Contents Where did the Celts
Many gods
26
come from?
2
Festivals
28
Making a home
4
Sacrifices
30
Defending the home
6
Burials
32
Warriors
8
The fall of the Iron Age Celts in Europe
34
Into battle
10
Women’s rights
12
Farmers first
14
Colourful clothes
18
Crafts
20
Glossary
44
Traders
22
Index
45
Entertainment
24
How to be a Celt
46
The end of the Iron Age Celts in Britain
36
Iron Age Celtic culture lives on
40
Written by Sean Callery Illustrations by Arpad Olbey
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Where did the Celts come from? The word “Celt” describes a group of many different tribes that lived across much of Europe over 2,000 years ago, during the Iron Age (800 BCE–43 CE). They didn’t actually call themselves Celts. The word wasn’t used to describe them until about 1770, and it’s still used today. It comes from the Greek word Keltoi, which means barbarians and describes people not from Rome or Greece.
Ireland Britain
France
Italy Spain 2
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The people we call Iron Age Celts lived in modern-day France, Spain and northern Italy. By 500 BCE, the tribes had migrated – some went east, to modern-day Turkey, and others moved west, to Britain. They spoke a Celtic language, and introduced it to Britain when the tribes migrated.
Key: K early Celtic area Celtic expansion
some Celts went east
Turkey
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Making a home Britain was a land of forests and wide rivers. The people who lived there farmed and hunted and may have formed tribes. To the people arriving from Europe, Britain wouldn’t have been very different from where they had come. Once they arrived in Britain, Iron Age Celts built their houses from whatever materials they could find. In the forests of Britain, houses were built with wood, with walls made of clay, animal hair and straw. On the wild upland moors of Cornwall and Scotland houses were built with stone. Houses were round, and had one large room inside. A cooking pot hung over the central open fire that kept the house warm. The smoke escaped through the thatched roof made from reeds or straw. The floor was flattened earth covered with animal skins or straw.
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The whole family lived together, so as many as 20 people might sleep in each house.
c cooking inside the the roundhouse
cooking pot
central fire
a reconstruction of a roundhouse
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Defending the home Some houses were built over water. Long wooden poles were transported by boat into the river or loch. They were then driven into the water using smaller, heavier pieces of wood. A wooden platform was built on top, and then the roundhouse. Houses like these were called crannogs, and they were built like this to protect the people who lived there from attack. O Over 600 crannogs have bee been found in Scotland. Others have been found in Wales and Scandinavia.
wooden poles supporting the house
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a hill fort
The Iron Age Celts also built forts on the top of hills to protect the people living in nearby villages. They also contained storerooms and cattle enclosures. These are called hill forts. Huge mounds of earth were piled up around a hill, and wooden walls were built on top of them. This meant that attackers could be seen coming, and spears and rocks could be fired at them from above. One hill fort had a pit with more than 20,000 pebbles gathered from the seashore to launch at enemies. 7
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Warriors At that time, most people only lived until they were 35 to 40 years old. Some warriors may not have even lived that long. Warriors were important members of Iron Age Celtic society. They protected the village from attack. They may have also stolen goods, animals or food from other villages. When two tribes fought for land, warriors would begin the battle by blowing trumpets, pipes, drums and yelling. Then they would race their two-horse chariots straight at the enemy, throwing spears. Once they had reached the enemy, they would climb out of the chariot and attack on foot with swords, using their shields to protect themselves. Warriors painted or tattooed patterns on to their bodies using blue dye. This would have made them look scary, and the Iron Age Celts may have believed the patterns gave them protection. Warriors cut off dead enemies’ heads and took them home to display. 8
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T image of a battle scene is taken This from an Iron Age cooking pot.
T These carved stone heads were made to he represent real heads taken as battle trophies.
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Into battle Iron Age people knew how to make armour and weapons – they were well equipped for war! War trumpets were made of brass and bronze. They had a long tube so that the sound would travel over people’s heads and make the warriors feel brave and ready for battle.
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t mouth of a the trumpet, shaped tr like an animal head
The armour worn by warriors included bronze helmets, sometimes decorated with feathers, horse tails or animal horns. Chain-mail shirts were also worn, but probably only by very important people as these would have taken a long time to make. Daggers, swords, rds, spears, slings, xes were all used shields and axes hey would have by warriors. They mselves with defended themselves a shield made of wood, strengthened with iron and ther. covered in leather. a richly decorated IIron Age sword
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