1. Paleolithic
2. Mesolithic
3. Neolithic 3500 BC: Bronze Age and Iron Age.
BRONZE AGE
Stonehenge, circle of stones, dates from 3100 BC and it is considered a place of worship
(religion), an astronomical place (observatory) and also it may be a burial place for noble
people.
*Other henges: Newgrange (Ireland, 3200 BC) or Avebury Hill
THE IRON AGE (700-750 BC)
• Celts first settled around three rivers in Europe: Rhine, Rhône and Danube.
• Then Q-Celts were the first to migrate and settle in the isles.
•There are two periods of expansion of the Celts: Hallstatt (740-400 BC) and La Téne
(400-50 BC).
a. Hallstatt: it was a transition culture between Bronze Age and Iron Age.
b. La Téne: it was an Iron Age celt culture.
•Goidelic languages [q Celts, Q Celtic] were spoken in Ireland, The Isle of Man and
in Scotland (Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic).
•Brittonic languages [p Celts, P Celtic] were spoken in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany
(Welsh, Cornish and Breton).
*ekyos was an indo-european word that evolved into equos for q-Celts, and into epos
for p-Celts (Q Celts did not have p sound and P Celts did not have q sound).
CELTS AND ROMANS
All we know about Celts is due to the Greek and Roman people. At first Ireland was
called Ierne by the celts, but when Romans arrived to the isles they named it
Hibernia. The same happened with Britain: its celt name was Albion, which comes
from Alp. When Julius Caesar arrived to land the first thing he saw were the White
Cliffs of Dover, so he thought that what Albion meant was white, instead of alp.
(albus,-a,-um).
Once the Romans met the Celts, Caesar gave a new name for Albion: Britannia
(land of the tattooed people) because its inhabitants were covered in blue paint which
comes from the woad plant. Actually not everyone was covered in blue, just some
warriors.
CELTS WAY OF LIFE
• Celts usually lived in hillforts, of which there are not many remains, but in Britain
there is the Maiden Castle in Dorset.
• Other celts lived in crannogs (fortified islands) built in rivers, lakes… The Crannog of
Loch Tay.
• Others lived in broches, towers made of stone. The Broch of Mousa
SOCIETY
• Organised in tribes or clans leaded by a chieftain.
• Women could fight and also be chieftains.
• They had bards -poets- who learnt legends and stories by heart and transmitted them
orally (oral tradition).
• Craftworkers/artisans were very respected, chiefly the ones working with metals.
•They ploughed fields using a plough pulled by two oxen (pl. of ox, buey).
