Austria looks back on a very eventful history. Yet there are
some elements of the Austrian character that haven’t changed
much over the centuries: the partiality for indulgence, beauty,
and cultivation has always been a driving force in the country’s
past and present. The Early Days The area of today’s Austria,
that is the fertile Danube Valley and the Alpine valleys, were
already settled in the Paleolithic Age (until approx. 8000 BC).
Around 400 BC, Celtic peoples from Western Europe settled in the
eastern Alps. A Celtic state, Noricum, developed around the
region's ironworks in the second century BC. From the 7th
century BC onwards one of the main regions of Celtic occupation
was in modern-day Austria, centered around Hallstatt , a large
prehistoric salt-mining area. The Hallstatt period, 750 - 450
BC, is named after this region. The Romans arrived 200 BC and by
15 BC they dominated the entire area. The most important Roman
settlement in Austria was Carnuntum (capital of the Roman
province of Pannonia in to