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HallstattUNESCO World Heritage SiteInteractive map of HallstattPart ofHallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural LandscapeCriteriaCultural: iii, ivReference806Inscription1997 (21st Session)Area28,446.2 haBuffer zone20,013.9 ha
See also: Hallstatt Museum
A section of the Iron Age Hallstatt salt workings
"Antenna hilt" Hallstatt 'D' swords, from Hallstatt
During the Bronze Age salt production became day-to-day commercial activity in Hallstatt. Salt was produced in large quantities in evidently highly organized arrangements. Specialist workers supported the salt mining operations. The wealth that was generated is on display in the prehistoric cemeteries in Hallstatt.
In 1846 Johann Georg Ramsauer discovered a large prehistoric cemetery at the Salzberg mines near Hallstatt (47°33′40″N 13°38′31″E / 47.561°N 13.642°E / 47.561; 13.642), which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found. This may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the entire narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake.
Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children but few infants.: 26 
The humans that settled Hallstatt exploited the salt mines in the area from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery are distinctive. In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood, and leather, and many abandoned artefacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools and miner's backpacks have survived in good condition.: 88 
Hallstatt A–B are part of the Bronze Age Urnfield culture. Phase A saw Villanovan influence. In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan) burial becomes common, and cremation predominates. Little is known about this period in which the typical Celtic elements have not yet distinguished themselves from the earlier Villanova-culture. The "Hallstatt period" proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (8th to 5th centuries BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age. Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there.
Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords. Hallstatt D displays daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, in the western zone graves ranging from circa 600 to 500 BC.: 40  There are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Halstatt D has been further divided into the sub-phases D1 to D3 relating only to the western zone.: 40 
Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear. Many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep.: 48–49 
Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed.: 26 
Finds from the Hallstatt site
A bronze vessel with cow and calf, Hallstatt
A wood and leather carrying pack from the mine
A bronze container with stand, Hallstatt Ha C
A textile fragment from the salt mine
Bronze situla, 800-750 BC
Romans onwards[edit]
Tourists are told that Hallstatt is the site of "the world's oldest pipeline", which was constructed 400 years ago from 13,000 hollowed-out trees. There is so little space for cemeteries that every ten years bones used to be exhumed and removed into an ossuary, to make room for new burials. A collection of elaborately decorated skulls with the deceased's name, profession, and date of death inscribed on them is on display at the local chapel.
19th century[edit]
A view of Hallstatt in 1899
Hallstatt viewed from the south, Hallstatt Museum
Until the late 19th century, it was only possible to reach Hallstatt by boat or via narrow trails. The land between the lake and mountains was sparse, and the town itself exhausted every free patch of it. Access between houses on the river bank was by boat or over the upper path, a small corridor passing through attics. The first road to Hallstatt was only built in 1890, along the west shore, partially by rock blasting. Nevertheless, this secluded and inhospitable landscape counts as one of the first places of human settlement due to the rich sources of natural salt, which have been mined for thousands of years, originally in the shape of hearts owing to the use of antler picks.
Archaeology[edit]
In 2025, archaeologists announced the discovery of a Roman-era cameo depicting Medusa during excavations associated with construction work at a new funicular railway station. The cameo, carved from black-and-white banded agate or onyx and dated to the 2nd century AD, was likely crafted in the Adriatic city of Aquileia and is notable for its workmanship and preservation. It is considered among the few larger Roman cameos on public display in Upper Austria.
