Flourishing of new great European civilizations.
The time of the flourishing of new great European civilizations. Starting from ca 700 BC extensive tracts of Europe were occupied by Hallstatt cultures, named after the locality Hallstatt in the Austrian Alps - a rich center of salt mining and trade. The impact of Hallstatt culture also reached the area of Poland. As a result of distant exchange a great number of luxury objects from different parts of Europe, particularly, from the area of Hallstatt culture and Apennine Peninsula, came to the region. Local imitations of many attractive objects, mainly ornaments, started to be produced locally. Hallstatt cultures declined around 500 BC giving way to Celtic culture. During the same period, Scythian tribes made raids from the Black Sea on the western regions of Polish lands, burning some of the strongholds, killing and abducting their inhabitants.