The development of the first urban centers is one of the most fundamental phenomena in the history of temperate Europe. New research demonstrates that the earliest cities developed north of the Alps between the sixth and fifth centuries BC as a consequence of processes of demographic growth, hierarchization, and centralization that have their roots in the immediately preceding period. However, this was an ephemeral urban phenomenon, which was followed by a period of crisis characterized by the abandonment of major centers and the return to more decentralized settlement patterns. A new trend toward urbanization occurred in the third and second centuries BC with the appearance of supra-local sanctuaries, open agglomerations, and finally the fortified oppida. Late Iron Age settlement patterns and urban trajectories were much more complex than traditionally thought and included manifold interrelations between open and fortified sites. Political and religious aspects played a key role in the development of central places, and in many cases the oppida were established on locations that already had a sacred character as places for rituals and assemblies. The Roman conquest largely brought to an end Iron Age urbanization processes, but with heterogeneous results of both abandonment and disruption and also continuity and integration.

中文翻译：

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欧洲铁器时代的城市化：轨迹，模式和社会动态

第一批城市中心的发展是温带欧洲历史上最基本的现象之一。新的研究表明，最早的城市是在公元前六至五世纪之间在阿尔卑斯山以北发展的，这是由于人口增长，等级划分和集权化的过程起源于前一个时期。但是，这是一种短暂的城市现象，紧接着是一段危机时期，其特征是放弃了主要中心并恢复了更为分散的定居模式。在公元前三，二世纪，出现了一种新的城市化趋势，出现了超地方保护区，开放的集聚区，最后出现了坚固的乌鸦。铁器时代晚期的定居模式和城市轨迹比传统上认为的要复杂得多，并且包括开放地点与设防地点之间的多种关联。政治和宗教方面在中心地带的发展中起着关键作用，在许多情况下，奥普达人都建立在已经具有神圣地位的地方作为仪式和集会场所。罗马人的征服在很大程度上终结了铁器时代的城市化进程，但结果却是放弃与破坏，以及连续性与融合的不同结果。