Status und Prestige in der Hallstattkultur

The social structure of the Hallstatt Culture has been much debated with a focus on the problems of big man systems, chiefdoms, or heritable aristocracies, while the potential and limitations of the identification of status symbols and prestige goods have been neglected. Therefore, a definition of status / prestige is followed by thoughts on their recognisability [unusual optics / haptics / material, sumptuous production, symbolic content]. The areas of research are the Lower Altmühl Valley, the Northern Alps and alpine foothills of Western Austria, the Kalenderberg Culture of Eastern Austria, and the Dolenjsko Group in Slovenia that are clearly distinct as to their material basis [grave construction, weapons, waggons, bronze and glass vessels, gold, costume, horse gear, tools, diadem, sceptre, spindle whorls etc.] and their research potential and imply very different horizontal and vertical subdivisions of the communities. Princely burials are mainly differentiated by the regionally and chronologically divergent characteristics of negotiating prestige, e. g. by means of gold and import finds. The settlement systems show more differences with special dynamics and hierarchies in the NW-Hallstatt Circle.