Many of the sites mentioned by Caesar have been iden-
tifi ed; they are characterized by massive ramparts, usually
a single bank and ditch, surrounding areas of 100 to 1,000
acres, mostly on hilltops or promontories that could be eas-
ily defended. Caesar describes these ramparts, which he calls
murus gallicus (Gallic wall). Th ey consisted of several layers
of timbers laid out in a rectilinear grid with iron spikes nail-
ing them together where they crossed. Th e spaces between
the timbers were fi lled with rock and soil, and the front and
back were revetted (faced with a material that gives support)
with walls of drystone (stones fi tted together without mortar)
through which the timbers protruded; an earthen ramp ran
behind. Caesar notes that these barriers were resistant to fi re,
ramming, and sapping (excavating). Some 40 sites, includ-
ing Mont Beuvray, have produced ramparts approximating
Caesar’s description, mainly west of the Rhine but also as far
east as Manching in Bavaria. Caesar mentions other types of
ramparts; one, with a massive earthen bank and wide ditch,
was common in northern and central France, oft en replacing
a murus gallicus.
Many sites not mentioned by Caesar have also been iden-
tifi ed, not only in Gaul but east of the Rhine in areas he never
reached: southern and central Germany, the Czech and Slo-
vak republics, and Austria and Hungary. In these areas, how-
ever, the usual rampart is an earthen bank revetted in front
by wooden posts, with the gaps fi lled by drystone walling.
Finds from these sites show that they were being con-
structed from the late second century b.c.e. onward, though
some in central Europe may date to as early as 180–150 b.c.e.
Th ere had been a long tradition of constructing defended sites
in temperate Europe extending back to the fourth millenni-
um b.c.e., but the oppida tend to be much larger than these
early sites, implying a higher level of social organization. Far-
ther north, in Poland, northern Germany, and Scandinavia,
urban sites did not appear until the late fi rst millennium c.e.
Th e oppida also contrast with the defended sites on the Medi-
terranean coast in southern France and eastern Spain, which
were much smaller and more closely spaced, more like “city-
states” than the “tribal” states that produced the oppida.
BEFORE THE OPPIDA
Although the oppida are oft en called the “earliest towns
north of the Alps,” they did not appear from nowhere; sites
with urban characteristics existed as early as the sixth cen-
tury b.c.e. in western Europe. In 600 b.c.e. refugees from the
Greek city of Phocis founded the colony of Massalia (modern
Marseilles) near the mouth of the Rhône in southern France.
Trade linking the developing civilizations of Greece and Italy
with central and western Europe had started earlier, but it
expanded rapidly aft er the foundation of the colony, and fi ne
pottery from mainland Greece, wine amphorae (large pot-
tery jars for shipping and storing liquids and other goods)
from southern France, bronze vessels from Italy, and other
luxury goods turn up on a number of trading sites that were
established along the main river routes leading into the in-
terior. Bronze buckets from northern Italy are found as far
north as southern Sweden.
Th e major route led northward along the Rhône and
its tributaries the Saône and the Doubs. At Lyons, where
the Rhône meets the Saône, a major settlement has been
identifi ed on the banks of the Saône. A bit farther south,
at Vienne, a similar settlement was established where land
routes between the upper Loire and northern Italy crossed
the Rhône. Bragny lies on the Doubs, near its confl uence
with the Saône, controlling the route that leads northeast
up to the Middle Rhine and the headwaters of the Danube.
Although these sites seem mainly to have been ports for riv-
er traffi c, Bragny was also involved in producing iron and
bronze goods, and a site on the Dürrnberg in Austria was
associated with salt mining, although its inhabitants en-
gaged in other industries as well.
Th e most spectacular evidence for this trade system,
however, comes from farther inland, from sites control-
ling the headwaters of rivers that lead away from the Rhône
valley toward the Atlantic, the Baltic, and the heart of Eu-
rope. Th e Heuneburg, in southern Germany, overlooks the
point at which the Danube becomes navigable; Asperg, near
Stuttgart, controls the Neckar, a tributary of the Rhine; in
France, Mont Lassois overlooks the upper Seine and Bourg-
es the confl uence of two tributaries of the Loire. At most of
these sites there is a small central hill fort; at the site of the
Heuneburg the fort was defended by a wall made of sun-
dried brick with bastionlike towers, features unknown at
this period anywhere else outside the Mediterranean area.
Inside, a thriving settlement produced metal objects and
other goods, and surrounding it a concentration of other
settlement areas likewise engaged in industry and trade, as
the imported Mediterranean artifacts show.
What makes some of these sites stand out are the excep-
tionally rich burials under massive tumuli (artifi cial hills or
mounds of earth or stone). Th e Hohmichele at the Heune-
burg, Hochdorf at Asperg, and Vix at Mont Lassois are the
richest prehistoric burials from central or western Europe,
featuring large wooden chambers, four-wheeled vehicles, rich
gold objects, and spectacular imported luxury goods like, at
Vix, a bronze vessel for mixing wine that stands nearly fi ve
and a half feet high. Th ese graves are presumed to be those
of “chieft ains” who controlled and grew wealthy from the
trade in goods gathered locally as tribute and “gift exchange.”
Bourges is more enigmatic; the settlement is richer than the
others in terms of the quantity of imported goods, but it lacks
the exceptionally rich burials, and a central defended site has
yet to be identifi ed. Th e site consists of a cluster of areas of oc-
cupation, with extensive evidence of industrial activity, espe-
cially bronze production, manufacturing brooches and other
ornaments. Th e site seems to have been occupied for only a
short period in the late sixth and the fi ft h centuries b.c.e.,
perhaps three or four generations.
Th ese developments toward urbanization were short-
lived. Th e very rich burials disappeared, and Mediterraneancities: Europe 219