The ceramics of the Late Bronze Age and the beginning of the first Iron Age in the Marne Valley, state of research

A pottery typology covering the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Hallstatt period has been established using data from different sites of the lower Marne valley, from its confluence with the Seine to the limit with the Aisne departement. The final phase of the Bronze Age has been divided into an early phase and a classical phase. The Hallstatt has been divided into three: the transitional Late Bronze/Early Iron Age period, the Early and the Middle Hallstatt periods. The study is based on 580 pots of known diameter, from numerous small contexts. The pottery typology for this period evolves rather slowly, without any major changes, except for the Middle Hallstatt period where new forms are introduced. The end of the Bronze Age can be assimilated to a regional group, whereas the pottery productions of the subsequent phases divide into local groups. The Northern stylistic influences on the local pottery make the Marne valley a buffer zone between the Ardennes in the North and the Southern Seine-et-Marne. Cultural homogeneity on a regional scale reappears only during the Middle and Late Hallstatt period.