The Ancient Celts

This is a readable, if very academic, exposition on the Celts. The approach is largely archaeological, but it is backed by the written sources from the time. I found it both fascinating for the content and useful as a primer in how archaeologists work and think. Supplementing the text are a treasure trove of images and more than 50 maps, all of which are essential and often beautiful. Finally, Cunliffe places it all in context in relation to classical culture and history into the early medieval period.The proto-Celts emerged at the end of the Bronze Age (1200 BCE), near to a number of Indo-European peoples that had settled in Central Europe. Their language was apparently closely related to early Italic and German at the time that they were differentiating. Their economy was based on farming and salt mining, later developing expertise in metal working. The surplus that their economy generated allowed an elite culture to emerge (the Hallstatt culture), which was not particularly marshal and had many fine arts, spreading slowly to the west as bearers of smithing techniques. Around 450 BCE, some kind of system failure necessitated migrations south and east of the expanded populations. It was at this time that a Celtic band sacked Rome, at that time only a minor city state.For the next 200 years, the Celts became much more of a warrior culture, though they also developed an artistic style that was accepted and traded over vast distances. This was the La Tène Culture, which took over and absorbed native populations from Ireland and Spain to pockets as far as Turkey (Asia Minor). They gained the reputation as fierce, barbaric fighters that could wreak terrible damage but were also prone to panic and indiscipline. At the moment that they began to settle into more permanent agglomerations, they came into conflict with the rising world power, Rome, which had just won the Punic Wars and was expanding beyond Italy. The Celts were a market for surplus Roman goods, a supplier of slaves and mercenaries, and a buffer against the Germans.Once sedentary, the Celts began to develop primitive fortified villages (oppida), which were often the center of tribal power centers but also served as nodes of commerce. Oppida were at once a defensive reaction to Rome but also an adoption of its culture. While sharing a common language and culture, each oppidum was essentially autonomous in a political and/or tribal sense, based around a strong-man leader who might be hereditary or perhaps even elected. As such, the Romans found them easy to conquer one by one, though they did occasionally unite to face a common threat, as they did under Vercingetorix to fight Julius Caesar. While tough and valorous, the Celts eventually proved no match for the Roman machine; up to 2 million Celts (of 7) either died or were enslaved in Caesar's war.At this point (50 BCE to 50 CE), the Celts were largely absorbed into Roman Culture, first by coopting elites and then offering a life style and career paths (military, etc.) to many more. Only those in remote regions that lived under more dispersed and primitive conditions survived and retained their language. Though periodic rebellions broke out, most Celts were under Rome's thumb until 4C CE.Beyond this pieced together history, Cunliffe addresses many of the basic questions about the Celts. While an ethno-linguistic group, they were never a unified empire and so their many communities evolved separately and even sometimes in isolation, making them difficult to pigeonhole with simple generalizations. Moreover, their language may have served many as a lingua franca, adopted for convenience rather than spoken in the home, even though there was no question they did represent a "culture". In terms of religion, they had multiple deities, many of whom resembled Greek Gods, but whose identities seemed to merge in a manner reminiscent of monotheism in some cases. Druids were elite priests who oversaw religious rituals, due to their profound learning of the proper forms during decades of apprenticeship; they also served as judges, who could sanction deviants by barring them from ritual observance, rendering them outcasts and "unclean". Interestingly, the holiest gathering place of the Druids in France is now the site of Chartres Cathedral, which apparently emanated some kind of powerful Godhead.The method of the book is very fun. Like all archaeologists, in the absence of reliable contemporary written sources, Cunliffe concentrates on pottery, artifacts, geographic sites, burial practices, and bones. Strictly based on hard material evidence, he extrapolates but never indulges in speculation, presenting various possible conclusions instead. I learned a great deal from this, which interests me personally given that we have an archaeologist in the family. Fortunately, Cunliffe only rarely gets bogged in descriptions of obscure findings or proofs, the bane of many academic books that fail to cross over to lay readers.Recommended with enthusiasm. This is a masterpiece of rigorous, yet popular, writing on a fascinating subject. It will serve students but also engage serious readers who are willing to put in the effort.

I was greatly impressed by this book. The author offers a reasonably detailed overview of archaeology associated with Celtic cultures. While some conclusions seem problematic, and while one should not see a single author work as authritative, this is an extremely good book.The author here addresses not only contexts of Celtic archaeological finds but questions about what the relationship between various Celtic cultures and the Classical world was. The approach in this area is well thought out, extensively detailed, and clearly communicated.On the negative side, the author really would have done better to discuss the difficulties in connecting material to linguistic culture. "Pots aren't people" as one group can immitate the physical crafts of another without changing language. This is well known when looking at Native American archaeology and it is a problem that any book trying to address a linguistic group through archaeology needs to take seriously. While there is general agreement that the La Tene and Hallstatt cultures were probably synonymous with Celtic language groups, this is not entirely beyond question. This becomes more serious when looking at the spread of the Catacomb Culture and whether this indicated a migration or simply a spread of a new burial style across pre-existing ethnic and linguistic groups. A reader wthout any archaeoogical background may not appreciate these issues and the simple flag on the author's part that the interpretation is disputed may be insufficient.On the whole, I think that despite the issues in mapping linguistic to material culture, this is a book that every student of Celtic studies and such should read. Highly recommended.

When reading this book, you have to separate the proverbial bad from the good. Cunliffe gives only minimal information concerning the evolution of the Celtic languages. And absolutely nothing about recent genetic findings which totally disprove the idea that what is now Irish, Scottish, and Welsh originated in central Europe (think Iberian Peninsula, and that goes for most native England residents as well). Still, this is a good resource for the anthroplogy and archaeology buffs, with a great background on the La Tene culture and the impacts of Romanization on western Europe and its tribes. I was a bit disappointed with the introductory chapters, which deal with the "image" of the Celts in the eyes of observers past and present. Frankly, I would rather have had more information on any impacts this civilzation had on the remote fringes of the "Keltoi" wanderings and placement in the Indo-European language tree.

Being a history buff, I can't get enough books about different cultures and regions of the world. Presently there isan informal debate within UK as to whether Britain was civilized only after the arrival of the Romans. Here, thisbook about the Celts--a pan European people who shared customs and trade--gives the reader a better ideathat Britain wasn't just civilized after the Romans came. While Celts were also warlike, they made beautifulitems and had their own culture, customs and agriculture.

This is an awesome book. It explains the Celts in massive detail. Lifestyle, religion, diet, and contemporary accounts. Very detailed illustrations and maps. Nice flow. There is a second edition updated available. I can't wait to read the extra information soon. Awesome author and professor. I would love to meet this professor one day.

Having picked up this book in my local library, I was intent owning a copy. The Ancient Celts is erudite, informative to a particular people that I've always liked and sought to study, this book is an invaluable collection to my library. It covers every part of Celtic Life.

Bought this old version (1st Ed, 1997) to compare with Prof Barry Cunliffe's updated 2nd Ed (2017) - both are excellent and insightful, especially the new thoughts as to the Celts and where they originated in his 2nd Ed.Book was as-described and in good condition, and arrived quickly.

An excellent overview of the current knowledge on the Celts even though it is now some 20 years old. Although this book predates the recent evidence suggesting an Atlantic seaboard origin rather than the conventional wisdom of a central European origin, this volume provides indispensible background. Highly recommended.

Prof Cunliffe has produced a beautiful syncresis of archaeological, linguistic, historical and literary elements in order to create a book which is a good introduction to Celtic Studies. Writing style is clear and concise and the narrative never gets bogged down in technical details, always offering readers the opportunity of continuing where he leaves off by providing good bibliographic information as well as the odd tantalising (and deliberate) loose end. His 'Celtic from the West' (edited) series are much more dense and academic but offer some brilliant new avenues of study for those looking for the most up to date opinions on the subject...

A clear and concise exposition of the notion of Celtic- ness, origins, development, various social and other lines drawn and explained. Great read.

Excellent definitive work; little or nothing omitted, good and relevant pictures, good indexing and divisions. Very nice book, highly recommended for scholars and general readers.