6 - Weapons, Ritual and Warfare: Violence in Iron Age Europe

Summary

Evidence for violence and organised warfare in Iron Age Europe is varied and abundant, but it is not clear how frequently large-scale conflict occurred. Weapons, including especially swords, spears and lances, are common in graves and deposits. Defensive weapons, such as shields, helmets and body armour, also occur but are less common. The fortification of hilltops for defensive purposes is characteristic in much of Iron Age Europe. Representations of warriors, including stone statues bearing arms and scenes of marching troops, show how the weapons were deployed by soldiers. Only a few actual battlefields have been investigated. Weapons and landscape defences surely played important symbolic roles in the Iron Age, but the extent of armed conflict is not yet fully clear.