Lecture: Pre-history and Celtic Britain

Note: Before you read this lecture, you should have Assignment #1 (reading and homework) completed.

Lecture Outline Paleolithic Sites, Neolithic Revolution Migrations: Who Were the Celts? Celtic Culture in Britain

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Paleolithic Sites, Neolithic Revolution

Despite this, historians get very excited when discussing the Neolithic (new stone) or Agricultural Revolution, which seems to have taken place in Britain around 4,000 BC. The reason is that this revolution seems to mark a transition to agriculture on the part of people who were already living in Britain, rather than an idea brought in by invaders. And yet little is known about these people prior to the invasions/migrations which began around 900 BC.

Migrations: Who Were the Celts?

There seem to have been numerous migrations into Britain, beginning with a group from northern France who brought a particular pottery style with them. Then, around 700 BC, a settled farming group migrated, settling in Wiltshire. About a hundred years later came the so-called Hallstatt warriors, who may have subjected the farmers to a form of serfdom before Iron Age invaders came around 400 BC.

It is with these Iron Age invaders that the story of the Celts begins. The first group, referred to creatively as "Iron Age A", may have been the "Pretani", a word later corrupted by Latin into Britanni, the origin of the name Britain. The Romans mention the use of chariots by this group. Then, around 250 BC, came "Iron Age B" (also called the Marnian migration from the Marne region in France whence they came), a group known for their intricate metal work. Last were the Belgae (~150 BC), the ones who met the Romans in 55 BC and thus were recorded in written documents. They were apparently "in the Hallstatt tradition" (which means they were warriors), but were also agricultural. They created the Celtic squares in Britain. The Celtic square was an agricultural innovation, a square field which was cross-ploughed. Some historians suggest that the cross-ploughing was necessary to help fluff up the soil so it would retain water, implying that this era was an unusually dry one for Britain.

Click on the appropriate link below to bring up a small window with a QuickTime movie from The History Channel's "In Search of History: The Celts". Here Simon James, PhD, discusses Maiden Castle and hill forts. Since this may take time to download, feel free to read the rest of the lecture while you wait. If you have trouble, be sure you have QuickTime 5 installed,( and the ActiveX control if it won't work and you use Explorer 5.5+ on a PC). Small version Large version

All three of these Iron Age invaders are called Celts. The word probably came from the Greek "keltoi", a name the Greeks derived from hearing it in the native British language. Our most cogent source of information on this issue comes from Julius Caesar, invader of Britain. Romans used the term Galli or Galatae to refer to the trans-Alpine invaders of Italy, and yet Caesar used the term Celtae to refer to some groups. His most stubborn opponents were the Belgae on the northeast of the continent, and Caesar said these were the same people as those who had migrated to Britain. Thus the Celts (a word never used by any other ancient writer) were a large group or culture which included many European groups north of the Alps.

Even Caesar never used the term Celtae to refer to the population of Britain, only Belgae. But in the 17th century linguists demonstrated a connection between Welsh, the surviving Gaelic language (from Gallic?) and the speech of the ancient Celts. 19th century Romantics picked up on this notion, declaring the Celts the "original" population of Britain (the "Britons"), and introducing the concept of Celtic folk culture. This usage has been popular ever since, and is seen as a connection (since demonstrated in the 20th century by linguistic studies) between the Celts of Britain and those of northern Europe.

Celtic Culture in Britain

Three elements of Celtic culture in Britain should be emphasized; all were noted by the Romans and are attested to by archeaological finds. The first are the hill forts, like Maiden Castle. These are located in Iron Age A regions, but seem to have been refuges and tribal centers rather than residences. They are surrounded by farmsteads.

Metal ornaments were also endemic in Celtic Britain, especially the torc, a gold neck-ring open in the front. Some were also made of bronze, and they may have indicated social rank. Interestingly, until the late 4th century BC, most torcs are found in women's graves, but later on they are found only in men's graves. What does that imply?

The last element of note concerns the personality and values of the Celts. In many ways these values were similar to those of the Germanic invaders of Rome (see the next lecture) and the later Anglo-Saxons. Bravery in battle, hospitality toward visitors, feasting, and personal adornment were prized. The Celts themselves may have been large, blond, and fair-skinned (I say "may" because all the Roman reporters describing them were small, dark, Mediterranean types). If they were like the Gauls, they wore long moustaches and trousers, which the Romans (in their togas and skirts) always found fascinating as a fashion statement.

In addition to these elements of Celtic culture, it is interesting to look at how the Celtic Britons lived. The Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagan's (near Cardiff in Wales) has recreated an entire Celtic village, complete with walls and dome-like huts made of stone. The photo of the warp-weighted loom demonstrates the technological advancement of the Celtic Britons in terms of woolen cloth production. In weaving, the long, stationary yarns are called the warp. When yarns are weaved in and out of the warp, they create the horizontal threads, or weft (also called woof). The Celts hung their loom from the hut's ceiling, and weighted the warp with stones or bags of dirt. This "warp-weighted" loom kept the warp yarns stretched evenly and made weaving easier and faster. Throughout this course, I will be using woolen cloth production to track technological progress through several eras. Wool will ultimately provide the wealth that will enable Great Britain to take over the world.