Who Were the Ancient Celts?

Contrary to popular belief, the ancient Celts did not originate on the British Isles, nor did they build Stonehenge. The ancient Celts appear on the archaeological stage around 1000 B.C.E in central Europe. The chronological breakdown of the Celtic era consists of a triad of time periods: the Hallstatt (c. 800 to 400 B.C.E), the La Tène (c. 400 to 150 C.E) and the Early Medieval (c. 400 to 1000 C.E.) Geographically, the Celts span from central Europe to the British Isles. When archaeologists speak of "the Celts," we refer to a diverse group of people connected linguistically and geographically, containing many cultural variants. Notably, we do see some shared material culture markers (artifacts) in the Celtic lands, such as the torc or metal neck-ring. Archaeologists typically define "Celtic" regions and time-periods based off of material and iconographic styles.

A golden torc from Europe

Although we call them Celts today, we are uncertain of what they called themselves; the ancient Celts relied on oral traditions to pass on cultural knowledge and thus left very few written records. The 5th c. B.C.E. Greek historian Herodotus was the first author to use the term "Keltoi;" Roman sources, such as the writings of Julius Caesar, call them "Galatae."

Much of the Celtic archaeological record is comprised of metal, stone, and inorganic materials; rarely do we find organic remains such as bones or wood due to environmental factors. Other sources of evidence include folklore, linguistic and genetic data, and secondary sources from various Greek and Roman authors. Because of this paucity of evidence, the field of Celtic archaeology is challenging, but it is not impossible to try and reconstruct the ancient Celtic past.