Iron Age and Celts

Geography

In the Iron Age, the celts are situated in Iron Age Britain. These celt are the Insular Celts.

All Celtic languages extant today belong to the Insular Celtic languages, derived from the Celtic languages spoken in Iron Age Britain and Ireland. They were separated into a Goidelic and a Brythonic branch from an early period.

Linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split or whether there were two separate "invasions". The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for the P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic isogloss. This view has been challenged by the hypothesis that the Celtic languages of the British Isles form a phylogenetic Insular Celtic dialect group.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars commonly dated the "arrival" of Celtic culture in Britain (via an invasion model) to the 6th century BC, corresponding to archaeological evidence of Hallstatt influence and the appearance of chariot burials in what is now England. Some Iron Age migration does seem to have occurred but the nature of the interactions with the indigenous populations of the isles is unknown. In the late Iron Age. According to this model, by about the 6th century (Sub-Roman Britain), most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Celtic languages of either the Goidelic or the Brythonic branch. Since the late 20th century, a new model has emerged  which places the emergence of Celtic culture in Britain much earlier, in the Bronze Age, and credits its spread not to invasion, but due to a gradual emergence in situ out of Proto-Indo-European culture.

Classical writers did not apply the terms Κελτοί or "Celtae" to the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland, leading a number of scholars to question the use of the term Celt to describe the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands. The first historical account of the islands of Britain and Ireland was by Pytheas, a Greek from the city of Massalia, who around 310-306 BC, sailed around what he called the "Pretannikai nesoi", which can be translated as the "Pretannic Isles".[86] In general, classical writers referred to the inhabitants of Britain as Pretannoi or Britanni. Strabo, writing in the Roman era, clearly distinguished between the Celts and Britons.

Agriculture in Iron Age

In agriculture, new improvements are observed, such as the irrigation of fields through wells and ditches, the fertilization of fields with manure, etc. During the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, two new metals (iron and bronze) are incorporated with which they began to build new tools.

Apart from the irrigation system and the previous innovations, the iron ploughs made easier agricultural activity and iron axes facilitated the clearing of land. So, to sum up, the iron brought many advantages and innovations to agriculture, such us the development of new crops, such as olives and vines.

But not only the iron tools helped the farmers, they used horses and bulls to pull the plough, so the agriculture became even more manageable.

Before this improvement, agriculture, most humans spent most of the day looking for food. But now, only some people had to work to feed, and some people would do other activities. For example, other people could specialize in the manufacture of footwear or weapons.

CELTIC AGRICULTURE

Agriculture was the main activity of the Celtic community. Although their practice varied with the land type, the Celts generally used a mixed agriculture, with cattle and crops.

The countryside was covered with small farms and villages, with fortified settlements on the summits that served as markets, craft centers and tribal capitals.

The Celtic’s most grew crop was cereal, but they cultivated beans and peas too. Bitter Vetch, Fat Hen, Gold of Pleasure and other plants were cultivated as well. From these plants and from fruits and berries, Celtic people had access to reliable sources of protein, carbohydrates and vitamins.

Iron Age Houses

Celts used to live in roundhouses. This used to be, as you can imagine, like a circle.

Those were constructed with organic elements that could be found in the area.

The walls of roundhouses were dry stone filled with clay and straw. Some poles attached to the floor were used to maintain the wall as to hold the roof.

Wattle and daub is one of the oldest building technique. It was very often to use the technique of interweaving long sticks in the poles. Hazel used to grow near the forts and it was a kind of wood they were able to collect easily.

Daubing is the method used to weather proof the wattle with a mixture of clay, sand, straw and manure.

In the inside of the roundhouse there was space enough for at least 10 people and the animals that were putted inside the house at night and in the middle of the house there was a fire that was used to warm up the house and also for cooking. Just on top on this fire, a hole was left when the roof was constructed, for letting part of the smoke to got out. In spite of this, it is thought that a lot smoke used to be inside the room.

Roundhouses were not always built of clay and mud. In some places around UK, rests of old this houses have been found, and it seems like they were built of stone stacked and attached with some kind of material, like clay.

In some occasions, many roundhouses were built near each other, forming a fort, which used to have a wall/ditch Celts used to built a few meters away of the houses for protecting themselves.

Other interesting facts

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 BC, the ancient Celts migrated and settled in modern day Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

- They lived in small farming communities.

- They never built cities.

- They were fierce warriors. But they never founded an empire.

- The Celts were a proud and honorable people.

- They were also very clean. The Celts are credited with the invention of soap!

- They loved music. They loved to boast.

- And they loved to make up stories, especially stories about the little people - fairies,  

  elves, and leprechauns.

- Their culture lives on today in music, dance, story, and song.

Marriage:

 When a woman married, she joined her husband's clan. You were always a member of your own clan. You never escaped that obligation and membership. But your husband's clan took precedence.

Clothing:

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.

Jewelry:

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.