Origins of the Celts: Theory One

In a previous essay, “An Introduction to Theories of Origin and Definitions of the Celts” I talked about three different theories of the origins of the Celts and definitions of the word “Celt”.  I also chose the definition of “Celt” that I am going to stick too and that definition automatically excluded one of the three theories of the origins of the Celts.  In this essay I would like to talk about the first theory (and the dominant one so far), which puts the origins of the Celts in Central Europe around 1100 – 1000 BCE.

According to many scholar who favor this first theory, there is one Indo-European culture that dominated central and eastern Europe after 3000 BCE and it is the one from which the main Indo-European groups known in later European history eventually sprang.  This culture is called the Battle-Axe Culture thanks to the weapons found in their burials or the Corded Ware Culture from its distinctive style of pottery. During the Bronze Age this culture began to split into separate regional cultures and one of these cultures marks the first appearance of the Celts as a distinct linguistic identity.  Old Celtic as it came to be called, differentiated itself from related Indo-European dialects, creating a new cultural and linguistic community.  The did however, remain a typical Indo-European culture.  Their warriors were important, and they revered the horse along with all the symbolism of the sacred king that became known later as characters of the Celtic Culture.  It was also around this time that they abandoned burial under raised mounds and adopted cremation, this is where the name Urnfield culture comes from.[1]

The accepted date for the Urnfield Culture is from 1300 BCE – 750 BCE.  It developed in an area roughly around what is now Southern Germany, and it was called Urnfield because of its custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns which were then buried in fields.  The Urnfield culture followed the Tumulus culture and was succeeded by the Hallstatt culture, but of course nothing in history timelines is very clear cut.  The transition from the Tumulus culture to the Urnfield culture was gradual, and there are questions as to how to define it.  The Urnfield culture covers the phases Hallstatt A and B (not to be confused with the Hallstatt culture, usually called Hallstatt C and D).[2]

Settlements  

Because the Urnfield culture is defined in terms of its burial rite, it  is somewhat surprising that a relatively large number of settlements are  known. Thus, archaeologists know something about the lives of the  people whose ashes are in the urns. Late Bronze Age people in central  Europe lived in various types of settlements, some fortified, others  not. Many were large open settlements covering many hectares, while some  are compact strongholds on naturally defensible locations such as  peninsulas and islands in lakes.

Most of the houses were rectangular post structures with four main corner posts and several posts along the walls.   Some were small square houses with just four posts, while others had two parallel rows of three posts. Some of the places where you can find the Urnfield settlements are: at Unterhaching, near Munich; at Zedau in eastern Germany; at Eching in Bavaria; Lovčičky in Moravia; and Riesburg-Pflaumloch, in Baden-Württemberg.

Cattle, pigs, sheep and goats were kept, as well as horses and dogs, and maybe geese.  Forest clearance was intensive in the Urnfield period. Probably open meadows were created for the first time, as shown by pollen analysis.  Wheat and barley were cultivated, together with pulses and the horse bean.  Millet and oats were cultivated for the first time in Hungary and Bohemia, rye was already cultivated. Flax seems to have been of reduced importance, maybe because mainly wool was used for clothes. Hazel nuts, apples, pears, sloes and acorns were collected.  In the lacustrine settlement of Zug, remains of a broth made of spelt and millet have been found. In the lower-Rhine urnfields, leavened bread was often placed on the pyre and burnt fragments have thus been preserved.  Wool was spun (finds of spindle whorls are common) and woven on the warp-weighted loom, bronze needles (Unteruhldingen) were used for sewing.[3]

Burials  

There seems to be a few phases to the Urnfield burials. In the beginning (and in some of the sites though to a lesser degree) inhumation was practiced, then it changed to man-shaped graves that were dug and sometimes lined with a stone floor, in which cremated remains were spread.  Later on burial in urns became prevalent.

The sizes of the burial grounds differed greatly, in some sites there were only 30 graves while others had 3000.  The dead were placed on pyres, covered in their personal jewelry and sometimes food offerings.  The urn contains the cremated bones is often accompanied by other smaller ceramic vessels like bowls and cups.  Also sometimes there were metal grave gifts like razors or weapons that have been broken or bent, bracelets, pendants and pins.  This became rare towards the end of the Urnfield culture while the number of hoards increased.

Upper-class burials were placed in wooden chambers, rarely stone cists or chambers with a stone-paved floor and covered with a barrow or cairn.  The graves contain especially finely made pottery, animal bones,  usually pork, sometimes gold rings or sheets, in exceptional cases  miniature wagons. Some of these rich burials contain the remains of more  than one person.

The adoption of cremation as the dominant burial rite suggests a change in how the people saw the body’s role in the afterlife.  Cremation suggests that the external form and appearance of the body is not relevant to the afterlife.  Some scholars speculate that this may have marked a fundamental shift in people’s beliefs or myths about life and the afterlife.

In the Iron Age inhumation was back as the major form of burial.

Around the 12th century BCE the Celts took over the trading along the north-south axis of Europe, establishing settlements along the way.  They settled in Spain, Italy and Gaul and made it all the way to Britain, and Ireland. In all of these places, there were non-Indo-European cultures which the Celts imprinted their language and cultural identity on via trade alliances, partial colonization and intermarriage around 900 BCE.[4]

ENDNOTES: 

[1] Kondratiev, Alexei.  May 5, 2011 <http://www.celtic-nation.org/Lorekeeper_1-2.htm&gt;

[2] Urnfield Culture.  March 28, 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urnfield_culture&gt;

[3] Urnfields.  March 28, 2011  <http://www.jrank.org/history/pages/6594/Urnfields.html&gt;

[4] Kondratiev, Alexei.  May 5, 2011 <http://www.celtic-nation.org/Lorekeeper_1-2.htm&gt;

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• Posted in: Celtic Culture ♦ Essays ♦ History
• Tagged: Celtic Origins, Celts, Theories of Celtic Origin