450 BC-AD 1 Late Iron Age

Great changes occurred across northern and eastern Europe during this period. In the area north of the Alps, the beginning of the period is marked by a change in social structure and religion. It has been suggested that these changes reflect the spread of Celtic peoples eastward as far as modern Hungary.

Over most of the region people lived in small villages or single farms. Over the centuries the population grew and there was an increase in trade and manufacturing. From the middle of the 2nd century BC a new type of large defended settlement known as oppida began to be built in the lands north of Alps stretching from Central France to Hungary.

To the east lived largely nomadic horse herders who shared life styles and cultures with nomadic groups living right across Central Asia to China. To the north, different nomadic peoples continued to exist in the forests and Arctic areas of Scandinavia and around the northern Baltic Sea. Farming was still only slowly spreading into many of these areas.

During this period the tribes of barbarian Europe met with classical societies, not just through trade, but also war. By the end of the period, the Roman Empire had spread into parts of the south of this region, although most of this area was never conquered by Rome.