Abstract
One of the key unresolved questions regarding the archaeology of La Tène Europe concerns the continu-ity of settlement around 400 BC. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the countries north of the Alps, including the Czech Republic, declines during this period - a decline which for decades has generally been attributed to population migration.
Demographic growth, climate deterioration, land depletion, dis-ease, and social crisis have all been put forward as reasons for this migration. Our contribution critical-ly reflects on all these alternatives and asks whether there was indeed any significant migration out of Bohemia.
We suggest that a reduction in archaeological visibility - the possibility of detecting archaeo-logical traces of human activity - is behind most of the decrease in the number of recorded settlement sites during the transition from LT A to LT B. Some form of social 'revolution' is considered the main cause of the changes recorded in this period.