The Celts

The First People on the Islands…

The name 'Iron Age' comes from the discovery of a new metal called iron.

Celtic Tribes in Britain and Ireland

How do we know information about the Celts? Archaeologists are

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.

The CeltsThe 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 settlementsFamilies lived together in settlements: 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 hill-forts.

For defensive purposes, the Celtic village was sometimes made part of a

hill fort.

Celts and personality

• Emotional, passionate, heroic, wild, and drunken

Sensual, artistic, hospitable, instinctual Proud, inventive, battle-loving They were farmers and traders and also did

some agriculture They traded metals, salt, pottery, glass and

coin ornaments

However, there was always the constant danger of warfare with another tribe. Therefore, Celtic men were

trained as warriors.

Their basic weapons were the shield and the long sword

They also had cavalry, who could carry multiple spears. But, they were best known for their skill

with the chariot.

Religion

Believed in the “otherworld”Believed in many Gods (pagans)The circle on the cross is the halo of

the Christ figure

Sacrifice

In battle they would cut peoples heads off and carry it around. They were trophies to them, which symbolized courage and valour

“The sacrificed individual would be stabbed in the back or the breast, and then studied, as the moment of death was the point in which the earthly world of the profane meets the sacred otherworld. The message would then be returned to the examiners in the ways in which the dying would pass on.”

Druids

Druids “very knowledgeable one” were important to the celtic culture

They could stop a battle

Responsibilities included: teaching the religious doctrine, medicine, civil justice, sacrifice, divination, and care of temples. To become a druid, school would take up to 20 years because it all had to be memorized

They performed animal and human sacrifices and practiced divination and other forms of magic

The Celts were happy in their island home. But, everything was about to change with the coming

of the Romans…