Vol.9, No.1 | [Article] Crossing the Frontier - The Impact of Mediterranean Cultures North of the Alps from the Seventh to the Fifth Century BC

Defining the Mediterranean as a coherent area, while looking beyond its
natural features has been a challenge for a long time. An approach suggested by
N. Purcell focuses on connectivity as the salient feature with which to define the
frontiers of the Mediterranean. In order to achieve this aim, it is necessary to
understand the course and character of the connections between the
Mediterranean and its adjacent regions. The present article deals with a small
section of a Mediterranean frontier, namely the region north of the Alps,
between the seventh and fifth century BC. This area was occupied by the
so-called Hallstatt culture, which consisted of several regional groups. By
comparing the impact of Mediterranean elements in the western and eastern
sphere of the Hallstatt culture it becomes apparent that measuring connectivity
for pre- and protohistoric periods in which the Mediterranean networks were
supposedly less complex is already a complicated task.