Transcript Slide 1

Who lived in Britain before the
Romans arrived?
Answer: The Celts
How do you pronounce “Celts?”
-
Accepted ways include using a “soft” C or a
“hard” C sound.
-
Soft C = like Boston Celtics… “Selts”
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Hard C = like “hockey player….” “kelts”
The Celts
The Iron Age Celts were a tribe of people who
lived all over Europe about two thousand years
ago.
At one time, you could find tribes of Celts in
modern day Spain, France, northern Italy, and as
far east as Russia. Around 500 BCE, the ancient
Celts migrated and settled in modern day Ireland,
Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.
The name 'Iron Age' comes from the
discovery of a new metal called iron.
How do we know information about
Archaeologists are
the Celts?
always trying to find
evidence but
sometimes it gets
found accidently.
Some workmen came
across a body. The
man had been killed
2000 years ago – they
still found food in his
stomach! His last meal
was bread.
Unfortunately,
evidence such as
clothes, pots and shoes
are rarely found as
they rot in the soil.
Things made out of
stone and metal don't
rot so they tell us
information.
The Celts didn't read
and write. It was the
Romans that told us in
books how the Celts
lived.
What did they eat?
They lived on farms. They
worked hard. All the
people ate well. They had
cheese, butter, milk, mead,
honey, fish, pork, chicken,
beef, lamb, vegetables, and
breads and cereals made
with wheat, barley, oats,
and rye.
The Celts
The Celts lived across
most of Europe during
the Iron Age.
People had lived in
Britain for thousands
of years before the
Romans arrived.
The Celts lived in
roundhouses with
thatched roofs of straw
or heather (plant that
grows on the hills of
northern Britain). In
places where there
were plenty of trees
the walls were made
out of wattle and daub
(hazel trees with clay
and straw).
In the North of Britain
they used large stones
and clay to make the
walls.
This is a roundhouse
being built. There are
poles to hold up the
thatched roof.
The settlements are
protected by a stone
wall with wood.
The settlements
Families lived together
in settlements:They
were called “fines.”
Children, parents,
grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins.
The roundhouses were
built in groups. The
walls protected them
from wolves and wild
boar.
Sometimes groups of
houses were built on
the top of hills. These
were called “hillforts”.
Social Groups
The Fine: The smallest group in Celtic society was the
Fine.
-A fine is an extended family group that included
grandparents and parents and their kids, and could
include aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids.
The individual was not important. The fine was a unit,
and was treated like one person. Everything belonged to
the fine.
A person could not break the law. If a member of a fine
broke the law, the fine was responsible. By the same
token, there was no such thing as individual glory. The
fine was victorious.
The Clan
Each clan was made up of several fines. In some cases,
a fine would be so large that it was a clan in itself. You
were part of a clan for life and beyond. Clans went back
many generations.
Each clan had a leader. You did not inherit leadership
from your father. Any male could be chosen as long as he
had a blood relationship to the clan. Each clan expected
certain things of their leaders. Leaders had to be strong
warriors. They had to be able to work out disagreements
with other clans and conduct trade and raids on
neighboring clans. Most importantly, they had to be rich
enough to throw really good festivals.
Celt social types
The Noble Class:
The Nobles were landowners.
They were warrior leaders.
The nobles had slaves occasionally, but these
were people captured in war. Most of the work
was done by the peasants, and that left the nobles
lots of free time.
Noble Men
When noble men were
not off fighting, they
were farmers.
They spent time
playing fighting games,
games of chance, and
board games.
They hunted, swam
and fished.
They conducted trade.
Noble Women and their rights
What a noble woman could and could not do was clearly
spelled out, although it varied from clan to clan.
A noble woman could own property.
She could choose her own husband.
Women could become warriors, but few chose to do so.
Most ran the household, raised the children, and spent a
great deal of time on their personal appearance, weaving
jewelry into their braids.
Marriage
When a woman married, she joined her husband's
clan.
Yet you were always a member of your own clan.
You never escaped that obligation and
membership. But your husband's clan took
precedence.
Fostering
Kids: The nobles sent their kids off at quite an early age
to live with another clan for training and education.
Training could take years.
This was one way the ancient Celts developed close ties
between various clans. It was called fostering.
Sometimes kids were sent away to their mother's clan,
but they could be sent to any clan. Some kids became
more loyal to their foster clan than they were to their
blood clan. After all, they grew up there.
Still, in times of war, if things went wrong, kids could
be held by their foster clan for ransom. The foster clan
might even threaten to kill the kids in their care unless
they got their way.
What did they wear?
The ancient Celts loved color. They used huge looms to weave richly dyed
wool in colorful plaids. They made tunics to wear from some of their fabrics.
Both men and women wore tunics. A man's tunic stopped at the knees. A
woman's was floor length. They were both loosely gathered at the waist with a
belt. Both men and women wore shawls over their tunics, wrapped loosely
around their shoulders. They wore leather sandals.
Women wore their thick hair in braids decorated with beads. Men wore their
swords and daggers at all times, for decoration and protection.
The Celts loved jewelry. Gold was hard to get. Silver was even harder to find.
Jewelry made of gold or silver was highly coveted.
But they made jewelry from many things, including horn, feathers, stones,
bronze and beads. Both men and women were fond of wide necklaces worn like
a collar around the neck. They decked themselves out with arm bands, bracelets,
ankle bracelets, rings (lots of rings), and ornate belts. They fastened their cloaks
with jewelry brooches and ornate pins. They loved glitter and color.
Celtic Art
Celtic art is full of patterns and spirals
and animals and color. Like their
daily life,
Their art was lively. They made
colorful jewelry, fabulous fabrics,
beautiful pottery, shapely figurines of
bronze and gold, strong wheels for
carts and wagons and strong weapons
out of iron.
Artisans were highly respected. They
did not owe any military service to
the nobles.
Artisans did not usually have to work
in the fields. If they were talented,
they gained wealth and comfort. They
were free to travel and sell their
goods to other clans. Artists
were appreciated and encouraged.
Celtic Cross
The Celtic cross,
popular for over a
thousand years, was
not designed by the
Celts until the early
middle ages.
Peasants
Peasant Men: Along with hunting and fishing,
the men did the heavy labor on the farms.
They were wonderful farmers.
The Celts invented a reaping machine, an
invention that was copied by the ancient Romans.
The reaping machine let them harvest more
rapidly. With the reaper, they were far less likely
to lose crops to an early frost. It also saved on
labor. They stored grain in pits for the winter.
Peasant Women and Children
Peasant Women: The women gathered berries and other foods
that could be harvested. They cooked and cleaned and sewed and
looked after the children.
Kids: The girls helped their mothers, the boys helped their
fathers..
About age 15, both boys and girls began to think of marriage.
Most would marry someone they met at a clan festival.
The tallest boys might be selected to train as warriors. Some might
learn an artisan skill. Most would be farmers.
With their free time, kids would play war games. Also popular was
a game they played similar to field hockey.
Celtic Religion
“The Otherworld”- The Otherworld was the home of many gods
and goddess. It was a place of joy, where feasts were always
happening. The Otherworld was NOT a heaven. It was NOT a
reward for doing something good on earth. *The Celts believed
that everyone entered the Otherworld when they died.
“Celtic Tombs”- They buried their dead in tombs. Their tombs
were not huge things like the Egyptian pyramids. But they were
the size of a large room. The walls were decorated with drawings
of earth gods, sun gods, various spirits, and scenes of battle and
daily life. They never placed living people or animals inside a
tomb. Instead, they tucked little figures of people cooking and
hunting. One tomb was found with a full size four-wheel wagon in
it, and a full size bronze kettle for cooking.
Waterfalls and Water
-Natural waterfalls, especially small ones, were believed to have
healing power. To the ancient Celts, they were entrances to the
Otherworld.
-Gifts were left by waterfalls for the gods. Some gifts were even
tossed down wells or into springs. Do you think our “wishing
wells” are a result of this tradition?
-If you were injured, you might place something in a stream to
help you heal. If your leg was injured, you could carve a wooden
leg and place it in a stream.
-It did not always work, but the Celts remained great believers
anyway in the power of the little spirits and gods whom they
believed lived in steams and ponds and waterfalls.
Gods and Goddesses
Every tree, every bush, every flower,
everything had a little deity living in
it. (hmmm…I wonder if the author of
the Spiderwick Chronicles knew
that…?)
Some of their gods and goddesses
were extremely powerful. But most
were little deities.
The ancient Celts did not worship
their gods. They did not go to church.
Instead, they left little offerings all
over the place. Each fine had their
own special little deities. Each clan
had theirs.
Sacred Animals
The Celts believed in omens.
Birds, especially, were believed
to be able to carry messages
between the living world and
the Otherworld.
Many animals were given
special powers that could only
be understood by a Celtic priest
- the druids.
Some animals were hunted
for food. Hunting wild boar
was considered a great sport.
Remember
About how many years ago did the Celts exist?
What are our chief sources for knowing about them?
What are three rights a woman has in Celtic life?
What is a “Roundhouse”? A “Fine”? A “Clan”?
What is one main characteristic of Celtic clothing?
Why were they so fascinated with water and streams?
What is their view of “heaven”? What do they call it?
The Romans
The start of the Romans in Britain
The Romans came to
Britain looking for
riches – land, slaves
and most of all iron,
lead, zinc, copper,
silver and gold.
Julius Caesar
attempted to invade
Britain in 55BC and
then again in 54BC.
Both times the British
warriors and rotten
weather made him and
his army go back to
France.
The Romans took over
Celts land and built
towns and roads.