Uesugi Kenshin | 03 May 2012 11:16 p.m. PST |
I'm a huge fan of Celtic history but have actually visitited very little in the way of pre-Roman Celtic sites. The few two that pop to mind would be Old Sarum in South West England and a hill fort just outside of Belfast, whose name escapes me at the time of posting. Maiden Castle springs to mind, though I have never been there in person. For the sake of the poll, lets go with any Celtic sites that were known to be in use before the first century AD. (regardless how long they were used, or by whom, after, as with Old Sarum) |
ochoin deach | 03 May 2012 11:20 p.m. PST |
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Aurochs | 03 May 2012 11:25 p.m. PST |
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advocate | 04 May 2012 2:12 a.m. PST |
You must see Maiden Castle, if you can. |
vaughan | 04 May 2012 2:12 a.m. PST |
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Martin Rapier | 04 May 2012 2:32 a.m. PST |
Maiden Castle is a must. Closer to home I'm very fond of the old hill forts below Higger Tor and Mam Tor in Derbyshire. Walked/run/cycled past/over them many times and the views are spectacular. Both Brigandes settlements, dating from the late bronze age (around 1200BC). |
bruntonboy | 04 May 2012 3:01 a.m. PST |
Maiden castle as above, New Grange in Ireland and a special mention for Castlerig stone circle in Cumbria. Best of all, bar none imho
. Tre'r Ceiri Hillfort link |
1ngram | 04 May 2012 3:38 a.m. PST |
There are hill forts, both large and small, scattered all over Scotland, all well worth a visit. My local favourite is at Logie Coldstone near Dinnet: link Or there is Dunnideer not too far away: link but a very visible one is Traprain Law near Edinburgh: link |
bilsonius | 04 May 2012 4:21 a.m. PST |
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brevior est vita | 04 May 2012 4:33 a.m. PST |
The Garden in Boston: link |
Aurochs | 04 May 2012 4:39 a.m. PST |
The oppdium at Manching in Bavaria! link |
Aurochs | 04 May 2012 4:44 a.m. PST |
And of course the burial mount of a celtic chieftain at Hochdorf in Baden-Württemberg Germany. link |
Aurochs | 04 May 2012 4:45 a.m. PST |
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Aurochs | 04 May 2012 4:47 a.m. PST |
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Ban Chao | 04 May 2012 5:15 a.m. PST |
I would see all megaliths and barrows like Castlerig and Newgrange they are awesome but they are not what people say are ' Celtic' by a long way and were in use and stopped being used before Celtic speaking cultures first appeared in Britain or as they arrived depending were you look. Maiden Castle is a must it has such a long History too. 'Both Brigandes settlements, dating from the late bronze age (around 1200BC).' wow how do you know that was the name of the tribe that lived there in 1200BCE, thats some groundbreaking info. There are so many sites to see, I would say search for Iron Age sites across Britain not Celtic sites for a start(Celts a people never really existed just a movement of Culture as well as peoples over a huge amount of time). How about the The Brigantium Archaeological Centre, near Otterburn, Northumberland or the large hill fort at Stanwick in Yorkshire which is believed to have been the tribal centre of the Brigantes maybe from mid C1CE for example. |
BlackKnight | 04 May 2012 6:19 a.m. PST |
I simply don't understand the whole Celtic denial thing. One can say "Celts as a people never existed" and that may be technically true but it's about as useful as saying "Caucasians as a people never existed" because everybody acts as if Caucasians as a group really do exist. And the Greeks and the Romans recognized Celts as a generic type of people at the time, as well. Of course there were different tribes, overlap with "Germanics", and different (related) Celtic languages, but really is it so erroneous to label them with one moniker as part of a particular broader cultural and ethnic group? I don't think so. |
Jemima Fawr | 04 May 2012 7:04 a.m. PST |
BK, Ban chao wasn't denying that a Celtic culture existed. He was just poining out that the hillforts, standng stones, etc, were built thousands of years before the Celtic culture emerged in the archaeological record and thousands of years before the Greeks and Romans recorded their encounters with Celtic peoples. Down in this neck of the woods, it has long been held that the 'Beaker People' (named for their burial rite of placing a cup ('beaker') in the grave) were the builders of the thousands of hillforts, burial mounds and standing stones around here and that they were supplanted/assimilation by a migration into the area by Celtic people. Irish folk-legend certainly seems to support the migration theory, as it 'records' a succession of invasions and migrations by various newcomers to Ireland. However, there are many counter-theories and the jury is firmly out. Most recently, DNA testing has suggested a continuous genetic link between the Beaker People, Celts and modern Welsh people. However, invading/migrating populations did tend to assimilate themselves into the local population by marriage (the Romans, Vikings and Normans certainly did), so that doesn't really dispprove the migration theory. Anyway Uesugi, get your arse down to Pembrokeshire. you could spend a month down here looking at hillforts, promontory forts, burial mounds, stone circles, standing stones, cromlechs, Celtic crosses and early Celtic-Christian churches and you still wouldn't even scratch the surface. A particularly good site here is Castell Henllys, which has round-houses built in their original post-hole footprints and is an ongoing archaeological dig and experimental archaeology project. I also know a little fortified site high in the Preseli Hills that has blades of quartz and other sharp stones set upright in the ground as a defensive measure, like landmines or caltrops (also seen at Castell Henllys). There are also some really interesting sites that were re-fortified in Romano-British times (shades of King Arthur). Castell Henllys: link
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macconermaoile | 04 May 2012 7:27 a.m. PST |
"Celts a people never really existed " That is usually said by people who do not claim Celts as thier ancestors.I'm sure it's not meant to be an insult. |
CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 04 May 2012 8:43 a.m. PST |
Little Solsbury Hill near Bath. Possibly Mount Badon, but an iron age fort long before that. Din Lligwy fortified settlement on Anglesey Hallaton was the source of the Hallaton Treasure & Hallaton helmet, on display in Market Harborough Museum |
Lewisgunner | 04 May 2012 9:36 a.m. PST |
White Horse Hill at Uffington Nr Oxford. Roy |
Jemima Fawr | 04 May 2012 10:15 a.m. PST |
Macconermaoile, No, I don't think I've ever heard that used as an insult, but it's certainly one academic theory. However, the 'Celtic Migration' theory is certainly handy when dealing with Welsh bigots who insult my wife (who is Derbyshire English, of Welsh/Cornish descent). The look of confusion on their faces when telling them to "F off back to where they came from and leave Beakerland for the Beaker People" is priceless. |
Jemima Fawr | 04 May 2012 10:45 a.m. PST |
My favourite ancient site around here is probably the hillfort at Foel Drygarn (which means 'Bare Hill with Three Cairns'), which is 5 miles up the road from here, on the eastern end of the Preseli Hills. The three cairns came first, built by stone-age people who probably lived in a settlement of roughly the same age, at the foot of the hill. The hillfort came in the late Bronze Age/Iron Age and it's the largest hillfort in Wales. The many small dark circular features you can see on the photo below are hut circles – some 200-300 of them! That was a hell of a population! It was then abandoned in Roman times, only to be re-fortified in Romano-British times – possibly by the locals or maybe by Irish invaders. That's when the double ring of stone walls apeared. It's a fascinating place, with a multi-layered history.
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Uesugi Kenshin | 04 May 2012 11:52 a.m. PST |
Great suggestions all! Planning my next trip around them. Keep 'em coming! @R Mark Davis, challenge accepted! |
Jemima Fawr | 04 May 2012 12:28 p.m. PST |
Give me a shout and I'll take you around if I'm off shift. |
ochoin deach | 04 May 2012 6:02 p.m. PST |
Orkney if you can get there. link
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Uesugi Kenshin | 04 May 2012 9:23 p.m. PST |
I will take you up on that Mark. I be round your parts in September, job allowing! |
Jemima Fawr | 04 May 2012 9:34 p.m. PST |
Make sure you do! No plans for September other than possibly going to Colours and perhaps the odd bit of light cadetting. I work shifts, working 3 or 4 days at a time and usually 3 or 4 days off in between, which means that I'm generally off for half the week. However, give me a couple of weeks notice and I'll make sure that work doesn't disrupt plans by booking me in to work overtime. |
Mick in Switzerland | 05 May 2012 3:00 a.m. PST |
The Latenium Museum at La Tene in Neuchatel, Switzerland is very good. They have a hall of Celtic articles. link Unfortunately the official website is not very easy to use. You will need to change the language to e latenium.ch/#latenium3?id=4
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CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 05 May 2012 6:50 a.m. PST |
Uffington horse is bronze age – 1000BC |
Grand Duke Natokina | 05 May 2012 4:57 p.m. PST |
Damn! A Lot of Gaul beat me to it. |
Grand Duke Natokina | 05 May 2012 4:58 p.m. PST |
Hallstatt in the Salzburg area would be one of my choices. |
Altius | 05 May 2012 5:07 p.m. PST |
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elcid1099 | 05 May 2012 8:17 p.m. PST |
National Museum in Copenhagen if you want to see the Gundestrup Cauldron and a bunch of other cool stuff
Pictavia is a good place to begin a tour of Pictland in the NE of Scotland (with its many hillforts and decorated standing stones) pictavia.org.uk |
Lewisgunner | 07 May 2012 2:29 a.m. PST |
Cooper Steve you are probably wrong about Uffington. Its style fits with Celtic depictions of horses and so is likely Celtic. I could believe that the hillfort on the top of the hill is Bronze Age (though in the UK Iron Age is more like 600 BC, 1200 BC being a Mediterranean date.) Roy |
CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 07 May 2012 4:13 a.m. PST |
I gather they did geo-studies that dated it to 1000BC? The people who did it may well have spoken a Celtic language for all I know
& I guess Celts much haver maintained it through subsequent centuries |
Lewisgunner | 07 May 2012 7:01 a.m. PST |
You are right Steve, and I did attempt to edit the post. The edit then failed to take. The scientific analysis had a window of 400 years from 1200 to 800 BC. which still puts it Bronzr Age as I think the iron age only really gets started in the UK around 600 BC. As you say (and I attempted in the failed rewrite) Celtic peoples either created the horse or at least maintained it and thus maintained some form of religious ceremony there. The resemblance to Celtic art is striking. Does that mean that there was artistic continuity from BA to IA?? I sus[pect so and that the people who created the monument were the ancestors of those who lived in the area all the way to Roman times and beyond. Still, its a great place to visit.:-)0 Roy |
CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 08 May 2012 3:31 a.m. PST |
Yeah I'd love to see that, & Cerne Abbas & Wilmington. Britain's chalk figures are unique. |
CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 12 May 2012 8:52 a.m. PST |
In Cornwall Chyhauster & Carn Euny – a round-hut settlement site occupied over many centuries |
Ammianus | 12 May 2012 5:10 p.m. PST |
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Uesugi Kenshin | 13 May 2012 3:42 a.m. PST |
How much of the the Alesia site are you still able to visit Ammianus? |
CooperSteveOnTheLaptop | 24 May 2012 5:38 a.m. PST |
Uesugi Kenshin – I've dug my Chyhauster & Carn Euny guide booklet out of the attic. You interested in me posting it to you? |