The Celts were a group of peoples that occupied lands stretching from the British Isles to Gallatia. The Celts had many dealings with other cultures that bordered the lands occupied by these peoples, and even though there is no written record of the Celts stemming from their own documents, we can piece together a fair picture of them from archeological evidence as well as historical accounts from other cultures.

The first historical recorded encounter of a people displaying the cultural traits associated with the Celts comes from northern Italy around 400 BC, when a previously unkown group of barbarians came down from the Alps and displaced the Etruscans from the fertile Po valley, a displacment that helped to push the Etruscans from history's limelight. The next encounter with the Celts came with the still young Roman Empire, directly to the south of the Po. The Romans in fact had sent three envoys to the beseiged Etruscans to study this new force. We know from Livy's The Early History of Rome that this first encounter with Rome was quite civilized:

[The Celts told the Roman envoys that] this was indeed the first time they had heard of them, but they assumed the Romans must be a courageous people because it was to them that the [Etruscans] had turned to in their hour of need. And since the Romans had tried to help with an embassy and not with arms, they themselves would not reject the offer of peace, provided the [Etruscans] ceded part of their seperfluous agricultural land; that was what they, the Celts, wanted.... If it were not given, they would launch an attack before the Romans' eyes, so that the Romans could report back how superior the Gauls were in battle to all others....The Romans then asked whether it was right to demand land from its owners on pain of war, indeed what were the Celts going in Etruria in the first place? The latter defiantly retorted that their right lay in their arms: To the brave belong all things.

The Roman envoys then preceded to break their good faith and helped the Etruscans in their fight; in fact, one of the envoys, Quintas Fabius killed one of the Celtic tribal leaders. The Celts then sent their own envoys to Rome in protest and demand the Romans hand over all members of the Fabian family, to which all three of the original Roman envoys belonged, be given over to the Celts, a move completely in line with current Roman protocol. This of course presented problems for the Roman senate, since the Fabian family was quite powerful in Rome. Indeed, Livy says that:

The party structure would allow no resolution to be made against such noblemanm as justice would have required. The Senate...therefore passed examination of the Celts' request to the popular assembly, in which power and influence naturally counted for more. So it happened that those who ought to have been punished were instead appointed for the coming year military tribunes with consular powers (the highest that could be granted).

The Celts saw this as a mortal insult and a host marched south to Rome. The Celts tore through the countryside and several battalions of Roman soilders to lay seige to the Capitol of the Rom an Empire. Seven months of seige led to negotiations wherby the Celts promised to leave their seige for a tribute of one thousand pounds of gold, which the historian Pliny tells was very difficult for the entire city to muster. When the gold was being weighed, the Romans claimed the Celts were cheating with faulty weights. It was then that the Celts' leader, Brennus, threw his sword into the balance and and uttered the words vae victis "woe to the Defeated". Rome never withstood another more humiliating defeat and the Celts made an initial step of magnificent proportions into history.

Other Roman historians tell us more of the Celts. Diodorus notes that: Their aspect is terrifying...They are very tall in stature, with ripling muscles under clear white skin. Their hair is blond, but not naturally so: they bleach it, to this day, artificially, washing it in lime and combing it back from their foreheaads. They look like wood-demons, their hair thick and shaggy like a horse's mane. Some of them are cleanshaven, but others - especially those of high rank, shave their cheeks but leave a moustache that covers the whole mouth and, when they eat and drink, acts like a sieve, trapping particles of food...The way they dress is astonishing: they wear brightly coloured and embroidered shirts, with trousers called bracae and cloaks fastened at the shoulder with a brooch, heavy in winter, light in summer. These cloaks are striped or checkered in design, with the seperate checks close together and in various colours

[The Celts] wear bronze helmets with figures picked out on them, even horns, which made them look even taller than they already are...while others cover themselves with breast-armour made out of chains. But most content themselves with the weapons nature gave them: they go naked into battle...Weird, discordant horns were sounded, [they shouted in chorus with their] deep and harsh voices, they beat their swords rythmically against their shields.

The Celtic settlement of Britain and Ireland is deduced mainly from archaeological and linguistic considerations. The only direct historical source for the identification of an insular people with the Celts is Caesar's report of the migration of Belgic tribes to Britain, but the inhabitants of both islands were regarded by the Romans as closely related to the Gauls

There was a unifying language spoken by the Celts, called not suprisingly, old Celtic. Philogists have shown the descendence of Celtic from the original Ur-language and from the Indo-European language tradition. In fact, the form of old Celtic was the closest cousin to Italic, the precursor of Latin.

The Serpent's Stone is a symbol of an ancient wisdom and fidelity; touchstone of universal truths. The complexity of earthly life sometimes obscures a simple truth. The four serpent heads emerge from the labyrinth of Creation to point the way through self-examination. The brilliant colours convey a sense of drama and intrigue. As a meditative glyph, it endorses the need for self-examination. Thus when truth becomes entangled in a moral dilemma, evoke the secret wisdom of the Serpent's Stone.

The ancient Celts had a form of writing called ogham (pronounced OH-yam). It was the writing of Druids and Bards. Ogham is also called 'Tree Alphabet' because each letter corresponds to a tree and an associated meaning. The letters were, in fact, engraved onto sticks as well as larger standing stones.

There are many questions arising as to what calendrical practice was used by the Celtic people. Regarding this issue there are three primary schools of thought. These three theories all attempt to offer us a better understanding of the Celtic calendar. To use the term 'Celtic calendar' is somewhat inaccurate, as it were the Druids who were primarliy concerned with calendar-keeping.

The Druids, who were occupied with magico-religious duties, were recruited from families of the warrior class but ranked higher. Thus Caesar's distinction between Druides (man of religion and learning), eques (warrior), and plebs (commoner) is fairly apt. As in other Indo-European systems, the family was patriarchal.

The basic economy of the Celts was mixed farming, and, except in times of unrest, single farmsteads were usual. Owing to the wide variations in terrain and climate, cattle raising was more important than cereal cultivation in some regions.

There aren't a lot of textile remains found for Celtic clothing from prehistoric times through the 16th century; we mostly have to rely on manuscripts and descriptions of what was worn at various times. However, I will make some educated guesses based on textile construction techniques from the few Celtic finds available, as well as evidence from the bog finds in Denmark, which could arguably be either Celtic or Teutonic. Obviously, fashions varied from place to place and time to time, so Celtic clothing wasn't universally the same in all places over the thousand or so years I'm spanning; however, similar techniques of constructing and decorating clothing were used throughout Europe, and results can be inferred from these.

Hill forts provided places of refuge, but warfare was generally open and consisted of single challenges and combat as much as of general fighting.

Celtic warriors were drawn from what we would describe as the middle and upper class. The warrior class did the actual fighting: the free poor served as chariot drivers. The Celt was a warrior in the heroic sense. Everything had to be larger than life. He lived for war. His glorification of bravery often led him to recklessness. Part of a warriors ritual was to boast of his victories, and fighting between warriors was an important part of life.

Cloak pin. This is an early clothes fastener that developes into the Penannular Brooch Fibula Brooch. This starts as a bent wire pin and develops a sprung pin and catch. First safety pin?

Bow back fibula. This is a follow on from the previous pin and gives scope for elaborate decoration.

Wrist bangles. Worn by both sexes.

Jet Necklace. A variety of materials are used and jet is a fossil of common coal. In Britain it is only found in its raw form on the N.East coast of Yorkshire.

Gold Torc. Worn around the neck, a Torc was a status symbol. Those for the ladies were light weight, whilst those worn by the men could be very large and heavy, and perhaps only worn on festive occasions.

Glass Beads. The Celts were producing high quality ceramic glass long before the Greeks and Romans.

Gold Lunar. High class necklace from Ireland, not found in mainland Britain.

This is to give you an idea of the range of styles and sizes the pots are made in. The smallest can be less than 2 cms and the largest over 1 metre tall! Decoration tends to be local designs - but there are always exceptions.

Most pottery finds are 'sherds' or pieces of broken pots. It can be quite a challenge to fit them together.

Some of the finest decorations on pottery in Britain come from the area around Glastonbury in Somerset. Two villages have been excavated from the marshes, the first known as the Glastonbury Lake Village, and the second as the Meare Lake village. They are only 2 kilometres apart.

Adze head. A hand tool used for smoothing and shaping wood.

Plough Share- or - Ard tip. The iron point from an ancient type of plough.

Axe head. Used as a chopping tool for felling and shaping timbers.

Bill hook. A hand tool used in cutting small rods (coppicing), and splitting wood for making woven panels. (Hurdles) Chisel used with a mallet for cutting holes.

Draw knife. A shaping tool used by drawing the sharp edge towards you whilst pulling on two handles.

Spokes for a Chariot or a Cart Wheel. Turned on a pole lathe, and the tenon cut with a saw and a chisel.

Mallet. Wooden hammer for knocking joints together, or hammering chisels. The wooden head does not cause any damage to the woodwork.

Handle for a hand saw. The blade fits into the slot at the right hand end. The hand saw looks like a modern pruning saw, and cuts on the pull !

This is a spoon turned on a pole-lathe to get the basic shape. One side is then cut away and hollowed out to create the bowl of the spoon.

Historical evidence.

Celtic chariots were a form of warfare that the Romans had serious problems with. It took them some time to find a way of dealing' with the devastating the effect the chariot had. Polybius, in his accounts of the lead up to the battle of Telamon in 225 BC., reports that the Gauls had 20,000 cavalry and chariots. This was the last reference to the use of chariots on the mainland. By the time Caesar encountered them in Britain, the method of fighting against the chariot had been forgotten. Diodorus said that the chariot was drawn by two horses, and could carry a driver and a warrior. In battle the driver controlled the chariot, whilst the warrior would throw javelins at his opponents. The warrior would then dismount and fight on foot while the driver would take the chariot away to a safe distance. At the first sign of difficulties, the driver would dash into the battle, pick up the warrior, and withdraw to safety. Caesar's account is similar, but adds that chariots were used against cavalry with great effect, and only against infantry in short skirmishes. Caesar admired the charioteer's skills, and described warriors running along the chariot pole and standing on the yoke over the horse's shoulders