Abstract
The development of the La Tène culture reflects, among other aspects, the geographic position of individual areas. The example of Bohemia shows how one area may be undergoing many significant changes.
During the phase of formation in the 5th century BC, of utmost importance were especially the regions south and southeast of Bohemia, while in the 4th century BC the cultural development here was strongly affected by the Middle Rhine and related areas. The development in the 3rd century BC brought another major change.
The influx of new elements in the burial rite on flat cemeteries (deposition of pottery in graves together with animal bones, or even tools), along with the advent of components of foreign costume suggest that a significant transformation of material culture was related not only to trade contacts, but also to the spiritual culture and the identity of its owners. In the burial finds, a significant change is represented by new types of decoration, techniques for its implementation and by the use of new technological procedures, at the time when the local component of the material culture was enriched by innovations originating in the Danube region.
Without the use of advanced technology concerning the composition of metal, the second phase of the Plastic Style with its top specialised production of almost industrial character could not be realised. In the process of spreading the benefits from the Danube region, Bohemia was not the terminal zone, but represented one of the stages in the process, which hit also the areas to the west, up to the present day Germany and France.