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History and Ideals of Gaelic Traditionalism v 1.6
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The Development of the Celtic Peoples: by Áine MacDermot **[Note: It is helpful to keep in mind that the dates of these various eras (Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc.) were not the same exact dates everywhere in the span of measured time, but only that they are useful as general guidelines to the various developments that took place - at differing times in different geographical areas. In illustration of this, the Bronze Age was just beginning, in what is now the United States, just prior to the discovery of the New World near the end of the 15th century AD.] From Hunter-Gathers To Herding and Farming: The Neolithic Era One of the most fascinating changes in the history of humankind was the transition from mobile hunting and gathering to settled herding and farming, during what is called the Neolithic era - from approximately 10,000 BC to 3,000 BC. The beginnings of this monumental change can be traced to the food-producing cultures that evolved on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea in Southwest Asia. This is an area comprising modern-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Iran & Iraq (which later were to be called Mesopotamia). The warmer climate that developed at the end of the last Ice Age (or Pleistocene Era around 12,000 years ago), brought about great environmental changes in the biogeography of the earth. Prior to this time, the English channel and the Irish Sea were dry land; the sea levels were much lower in those days due to the water being locked up in glaciation. With the increasing temperatures, the glaciers melted and the sea level rose by as much as a meter per century; Britain and Ireland (over a span of several thousand years) became islands cut off from the mainland. In southern England, for example, insect remains dated to 11,500 years ago show that average July temperatures increased from 48 to 63 degrees Fahrenheit in a little more than a century. (1) Some geographic areas dried out and became arid steppes or desert, with subsequent shifts in the types of animals and plants that would survive in a given area. However, in Southwest Asia, open woodlands with nuts that could be harvested flourished, and grasslands and grains such as barley and emmer (a wheat) grew and could be gathered. These relatively rapid changes decisively altered the patterns of human life. As the climate in western Europe improved somewhat rapidly and the ice edge retreated, the herds of reindeer, horses, and other game gradually moved north to continue to access the vegetation they needed to survive. The impact of these climatic changes to the hunter-gatherers, who during the previous 100,000+ years depended upon large game and horses for survival, was a choice of adapting to the new conditions, or drastically changing their sources of food. Some groups of people followed the big game animals north and spread throughout the continent even as far as Scandinavia, while others adjusted to the new conditions where they were, hunting smaller game and adapting their diets to include more vegetation and fish. Many of them concentrated on shores of rivers, lakes or seas. We know this because paleoethnobotanists and archaeologists have developed methods to establish what people ate and where their foods came from by analyzing pollen, fossilized and preserved plants and seeds, the remains of human and animal bones, and archaeological artifacts that have been found in the various regions. On no account should we assume that hunter-gatherers willingly and immediately switched to farming; farming is and was hard work! The modern phrase "the daily grind" was literally true in reference to the grinding of grains into flour. "Agriculture was apparently forced on them by a short sharp period of drought, which threatened the productivity of the wild resources they had been collecting. One response was to replant seeds of the wild grasses people had been collecting, in the hope that this would assure supplies. It was their bad luck that harvesting and replanting caused a genetic change in the grasses - a non-shattering seedhead. Once this happened the plants could no longer reproduce by themselves, but forever had to be replanted by humans - an unforeseeable catastrophe." (2) However, it cannot be assumed that these people simply gave up their mobility and settled down to the sedentary life of farming. There is evidence that foragers can go in and out of cultivation and herding with some ease, even in the modern world (1, Leakey, & Bogucki); and that cultivation does not in itself have to tie populations down to one geographic spot. Most scientific models of Neolithic culture emphasize an agricultural economy, but animals may have been at least as, if not more, important than crops as providers of food. "Our traditional view of the Neolithic is that it was the period in which people first learned to grow cereal crops, such as barley, in order to make bread and porridge. In a recent article in British Archaeology, however, the archaeological scientist Mike Richards wrote that, on the evidence of bone analysis, meat was more important than grain in the British Neolithic diet. (`First farmers with no taste for grain', March, 1996)" (3) Even among the same group of people, it is doubtful that hunting and foraging were ever given up entirely in favor of cultivation of crops. Surely, this transition from a foraging culture to an agri-culture was slow and, at best, geographically sporadic in its evolution. Probably the most important result of this very slow transition from hunter-gatherer to herder-farmer was the gradual establishment of settled communities. The trees and grasses and the animals that ate them, which provided human food and later, transportation, only grew in areas that could support the environmental needs (temperature, rainfall, and soil) of these plants and animals, and so mankind lived within these food-producing areas, moving on to other areas only when production or resources began to dwindle. Near the end of the Neolithic period, after cereals had been domesticated and cultivated, and stock-breeding was established, people had developed farming methods geared to open up landscapes. The harvesting of grain, in turn, stimulated the development of tools such as stone sickle blades and grinding stones, and also the building of storage facilities; all of these developments gradually and eventually led to the emergence and growing use of agricultural settlements. It also gave rise, somewhat later, to the establishment of relatively urban settlements and a consequential increase in the population of mankind. "This shift from nomadic to sedentary life led to the growth of population and village settlement, the development of crafts such as pottery and metallurgy, and eventually to centralized city states which institutionalized social inequalities - in a word to 'civilization'." (4) At that time (5000 BC to 3000 BC), metals, such as copper and gold, came into regular use and technology advanced to the stage that large numbers of tools were being made by the methods of crude smelting and hammering. "A Bronze Age ard, thought to be the oldest known in Britain, has been found in a prehistoric channel of the River Thames at Eton in Berkshire. The ard - an early form of plough - was found with a small deposit of charred cereal grains close to a system of contemporary Bronze Age fields. The arrow-shaped maple-wood ard has been radiocarbon dated to 900-760BC in the Late Bronze Age. Earlier Bronze Age ards are known from Poland and Denmark, but the next earliest dated British examples were made in the Iron Age. An ard found at Pict's Knowe near Dumfries in 1994 was originally thought to be Neolithic (see BAN, November 1994), but later radiocarbon dating suggested it was Iron Age. Ard marks, on the other hand, have been found preserved in ancient landsurfaces in Britain from as early as the Late Neolithic. The Eton ard, although broken, has very little wear on its tip, and is thought to have been deposited in the river `fairly new' as an offering. There appears to have been a tradition of ritual deposition in this stretch of the river according to the excavation director, Tim Allen of the Oxford Archaeological Unit, and several complete Bronze Age pots and a number of human and animal bones have also been found. The deposits lie close to the remains of timber posts which could have been a jetty or platform from which the objects were thrown. Few plant remains have been found in the river and it was `very interesting', Mr. Allen said, that the cereal grains were found next to the ard, as though they too were a ritual offering thrown into the river along with the ard. " (5) From this, we can see that these people had already developed some sort of ritualistic system by this time. The offering of grain and the "ard" in the river seem to be indications of an early fertility ritual. While archaeological evidence shows that most hunter-gatherers performed certain rites or ceremonies in connection with fertility and death, the funereal rituals generally took place wherever the group happened to be at the time; and these people rarely buried their dead below ground, nor did they erect lasting monuments above ground. Instead, the dead were placed on overhead wooden platforms in the wilderness (much like some Native American tribal traditions) and they were left to scavenging birds of prey. The very first gravefields, and also western Europe's first megaliths or standing stones, appeared around 4700 BC during the late Neolithic era, which testifies to agriculture's impact on social development and settlement patterns. The Production and Exchange of Goods: The Bronze Age The Bronze Age in Europe was an era in which occurred a number of major advances and which saw major transformations in the Neolithic world of all people in prehistoric Europe, including the Celts and those in Southwest Asia and other regions. The years between 3000 BC and 700 BC represent a crucial phase of development for social, technological, and economic systems. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, life revolved around the common needs of subsistence, production, and shelter, centered within the environment of a simple agricultural settlement. (1) At first, these settlements were nothing more than a vast area of undefended fields with scattered mud huts within areas that were favorable for cultivation, grazing, foraging, hunting and fishing, or, in the case of the more western regions, caves which had been previously occupied by hunter-gatherers, with adjoining forests, waters, and fields. The early farmers, knowing nothing about fertilizer or land improvement, would cultivate a certain area until it was no longer productive, and then move on to some other more productive area, all the while continuing to supplement their food supply with herding, hunting, fishing, and continued foraging of whatever was available. This was, in part, the cause of the geographic spread of agriculture from its origins in Southwest Asia. Between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, due to an increasing population and, in turn, increasing pressures on limited resources (productive lands, for example), it became necessary to defend these agricultural settlements against neighboring peoples and invading marauders. The development of fortified settlements of different kinds, and battle axes and other weapons, reflect an increased level of aggression and competition amongst groups of people for limited resources. During the period between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, massive henges and palisades were erected across the continent, and in Britain and Ireland, indicating a change in societal structure and ritualistic beliefs. Farming communities began to develop as defended settlements, scattered throughout the countryside. "Individual farmsteads and occasional small villages were scattered among the fields. In certain areas it seems probable that a hill-fort may have served as a focus of social organization." (8, p.137) These defended farmsteads are generally called forts. The forts were mainly circular in design and the lands within the circle contained living quarters and food storage areas, as well as buildings for animals, and ceremonial and communal activities (such as grain grinding). The forts were surrounded by an earthen bank or stone wall and ditch. The lands outside the fort were used for cultivation and also for domestic animal grazing. There was only one entrance into the fort, which was closed at night, and the domesticated animals (cattle, pigs, horses, sheep, etc.) were brought inside every night to keep them safe from the attacks of wild animals and thieves. The remains of over thirty thousand Irish ring forts have been found, and it is possible to trace these forts from townland names. In Ireland, different terms were used for the forts, depending on the construction technique and the available building materials used: "dun", "rath", and "lios" for earthen banked forts, and "cathair" and "caiseal" (anglicized to cashel, and later to castle) for stone banked ones. (6) These "raths" and "caiseals" apparently contained two, three, and four houses apiece, but they were not the "only" types of dwellings in ancient Ireland. Other ancient Irish lived on "crannogs" which were either artificial islands or natural islands improved by artificial means in the middle of lakes or bogs. These crannogs / islands were built up with layers of different materials, usually peat and brushwood, but logs, stones, straw, rushes, and animal bones were also used. Crannogs, which commonly contained only one house, were surrounded with fencing made of timbers, with extra timbers driven in to help support the foundation. These crannogs were also used by important people in times of trouble, because they were easy to defend. The remains of over two hundred crannogs have been found throughout Ireland, but only a few of these have been excavated: at Lough Gara (during a drainage project) and Ballinderry Lough. Because the crannogs tend to be rather damp, the moisture in the ground has preserved many artifacts which would have completely decayed under drier conditions. Archaeologists investigating the crannogs have found wood and leather objects and even the remains of fabric; the timbers used in crannog construction were able to be dated fairly accurately by counting the tree rings in each piece of wood, and through the use of radio-carbon dating. Objects that were used in the smelting of metals have also been discovered, and it seems likely that the inhabitants of the crannogs, raths, and caiseals made all of their own weapons and tools. During this period the two-wheeled horse- or pony-drawn cart was also developed, which in Ireland was called a "carbat", later translated into English as "chariot". (7) Water transport by this time was very well-developed, both by sea and via rivers and lakes. Metalworking for the production of tools and weapons became a major preoccupation for the people of the late Neolithic-early Bronze Age. The people who would later become known as the Celtic tribes were well advanced in metalworking and other skills over their more classical contemporaries, as evidenced by the complexity and technological superiority of the artifacts that have thus far been recovered from archaeological sites. The casting of copper tools became common practice after 3000 BC, and gradually various substances, tin and lead for example, were added to the copper to make it easier to cast, and also to extend the quantities of copper available. Considering the distribution of raw materials across Europe, Britain, and Ireland, it is evident that access to these materials varied, but this led to the exchange of both raw and finished materials over short and long distances to service the needs of those who had no local access to them. Gold was obtained from the Wicklow Mountains in Ireland, amber from the Baltic area and western Jutland, copper from many sources both inside and outside the islands of Britain and Ireland, and tin from Cornwall, Brittany, and Spain. (1) As tool-making technology advanced during the mid- to late Bronze Age, agriculture also advanced with the making of metal plows and sickles, and agricultural surpluses began to occur. Trade on a large scale could only be financed by economic surpluses, which became available with the advances in agriculture. In a simple society, based mainly on subsistence farming and herding, the surplus of agricultural produce, combined with a geographic distribution of metals and other raw materials, did not go far enough to make everybody wealthy, and the emergence of a social structure began to evolve. "From this period onwards the line of continuity which leads directly to the historic Celts may be traced in its essentials from the archaeological evidence. This continuity is identified archaeologically by the successive Únetice, Tumulus and Urnfield cultures of the Central European Bronze Age. The developed Únetice culture, named after the type-site south of Prague, appears to have emerged from the fusion of Battle-Axe and Beaker peoples and their immediate descendants, although elements developed from the former and their south Russian antecedents seem to have been the stronger of the two. Local development towards more clearly marked divisions within society was accelerated. This is shown most clearly in the disparity of grave furniture between the burials of the ordinary people and the aristocratic tombs of warriors and their consorts." (8, p.26) At this time there began to be a differentiation between social classes based on ordinary people, skilled workers and craftsmen, and the emergence of the ruling warrior-elite, whose power enabled them to amass fine goods and raw materials not available to most others. Evidence of the increasing complexity of burial rites can also be seen in the vast number of henges, dolmens, and mounds constructed at this time throughout western Europe and the islands of Britain and Ireland. There is evidence, too, that Bronze Age agriculture was not simply a means of subsistence, but took on a more ritual and/or spiritual significance. "...a deposit of organic material identified as the possible remains of a brewed drink was found in a beaker at North Mains, Strathallan, during excavations in 1978/9. The site was a timber circle, bank and ditch (dated to 2330 ± 60BC, in the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age) together with several later Bronze Age cist burials. The beaker lay in one of these, accompanying the skeleton of a young woman aged around 25 years. The cist, situated in the centre of the timber circle, had remained partially sealed, hence the unusual survival of the organic material. Pollen analysis revealed a cereal-based drink flavoured with meadowsweet - perhaps something between mead and ale since meadowsweet is known as a flavouring of mead. The radiocarbon date was 1540 ± 65BC. In addition, plant debris survived inside a beaker in a Bronze Age cist at Ashgrove in Fife, the slabs of which had been carefully sealed with clay. Pollen analysis revealed large amounts of immature lime pollen and meadowsweet, which again was interpreted as the possible remains of mead, but was unfortunately not radiocarbon-dated. Analysis of organic residues on pottery found near the stone circle at Machrie Moor, Arran, also revealed immature pollen - probably from broken-up flower heads - interpreted as possibly indicating the presence of mead or honey; although it was not possible to recreate recipes from the remains, nor to accurately date them. Each of these examples of the organic residues of Bronze Age brewing - the only ones I know of from Britain - were found in a ritual rather than a domestic context." (3) By the late Bronze Age, the ancient farmers had learned something of fertilizers and good soil. Archaeologists have recently discovered the use of man-made soils dating back to the Bronze Age in the Shetland and Orkney Isles. "Unusual evidence of Bronze Age ingenuity has been found on Shetland, with the discovery of Bronze Age fields constructed out of man-made soils resting on pure sand in the southern part of the main island. The fields surround an occupation mound at Old Scatness on the Sumburgh Peninsula, . . . The evidence suggests the site, like the similar settlement-mound at Jarlshof a mile away, has been inhabited for over 3,000 years. The Bronze Age fields, discovered in excavations directed by Steve Dockrill of Bradford University, consist of turf, seaweed and manure built up over time on what had originally been a machair landscape of grass-covered sand. The soils, known as `plaggen soils', were intensively cultivated to grow beard barley. Similar plaggen soils have been found at Tofts Ness on Sanday in Orkney, and at a few sites elsewhere in Scotland, but are not yet known elsewhere in Europe." (9) In addition, there is evidence that the Celts were way ahead of their more 'classical' contemporaries on the continent not only in agriculture, but also in metalworking, without which agriculture would not have seen such advances. When the transalpine European Celts began an expansion around 900BC they were already possessed of great skill in metalworking, and especially in the use of iron (Old Irish = iarn) to make tools and weapons. They were able to cut through the impenetrable forests of Europe, opening roadways and new fields for agricultural and livestock uses. Of course, Celtic roads were built of wood; the Romans later built over the tops of these with stones. (10) A number of these ancient Celtic roads have been discovered recently, not only on the European continent, but on Ireland, as well. In summary, it can be seen that agriculture was, indeed, a significant factor in the development of civilization, and that agriculture played a significant part in the emergence of the Celtic tribes. It can also be seen that agriculture in itself was not the sole motivation for changes in societal structures, but that it also motivated advances in other skill areas such as metalworking and transportation. The author recommends that the reader go from this article to The Goba, part 1: From Bronze to Iron written by Cinaet Scotach, for a continuity in the study of the ancient Celts. Author's Notes: The original wave of Celtic immigrants to the British Isles are called the q-Celts and spoke Goidelic. It is not known exactly when this immigration occurred (this is a source of contention among scientists) but the archaeological studies I have seen place it sometime in the window of 3500 to 1200 BC, although I will readily admit that future archaeological discoveries could push this date even further back in time. The label q-Celtic stems from the differences between this early Celtic tongue and Italic. Some of the differences between Italic and Celtic include the lack of a 'p' in Celtic languages and an 'a' in place of the Italic 'o'. At a later date, a second wave of immigrants took to the British Isles, a wave of Celts referred to as the p-Celts speaking Brythonic. Goidelic led to the formation of the three Gaelic languages spoken in Ireland, the Isle of Man and, later, Scotland. Brythonic gave rise to two British Isles languages, Welsh and Cornish, as well as surviving on the continent in the form of Breton, spoken in Brittany. [Source: http://sunsite.unc.edu/gaelic/celts.html]
Sources:
Other Works Consulted: prepared by Áine MacDermot |
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