Abstract
The Early Iron Age is a dynamic period with gradually growing social centres of chief-led societies. Fundamental contact with the Greek-Etruscan world occurs.
Long-distance trade accelerates social differentiation in the Hallstatt culture area. Contacts with the Mediterranean are viewed based on imports, with the question of countervalue of the exchange system largely unanswered.
The core of the predicted answer is amber, found in the Mediterranean in large quantities, also as raw material. The movement of amber in the Hallstatt culture is not sufficiently known.
The combined chemical method offers new possibilities to identify its sources; systematic monitoring will help identify long-distance roads and supra-regional social systems and centres. The project responds to the socio-economic and artisanal questions related to amber and Amber Roads, changing over time.
It contributes significantly to the understanding of the contact of the secondary Hallstatt zone with the Mediterranean, touching on mutual links between the western and eastern parts of Hallstatt and Early La Tène Europe.