Discovery of the La Tène culture
Descubrimiento de la cultura de La Tène
- Date
- 1857-1868 · confidence high
- Place
- La Tène, Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- Credited to
- Hansli Kopp (find, 1857); Ferdinand Keller (archaeological formalization, 1868)
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The chance discovery of iron swords and wooden piles on the bed of Lake Neuchâtel, near La Tène, after a drop in water level in 1857, and its subsequent study by archaeologist Ferdinand Keller, made it possible to define the La Tène culture as the second major phase of the European Iron Age, following Hallstatt.
The site was found by the Swiss Hansli Kopp in 1857 and interpreted by Ferdinand Keller in 1868; Swedish archaeologist Bror Emil Hildebrand later helped consolidate 'La Tène' as a typological phase within the general periodization of the European Iron Age.
What it led to
- definition of the La Tène period as the final phase of the Celtic Iron Age
- a reference typology for dating Celtic sites across Europe
- a boost to Swiss lake-dwelling archaeology