traditions are the foundation.
- The Celtic metalwork and jewelry that is the principal source for our knowledge of the two styles.
- The Celtic knotwork and symbolism that descends in part from the curvilinear La Tène vocabulary.
- The Celtic stone carving and high crosses of the later period, which include motifs from both traditions.
- The broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition within which the two styles are the foundation.