Editing History of Germany (section)

===Iron Age===
{{See also|Iron Age Europe|Archaeology of Northern Europe|Celts}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = | footer_align = left | image1 = Heuneburg 600 B.C..jpg| width1 = 178 | caption1  = The [[Hallstatt culture|Celtic]] city of [[Heuneburg]] by the Danube, {{Circa|600 BC}}, the oldest city north of the Alps<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.heuneburg-pyrene.de/en/celtic-city|title=Celtic City: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg|website=heuneburg-pyrene.de|accessdate=31 July 2024}}</ref>| image2 = Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave reconstruction.jpg | width2 = 155 | caption2 = The [[Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave]], [[Hallstatt culture]], 530 BC}}

The [[Hallstatt culture]], which had developed from the Urnfield culture, was the predominant Western and Central European culture from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and during the early [[Iron Age Europe|Iron Age]] (8th to 6th centuries BC). It was followed by the [[La Tène culture]] (5th to 1st centuries BC).

The people who had adopted these cultural characteristics in central and southern Germany are regarded as [[Celts]]. How and if the Celts are related to the Urnfield culture remains disputed. However, Celtic cultural centres developed in central Europe during the late Bronze Age ({{circa|1200 BC}} until 700 BC). Some, like the [[Heuneburg]], the oldest city north of the Alps,<ref name="auto1"/> grew to become important cultural centres of the Iron Age in Central Europe, that maintained trade routes to the [[Mediterranean]]. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian [[Herodotus]] mentioned a Celtic city at the Danube – ''Pyrene'', that historians attribute to the Heuneburg. Beginning around 700 BC (or later), [[Germanic peoples]] (Germanic tribes) from [[Archaeology of Northern Europe|southern Scandinavia and northern Germany]] expanded south and gradually replaced the Celtic peoples in Central Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heuneburg (Herbertingen-Hundersingen) |url=http://www.landeskunde-online.de/rhein/geschichte/antike/kelten/heuneburg/genese.htm |access-date=17 April 2020 |publisher=Landeskunde Online}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1857">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9rfAAAAMAAJ |title=Herodoti Musae |date=1857 |publisher=in bibliopolio Hahniano}}</ref><ref name="Herodotus1829">{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q45PxRGLB5sC&pg=PA110 |title=Herodoti historiarum libri IX |date=1829 |publisher=G. Fr. Meyer |page=110}}</ref><ref name="Gimbutas2011">{{Cite book |first=Marija |last=Gimbutas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvtRdigDtFoC&pg=PA312 |title=Bronze Age cultures in Central and Eastern Europe |date=25 August 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-1116-6814-7 |page=100}}</ref><ref name="Milisauskas2002">{{Cite book |first=Sarunas |last=Milisauskas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=31LFIITb3LUC&pg=PA363 |title=European Prehistory: A Survey |date=30 June 2002 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-0-3064-7257-2 |page=363}}</ref><ref name="RankinRankin1996">{{Cite book |first1=David |last1=Rankin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fdqk4vXqntgC |title=Celts and the Classical World |last2=H. D. Rankin |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-4151-5090-3}}</ref>
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