This work re-approaches the origins of “the Celts” by detailing the character of their society and the nature of social change in Europe across 700–300 BC. A new approach integrates regional burial archaeology with contemporary classical texts to further refine our social understanding of the European Iron Age. Those known to us as “Celts” were matrifocal Early Iron Age groups in central Gaul who engaged in social traditions out of the central European salt trade and became heavily involved in Mediterranean politics. The paper focuses on evidence from the Hallstatt–La Tène transition to solve a 150-year-old problem: how the Early Iron Age “Celts” became the early La Tène “Galatai,” who engaged in the Celtic migrations and the sacking of Rome at 387 BC.

这项工作通过详细介绍公元前700-300年间欧洲社会的特征和社会变革的性质，重新审视了“凯尔特人”的起源。一种新方法将区域性墓葬考古与当代经典文字相结合，以进一步完善我们对欧洲铁器时代的社会理解。我们称为“塞尔特人”的人是高卢中部的母体早期铁器时代团体，他们从事中欧盐业以外的社会传统活动，并大量参与地中海政治。该论文集中于哈尔施塔特-拉泰讷（Hallstatt-LaTène）过渡时期解决了150年历史的问题的证据：铁器时代早期的“凯尔特人”如何成为凯尔特人迁徙和罗马被解职的拉泰恩时代的“加拉太”在公元前387年。