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.

这部作品通过详细描述公元前 700-300 年欧洲社会的特征和社会变革的本质，重新探讨了“凯尔特人”的起源。一种新方法将区域墓葬考古学与当代古典文本相结合，以进一步完善我们对欧洲铁器时代的社会理解。我们所熟知的“凯尔特人”是高卢中部铁器时代早期的母族群体，他们从事中欧盐贸易以外的社会传统，并积极参与地中海政治。本文重点关注哈尔施塔特-拉泰恩过渡的证据，以解决一个 150 年前的问题：早期铁器时代的“凯尔特人”如何成为早期拉泰恩的“加拉泰人”，他们参与了凯尔特人的迁徙和对罗马的洗劫公元前 387 年。