A Brief History of the Celts (33 page)

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Authors: Peter Berresford Ellis

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While Celtic farmhouses on the Continent were generally built in rectangular fashion, insular Celtic farm buildings were round. This is a reconstruction of a
typical Celtic farm building of the 1st century
BC
at Castell Henllys, Newport, Dyfed.

In early Celtic society the wheel was an important cosmological symbol, often symbolizing the solar wheel. The ‘wheel of the sun’ was how the
ancient Celts viewed the constellations of the stars. The Gundestrup cauldron depicts a horned helmeted figure holding a spoked wheel.

Because Celtic road builders constructed their roads with wood, Celtic roads have survived only by being preserved in bogland. The Corlea Road, a causeway
across a bog in Co. Longford, is a magnificent example and has been radio carbon dated to 148
BC
.

Celtic chariots were a popular motif on Celtic coins. This coin, which also shows human headed horses drawing the chariot, is attributed to the Namnetes,
dated to the 1st century
BC
.

The Desborough Mirror, a British Celtic bronze mirror, one of several such decorated mirrors showing the curvilinear art style for which the Celts were
famous.

The Snettisham Torc. Celtic nobility and elite warriors (males and females) from all parts of the Celtic world wore these gold neck pieces. This is one of the
finest examples.

Celtic artists excelled in metalwork. This flagon, one of a pair from Basse-Yutz in the Moselle, dated to the 5th century, with its stylized animals and coral
and red glass, depicts a pack of dogs chasing a duck which ‘swims’ into the pouring wine.

The remains of the broch of Carloway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, which is one of the 500 brochs that have survived and are visually some of the most
exciting remains of early Celtic architecture.

Graggaunowen, Co. Clare, is a reconstruction of a ‘crannog’. These are circular, timber framed thatched houses built on an island in a lake or
estuary or marsh. The island was often man-made with a man-made causeway for security. They were occupied from 1000
BC
and provide a fascinating glimpse of Celtic
architectural ingenuity.

The ‘Father of the Gods’, Cernunnos, equivalent to the Irish ‘The Dagda’, from the Gundestrup cauldron.

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