Celts – Stuff on Celts, Druids, Standing Stones and suchlike.

Celts on the Silk Road 3,000 years ago

The following is a partial summary of a longer article to be found in Celtic Life International (https://celticlife.com/the-chinese-celts/) and the Independent newspaper, (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/a-meeting-of-civilisations-the-mystery-of-chinas-celtic-mummies-5330366.html). Perhaps it should be of no surprise that the then nomadic Celts found their way to the far north part of the Silk Road in China. Today we see only vast distances, easy to fly over, difficult to walk across, but when walking was your only option, and it is part of your way of life, what is distance but time travelled?

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There is no doubt that he is a Celt. The man’s hair is reddish brown flecked with grey, framing high cheekbones, a long nose, full lips and a ginger beard. When he lived three thousand years ago, he stood six feet tall, and was buried wearing a red twill tunic and tartan leggings. His DNA confirms it.

What is extraordinary is that his body was discovered – with the mummies of three women and a baby – in a burial site in the sands of the Taklamakan Desert in the far-flung region of Xinjiang in western China, In the language spoken by the local Uighur people in Xinjiang, “Taklamakan” means: “You come in and never come out.”

DNA testing confirms that he and hundreds of other mummies found in Xinjiang’s Tarim Basin are of European origin. We don’t know how he got there, what brought him there, or how long he and his kind lived there for. But, as the desert’s name suggests, it is certain that he never came out.

One of the women who shared the tomb has light brown hair which looks as if it was brushed and braided for her funeral only yesterday. Her face is painted with curling designs, and her striking red burial gown has lost none of its lustre during the three millenniums that this tall, fine-featured woman has been lying beneath the sand of the Northern Silk Road.The bodies are far better preserved than the Egyptian mummies, and it is sad to see the infants on display; to see how the baby was wrapped in a beautiful brown cloth tied with red and blue cord, then a blue stone placed on each eye. Beside it was a baby’s milk bottle with a teat, made from a sheep’s udder. Analysis has shown that the weave of the cloth is the same as that of those found on the bodies of salt miners in Austria from 1300BC.

Celts, Silk and Druidic Knowledge

Even in the 6th century BCE there is evidence of silk being worn by the Celts in Europe. It has been found mongst the many rich grave goods discovered at Hallstatt in Germany. The silk cloth must have felt exquisite compared to the standard wool and linen usually worn. There were many other fine grave goods discovered often imported from sites across Europe including for example coral, amber and even black shale bracelets from Britain.

The interesting point though is how extensive the trading routes were, even in the 6th century BCE, and doubtless it was not only silk and other goods that made their way across many thousands of miles. Along with the exchange of good there would be the exchange of knowledge – tales of far distant places, the religions practised there, the latest fashions even – and no doubt the traders would have been accompanied by priests and others curious to explore the worlds around them.

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Authors, especially Peter Berresford Ellis in his book The Druids, have pointed out many similarities between what is known about the religion practiced by the Druids and that of Hinduism. And with the evidence of trade with China as well it all paints an interesting backdrop to the religion of the Druids. Sadly, fascinating as these connections are, we can never know the reality, but given the evidence of how far goods – and therefore knowledge – travelled who knows?

My 2,000 year old coin

Coins It sits on a shelf, in a little pill box. I rarely look at it, yet somehow I am always aware of its presence. Not in a good or a bad way, but as though gravity is slightly heavier near to it. Tonight I took it out of its box, and viewed it again. Compared to a modern coin, it’s tiny, light and not well finished.
Yet what holds me is that 2,000 years ago, someone minted this coin, someone carried this coin with them, perhaps it changed hands many times, and I guess someone lost this coin, who knows, and somehow, it found its way to my shelf. In geographical terms, a short journey from Norfolk to Yorkshire, in terms of time, a journey that few artefacts survive.
Certainly the kingdom of the Catuvellauni, whose coinage it was, has long disappeared in the sea of history, and of those who live in its lands today there will be few who will have heard of this long lost kingdom. Yet a coin survives to tell a tale and to speak of people who lived, loved, fought wars, and vanished, although no doubt the children of their children’s children still live, love and walk in the footsteps of their ancestors.
And the coin? Does history, or time, imbue it with a power, a presence, or is it my imagination?

The law on bees

Bee_Swarm In our modern world it’s hard to believe that that 30 pages of law could address the issue of how to deal with swarms of bees. Yet according to Alistair Moffat in his book The Sea Kingdoms, both Irish and Welsh law had much to say on the subject. Honey was a valuable commodity, the only sweetener available before the advent of sugar, and those pesky bees had a habit of moving. And so Celtic lawmakers had the challenge of trying to regulate the management and ownership of bees. As we worry about the demise of the bee population of today, perhaps our lawmakers might find some inspiration in their Celtic predecessors.