Wine and ale

By the Bronze Age drinking vessels were being made of sheet metal, primarily bronze or gold. However, the peak of feasting – and in particular, of the “political” type of feast came in the late Hallstatt period (about 600 – 450 BC), soon after the foundation of the Greek 1 of Massalia (Marseille) at the mouth of the Rhine. From that date on, the blood of the grape began to make its way north and east along major river systems together with imported metal and ceramic drinking vessels from the Greek world.

Wine was thus added to the list of mood-altering beverages – such as and ale available to establish social networks in Iron Age Europe. Attic pottery fragments found at hillforts such as Heuneburg in Germany and luxury goods such as the monumental 5th century Greek bronze krater (or wine mixing vessel) found at Vix in Burgundy supply archaeological evidence of this interaction. Organic 2 such as leather or wooden 3 barrels may also have travelled north into Europe but have not survived. It is unknown what goods were 4 in return, but they may have included salted meat, hides, timber, amber and slaves.