More on the history of the Celts

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>From "The Celts: Life, Myth and Art," Juliettee Wood, 1998, Stewart,

Tabori, and Chang, New York. Juliette is honorary lecturer in the

Department of Welsh, at the University of Wales.

 

"The earliest cultures we term Celtic appeared in central Europe ca.

800 BCE, beginning the first Celtic phase known as the Hallstatt

period, aftern an Austrian town near which many spectacular Celtic

artifacts have been recovered (p. 10)."

 

"While the influence of the Celts on European pre history was

undoubtedly immense, no single set of cultural characteristics, much

less psychological, or spiritual ones, can adequately sum up what is

meant by "Celtic" civilization. Celtic societies developed in

response to a wide range of historical and geographical circumstances.

In some areas the Celts depended primarily on trade, but in others,

the main activity was farming or stock breeding. Likewise, some

groups were dominated by warrior elites or princely aristocracies,

while other formed hybrid cultures with local ethnic groups (p. 10)."

 

Kelkar: The author does not use the term Indo-European to refer to

the Celts and steers clear of the Celtic homeland issue. There is no

reference to a Celtic family of languages either. In fact the author

goes to great lengths to explain the diversity of the "Celtic"

civilzation, notably enclosing the word Celtic in quotes.