The Celts came to dominate much of Europe by about 400 BC, about which time they took North Italy from the Etruscans.

Map of Europe 323 BC - courtesy Thomas
Lessman, worldhistorymaps.info

Their towns grew in size and number, and hereditary Celtic kingdoms and states emerged. One town called Bibracte in Gaul, the Capital of the Aedui tribe, and where Caesar beat the Helveii Tribe in 58 BC, had a 5km defensive wall with 15 gates. The Celts had a clear hierarchy with the leaders at the top, and then the intelligentsia, with the general population dominated by relatively few well-armed followers. Gaul, now mainly France, was divided between some 16 tribes such as the Parisi, whose capital became Paris. Iron Age Celtic chieftains could be ostentatious and brutal. They were often buried beneath large funeral mounds, and grave goods were weapons, food, pottery, ornaments and even chariots. Sometimes the chieftain’s women, slaves and horses were killed and also buried with him. Iron tools enabled the Celts to clear forests readily and create roads that the later Romans improved. The Celts traded extensively with the Greeks, importing much Greek pottery, especially amphorae, in exchange for raw materials. The Celts were the targets of Roman expansion plans in Europe, and although there were many battles, and successes and losses for both sides, Julius Caesar proved to be their nemesis. He had little luck in overcoming the British Celts in 55 BC and again in 54 BC, because of bad weather in the English Channel destroying his boats and the evasive tactics of the natives, but in 52 BC the Celtic army led by Gratorix was soundly defeated by the Roman legions in Gaul, leading to the ultimate demise of Celtic influence. By 400 AD the Romans had driven the Celts out of Southern and Western Europe and spoken Celtic that had once been prevalent across Europe was pushed to the extremities of the Roman Empire in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Brittany. Countering stories of Celtic barbarianism was the fact that some Romans used Celtic tutors to teach philosophy and poetry to their sons.

10.6 Etruria  (Northern Italy)

People have lived on the Italian Peninsular for tens of thousands of years, exemplified by cave paintings discovered there that are some 20,000 years old. These people were added to by dozens of different tribes who finally settled in Italy following their migration through Europe from the East and Southeast, either as invaders or migrant farmers. These waves of migration started before 6,000 BC and by 1,000 BC many of the inhabitants of Italy were Indo-European and spoke a commonly derived language that eventually became Latin.

One of the earliest Cultures is known as Villanovan, after the village near Bologna where their characteristic cemeteries were found. They were a very early Iron Age Culture living in the North West of Italy (now Tuscany) from the 10th to the 7th centuries BC.

Map of Italy 1000 BC - courtesy Thomas
Lessman, worldhistorymaps.info

Like many advances, the discovery of iron went into Europe via the Balkans from Asia Minor and the Caucasus. It arrived in Italy probably by migrants who settled in the Po valley and either side of the Apennines. The Villanovans are thought to be linked to the Late Bronze Age Urnfield Culture of Eastern Europe that cremated their dead. The Villanovans placed the ashes in decorated coiled-pottery bi-conically-shaped ossuaries or cremation urns, often with lids made from bowls shaped as helmets. Some were black in colour from smoke or a shiny slip. The sgraffito decoration applied included swastikas, meanders and squares using a comb-like tool. Stamps were also used, the more complex ones possibly using seals. Some urns took the form of a primitive hut. The handles were sometimes modelled as animals, probably horses signifying status.