La Tène

La Tène [Fr., the shallows]. Archaeological site at the eastern end of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, whose name now describes late Iron Age Celtic culture. Discovered by an amateur archaeologist in 1858, the La Tène site, one of the glories of the barbarian world, marks a holy settlement of Celtic craftspersons and artisans from after 500 BC until the Roman conquest. The huge trove at La Tène includes 400 brooches, 270 spears, 27 wooden shields, 170 swords, as well as votive offerings: dogs, pigs, cattle, chariots, and human beings. La Tène culture, now classed in three phases, I, II, and III, developed from the interaction of the earlier, geometric Hallstatt style and Etruscan and Greek influences from the Mediterranean. The typical La Tène style is characterized by S-shapes, spirals, and swirling round patterns symmetrically applied. While known in all parts of Celtic Europe, the La Tène style is especially evident in the art of the pre-Roman British Isles; atrophying under Roman domination, it persisted through Christianization in Ireland until the Norman conquest, 1169.

Bibliography

See Paul Vouga , La Tène (Leipzig, 1923);
Ruth and J. V. S. Megaw , Celtic Art (London, 1989).