5. Periodisation
• Iron Age (Celts) (500-50 BCE)
• Roman Influence (55 BCE-43 CE)
• Roman Domination (43 CE – 410 CE)
• Sub Roman (Britons) (410 CE - ?)
9. From Foragers to Farmers
Mesolithic – Neolithic Transition
Monument
Builders
10. Influences
• Neolithic – Introduction of agriculture,
Monumental stone construction
• Chalcolithic – Introductions of metal working
• Bronze Age – Improved metal-working
• Iron age
11. Iron Age Periodisation
• Hallstatt ~700-500 BCE
• La Têne ~500 BCE - Roman
• Belgae ~150 BCE - Roman
13. Celtic Language Groups
Brythonic
• Welsh
• Breton
• Cornish
• Gaulish
Substitute p for q
Son (m)ap
Horse epos
Goidelic
• Gaelic (Irish)
• Gaelic (Scottish)
• Manx
Q (kw) written as c
Son mac
Horse equos
14. The Iron Age
• Hallstat c.700-600 BCE in Austria
– Burials in 4 wheel chariots
– Serpent with ram’s head
– Gold torcs
15. • Harder than Bronze…
• … but unlike stone can be repaired if broken
• Easily spotted – Iron rusts (turns red) so rocks with iron in
them will be a red colour
• High concentrations available in bogs
Why bother using Iron?
47. Social strata
• Civitates-tribes
• Pagi-kinship units or clans
– Kings
– Class of knights (equitates)
– Class that included artists, craftsmen, bards,
lawyers, genealogists, musicians and Druids.
48. Diet
• High protein diet
• No differences between
sexes
• No differences between
chariot burial and others
• No detectable
consumption of marine
resources
67. Mediterranean Reports
• C.600 IERNE (Ireland) and ALBION (Britain)
described in Massilia (Marseille)
• 325 BCE Pytheas, a Phoenician claims he had
sailed around Britain
• 135-150 BCE Posidonius, or Poseidonios - of Syria
writes about Druids
• 56 BCE Diodorus Siculus combines accounts
CantiumBelerium
Orca
70. Religion and its Manifestations
• Causeways 1500-300 BCE
• Deposits in waterways
• Shrines 400 BCE-43 CE
– Often connected with Romano-British temples
• Druids
76. Development of a Shrine
Phases – Hayling Island
• Phase I: Two enclosures and pit ~50 BCE
– Association with Belgae and Commius?
• Phase II Temple: Circular structure surrounds
pit ~0-25 CE
• Roman Temple ~60 CE
83. Celt and Roman Worldviews
• Nature
• Human sacrifice
• Individualistic
• Abstract
• Higher status for women
• Oral tradition
• Engineering
• Execution
(abolished human sacrifice in 97
BCE)
• Organized
• Realistic
• Low status for women
• Written tradition