Alpine Connections. Iron Age Mobility in the Po valley and the Circum-alpine Regions

International audienceCurrent research on the Iron Age north and south of the Alps is providing new evidence of increasing interaction and complexity, involving early urbanism, social stratification and differentiation, and a wide network of middle and long-distance trade. Within this framework, mobility of objects, individuals and groups appears as a key phenomenon. This paper explores the role of north-western Italy as a crucial node in the manifold relations between the Mediterranean and Temperate Europe, offering a critical review of the archaeological evidence of mobility and interaction. We start questioning the traditional culture-history approach that interpreted the presence of several Golasecca-type fibulae and ornaments across the Alps as self-evidence of individual mobility, allegedly linked to exogamous strategies. In a similar manner, late Hallstatt and early La Tène objects found in northern Italy are often considered clues of the historical Gallic invasion. The aim of this paper is to take a fresh look at traditional markers and approaches applied to the identification of human mobility in the Iron Age, addressing theoretical issues over the ideas of circulation of objects and production modes, ethnic identity, and cultural métissage