12-19-2007, 09:29 AM
He's got something of a point.
Thing is, we have several languages that are defined as the 'Celtic' family. Some people cal their speakers 'Celts'.
Then we have references in our sources to people called 'Keltoi' (the Romans called them 'Galli'). Some people call those 'Celts'.
Then we have a material culture in the archeological record that associates with the regions where the Keltoi are located by ancient writers. Some people refer to all people who were part of this material culture 'Celts'.
The problem is that we have no way of being sure how, to what extent, or even whether the three things are coterminous. It is just about possible that the material culture of La Tene and post-La Tene went hand in hand with a cultural and linguistic identity based on precursors of modern Celtic languages, and that the Greek writers appreciated that and referred to these people as 'Keltoi'. But it is far from certain. La Tene may be a material culture that spread beyond the speakers of 'Celtic' languages, or there may have been Celtic speakers who did not share in it. The 'Keltoi' might have been no more than a figment of Greek ethnographers' imagination, with no unifying identity felt between the groups so labelled. We simply do not know.
Quite a few German (and an increasding number of other) archeologists nowadays refusae to even use the term 'Celt'.
Thing is, we have several languages that are defined as the 'Celtic' family. Some people cal their speakers 'Celts'.
Then we have references in our sources to people called 'Keltoi' (the Romans called them 'Galli'). Some people call those 'Celts'.
Then we have a material culture in the archeological record that associates with the regions where the Keltoi are located by ancient writers. Some people refer to all people who were part of this material culture 'Celts'.
The problem is that we have no way of being sure how, to what extent, or even whether the three things are coterminous. It is just about possible that the material culture of La Tene and post-La Tene went hand in hand with a cultural and linguistic identity based on precursors of modern Celtic languages, and that the Greek writers appreciated that and referred to these people as 'Keltoi'. But it is far from certain. La Tene may be a material culture that spread beyond the speakers of 'Celtic' languages, or there may have been Celtic speakers who did not share in it. The 'Keltoi' might have been no more than a figment of Greek ethnographers' imagination, with no unifying identity felt between the groups so labelled. We simply do not know.
Quite a few German (and an increasding number of other) archeologists nowadays refusae to even use the term 'Celt'.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
