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 (), 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. 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. 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. 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.
19th century 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. ==Hallstatt salt mine==